How I Moved From Scavenging To Musical Stardom In UK

Published on July 26, 2010 by TheNEWS · 1 Comment

Eric Obuh, 28-year-old ex-scavenger on Ojota, Lagos dumpsite, came to limelight via the controversial British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, documentary, Welcome To Lagos. The young man, with the stage name, Vocal Slender, who was born in the crime-infested and gritty community of Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos tells FUNSHO AROGUNDADE how his life was transformed from that dumpsite to musical glory

•Obuh a.k.a Vocal Slender. Now

Your story has been great inspiration to many other youths. Tell us what actually took you down to the dumpsite?
Well, you know as a boy who grew up in Ajegunle, Lagos, I remember that most of the youths and even those older than I was always hustled to make money in the area. People don’t really depend on their parents. Right from my primary school days, I had been striving to get money to take care of myself because I was a guy who never grew up with my mom. So, growing up in the street made me to go into different kinds of hustling. But it was after my secondary school that I decided to do music. So, I relied on the little money I got from those I begged to perform at their shows to make ends meet and finance my music career.
But about five years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the dump. He told me that I can’t rely on people for long to achieve anything substantial, both in my music career and otherwise.
Besides, for more than 10 years, Nelson Brown, a music producer based in Ajegunle, had been recording songs for me free of charge, but when I thought I needed a different tune from the Ajegunle rhythm, I decided to leave Nelson Brown and raise money for a different production. So, the only way that I believed I could achieve that without doing anything negative was to work in the dump to raise money and personally fund my recording session in the studio. So, I can rightly say that music took me to the dumpsite.

How did you manage to get involved in the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, documentary that has come to expose you to the rest of the world?
It is God that did it. It all happened in April this year. I had been away for about two weeks from the dumpsite and one Tuesday afternoon when I got to the dump, there was no work. To kill boredom, I was just entertaining a few of my friends with some of my songs and everybody was dancing. Then I remembered that I saw two white men and a lady standing and just nodding to my beat and smiling. Then I spoke some patois to them: Whatta Gwan Whitee, why ya watching man? (What’s going on; why are you looking at me?)
They just walked up to me smiling and asked me if I was a musician? And I said yes. They said O.K, they wanted to film me working in the dump but I refused. I told them that I wouldn’t want to be filmed working in the dumpsite. So, they asked me how do I do my music and work at the dump? I explained to them that I still work in the studio. They asked further when I would be working next in the studio and I told them in two weeks’ time. They collected the address of the studio and the date of the session.
To my surprise, they came to the studio that day and when they saw my friends and the whole of the crew in the studio, they were so surprised and started begging me to allow them film everything I was doing on the dumpsite. I was reluctant because people around did not know that I worked in the dump to raise the money I was using to pay for my studio sessions. Even none of my family or my friends knew that I worked in the dump. So I was shy and not ready to let anybody know about that part of my life.
But when they told me that they were working for the BBC and the documentary would only be shown in England, I reluctantly agreed. They later gave me a camera to be recording everything I was doing either in the studio, Ajegunle or at the dumpsite.

Who was handling the camera?
They taught me how to handle the camera and I taught some of my friends. Everything that I was doing then was being recorded by my friends. Also, the BBC guys visited the dump and were doing their own recording at the dump. It got to a point, even if I was going to use the toilet they would trail me to the restroom except I shouted at them. At a stage, it all became fun to me because I never believed that such documentary could change my life and bring me this kind of fame I’m having now.

When the documentary was shown, how did you feel?
Nothing much until it began to generate controversy in the country. But after the documentary was shown, I was chased away from the dump.

Who sent you away and why?
The LAWMA (Lagos State Waste Management Agency) manager sent me away. She accused me of exposing what goes on at the dump to the outside world. Meanwhile, the LAWMA people were there when the BBC guys were filming me and others for more than three months. They said nothing until when the documentary was shown. Then, they now shifted all the blame on me, claiming I exposed the dumpsite. Though I later learnt that the BBC people Your story has been great inspiration to many other youths. Tell us what actually took you down to the dumpsite?
Well, you know as a boy who grew up in Ajegunle, Lagos, I remember that most of the youths and even those older than I was always hustled to make money in the area. People don’t really depend on their parents. Right from my primary school days, I had been striving to get money to take care of myself because I was a guy who never grew up with my mom. So, growing up in the street made me to go into different kinds of hustling. But it was after my secondary school that I decided to do music. So, I relied on the little money I got from those I begged to perform at their shows to make ends meet and finance my music career.
But about five years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the dump. He told me that I can’t rely on people for long to achieve anything substantial, both in my music career and otherwise.
Besides, for more than 10 years, Nelson Brown, a music producer based in Ajegunle, had been recording songs for me free of charge, but when I thought I needed a different tune from the Ajegunle rhythm, I decided to leave Nelson Brown and raise money for a different production. So, the only way that I believed I could achieve that without doing anything negative was to work in the dump to raise money and personally fund my recording session in the studio. So, I can rightly say that music took me to the dumpsite.

