This is how we do itBy Jayne UsenShow Dem Camp, or SDC, is the latest tag team to join the growing list of Hip-Hop heads on the Nigerian music scene. Olumide Ayeni a.k.a. Ghost and Wale Davies a.k.a. Tec are SDC and they say they are here to show how rap music is done. In this interview, both members respond but inform they speak as one collective voice.Why Show Dem Camp?Show Dem Camp is all about youth empowerment. A lot of times, people have some stigma attached to music, especially Rap. Even in a wider context, people try to break the convention to follow their dreams. So really, it is all about us telling people that they can pursue their dreams and love and still be happy with their choices and not be afraid to actually dream. We are showing the world at large that we are pursuing what we want to do and we are going to be successful at it.Has it always been music?Not really. We actually met each other at Coventry University in 2001, then music was a hobby. We hooked up during a rap battle in which we [went up against each other]. From then on, a mutual respect was born. We begun going around different Nigerian communities in various universities and from there it all began.With all Hip-Hop groups in Nigeria, why should I listen to SDC?We are different from everyone else and obviously, music is an expression of our different experiences going by all the different cultures we have experienced garnered from having visited various countries. We are fresh; we have been fortunate enough to reside in different places so we touch on different themes.When we moved back to Nigeria in 2008, people were telling us that our music was too different from that which is done here, that we had to tone it down. We are however happy that MI and Naeto C have really paved the way for a lot of rap artists in Nigeria. In the past, a lot of people thought Rap music was only all about shayo, however, now they realise that it is all about thoughts and ideas put together creatively. We have fused our experiences and sound into the Nigerian sound.What influences your sound?Basically from the different places we have been to. Our musical influences are a lot, but [primarily] people with a message from Fela to Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, Nas, Tupac and Jay-Z; we have been able to put our message across in a palatable wayIs there an album in the works?We have two singles "Tell Me Nothin'" and "Yawa on the Dancefloor" already out. We are also working on The Dreamer project which will more or less be a compilation of works of various talented upcoming acts that believe in themselves and share the same passion and dream as ours. It will be released in the first quarter of the year. We also have the Memoirs project which will basically be about our life stories and experiences. We have a video for "Tell Me Nothin'" by Dayo Oyedele who worked on the Talib Kweli project shot in Nigeria.Are you signed to any label?No, we have our record label, Show Dem Records. We feel as though besides music, we both have backgrounds in business; we both studied Business anyway, so we are working on other businesses asides the music. We feel that nobody will be as passionate or know where we want to go as much as ourselves. We have our partners, Femi and Tolu, as well on the project. Some of the artists who will feature on the Dreamer project will be signed to our record label. We also do event and talent image management.How would you rate Rap music in Nigeria?It is growing incredibly but still has a long way to go. We remember when we used to come to Nigeria on holidays, the first person who caught our attention were Naeto C, and MI, because we saw that we could relate to a lot of their themes. MI came out and we were really amazed at his success because a lot of people now listen to lyrics, whereas in the past, Nigerian rappers just felt that all they needed to do was just party music all for dance. We used to have a problem with that, I remember us saying that if that was the kind of music they expect us to make, then we would rather not do music. It's not all about copying or following trends.
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