5th August, 2011
About 10 years ago, the entertainment scene witnessed a trend whereby young fuji singers including Shanko Rasheed, Wasiu Ayiki Container, Rasheedat Omo-Ilu, Konkolo, Eva Water, Global T. and Murhi Ikoko, among others held sway. The most popular of the kid stars was Shanko Rasheed, who debuted on Alphabet Records owned by Dammy Damola Kolawole.
Considered as a rare development, other record labels like Olasco owned by Alhaji Akeem Balogun, Eru Owa, Afesco and others, followed suit, releasing the works of the young fuji stars.
But by 2005 the trend began to fade away as the kid stars began to have problems with their individual record labels due to what could be termed youthful exuberance, lack of adequate guidance as exhibited by the musicians and greed on the part of the record labels, among other things.
Shanko, who could be described as the pioneer of the kid fuji musicians, started having problems when he dumped Alphabet Records for DAAM Music and later Olasco, where he later released an album entitled Agreement.
Damola, the boss of Alphabet Records, felt cheated and went to court to stop the release of the controversial album and in the process, got a court injunction stopping further release of Shanko’s albums.
After the injunction the young Shanko cried foul, saying that he was cheated by the Alphabet Music boss and that he was tricked into signing a 10-year contract with the record label. Others also gave similar excuses which were debunked by the recording companies.
Presently, Shanko is trying to keep his head above water by joining the league of grown up fuji musicians, while the likes of Konkolo, Willy G, Wasiu Ayiki Container, Murhi Ikoko, Omo Ilu and others, are still trying to find their feet in the competitive music industry
Speaking on the reason the star of the kid fuji musicians went into oblivion, the Chief Executive Officer of Olasco Films and Records, Alhaji Akeem Balogun, said that although the kids benefited immensely from the hype about them by the marketers, the sales of their albums could not pay for the production cost and other logistics. Another reason, according to him, was that most of the musicians were not educated then and had to go back to school.
Continuing, Olasco said when they came into the music industry, the kids made an impact but subsequent generations of kid stars weren’t so lucky.