11th February, 2024
By Taiwo Okanlawon
Renowned rapper Michael Stephens, popularly known as Ruggedman, has revisited the long time beef he had with his former protege, 9ice in an interview with popular media personality, Chude Jideonwo.
The rap star revealed that despite introducing 9ice, to his ex-wife, Toni Payne, the singer didn’t invite him to their wedding.
He said he received a call from 9ice’s ex-wife one fateful Saturday, informing him that it was their wedding day and that her husband instructed her not to invite him.
He said, “I introduced 9ice to Toni Payne but 9ice didn’t invite me to his wedding with her.
“One Saturday morning, I woke up to a call from Toni Payne. She was like, ‘Ahn ahnn! Where are you now?’ I said, ‘Where am I what? I am at home.’ She said they were getting married that day. I asked her why didn’t she tell me and she said she wanted to but 9ice said she shouldn’t tell me.”
9ice and Toni Payne broke up 10 years ago after the singer accused his wife of having an extramarital affair with Ruggedman.
In 2010 9ice released a song titled ‘Once Bitten, Twice Shy’ off his album. In the track, he sings about a lover of his who cheated on him with his friend. Many people believed 9ice was singing about Toni Payne and Ruggedman.
It was a turbulent time for Ruggedman as many people pointed the finger at him for crashing the marriage of his former collaborator. To make matter’s worse 9ice’s refusal to clear the air about the misconception increased the rumours that Ruggedman was guilty.
In an infamous phone call leaked online on May 11, 2011, Ruggedman can be heard telling 9ice to come out and clear his name but the Alapomeji singer dismissed the rapper’s plea. Who leaked the phone call? Your guess is as good as ours.
Naturally, this led to bad blood between 9ice and Ruggedman and the two started taking shots at themselves on several tracks which lasted till 2012. Even at the end of the name calling on tracks they were still some sort of cold war between the two.
In 2015 the cold war had started to thaw. On October 23, 2015, Ruggedman revealed that he had ended his beef with 9ice.
The official cease-fire came on January 25, 2016. Three days after apologising to his former wife, 9ice in an interview offered an olive branch to Ruggedman.