When the documentary was shown, how did you feel?
Nothing much until it began to generate controversy in the country. But after the documentary was shown, I was chased away from the dump.

In short, the government officials at the dump made you regret your action?
No, don’t get it wrong. I was not sent away from the dumpsite by LAWMA as an agency. It was the dumpsite manager, one Mrs. Momoh, that asked me to leave. After her instruction, other scavengers at the dump said as long as the lady was not happy and didn’t want me around the dump again, they too didn’t want to see me again at the dump. And I could not understand them.
After the documentary was shown, the government reacted and things changed at the place. It affected a lot of people who were sleeping at the place because they were all sent away from the dump and their tents were demolished. Although it is painful for some guys, I see everything that has happened as a positive change. One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of people are afraid of change. For a lot of us who were there then, we didn’t even think of renting an apartment after we might have made money enough to live out of the dump. But with this now, some have gone ahead to start decent lives by renting their own apartments.

Not long after, we heard a London promoter got in touch with you?
Yes. What actually happened was that four days after I was sent away from the dump, I was still thinking of the next thing for me when I received a call from my manager, Tony Abe. He told me that a certain promoter was in the country and would like to take me to England for shows. Initially, I didn’t believe him. He later told me the promoter’s name is Ropo Akin who owns Cokobar in London. I later met with the promoter and we discussed terms. He later processed my visa and other travel documents. That’s how I found myself in London.
Though before I went to the dumpsite as an aspiring musician I always had the belief that one day music would take me far, I didn’t know when and how.

What were your experiences when you got to London?
My trip to London was very wonderful. Like any other young man who had never been there before, l see the place as a land of opportunity, though there are lots of misconceptions about the place by some people. They believe that by merely visiting London, you will achieve a lot. Some people think they pick money on the streets of London! But, it’s not so. For me, London was beautiful. I was overworked. I did a lot of interviews for BBC Network Africa, Ben TV and so many other stations and newspapers. For example, I was on the BBC Network Africa for four good hours, responding to callers’ questions from different parts of Africa. It got to a point journalists queued up in my room for interviews. So I enjoyed my stay there. It was a beautiful exposure.

What were the major shows that you featured in?
I performed in a lot of major shows and did some club gigs in London and other cities. The most remarkable one was the show I did with some other Nigerian stars at the O2 Arena. Many people turned up to witness the concert. I also traveled to Manchester City to perform. But the highpoint of my trip was the award that was presented to me by the Foreign Universities Students in London. It was an Afro-Caribbean award, precisely for the blacks. I was recognised with an award for the ‘Zeal to Succeed’. To me, getting that award was the highpoint of my trip to London and one thing that I will never forget in my entire life.

But I learnt that the London trip was almost marred?
Yes. But I think it is a logistic problem or what I can call ‘bad belle’ by some people. That was because I know that my visa was the first to be issued by the British High Commission before any other person that was involved in the London trip.

Who were the people?
I won’t want to mention names because it’s already a forgotten issue.

But what actually happened?
Like I said earlier, my visa and other traveling documents were ready but somehow, they just held on to my visa until the first show where I should have performed in London was over. So, a day after the show, I went back to the British High Commission to at least retrieve my travel documents, but that day I was surprised to see some reporters from some broadcast stations including NN24, Trace and others waiting outside the High Commission to interview me on the aborted trip and what my next move would be. But surprisingly, that day I was given my visa and other travel documents. When I told the Cokobar boss, he told me to fly into London that same night or the following morning, but I told him I had to let my people know and make some arrangements before traveling out of the country. That’s how I got to London.

Your songs are being sold on iTunes, have you received any form of payment?
William, one of the guys from BBC said while they were editing the documentary, that a friend who lives in America suggested that they should sell my songs on the iTunes because some of my songs are hits that can make some sales on the internet and what the guy predicted was true. Two weeks after the documentary, I received first payment of about N250,000 on my songs that had been sold and they promised that in some months after they would pay another sum. To me, it was like I won lottery because I had never seen that kind of money before––N250,000 at once? I even gave my manager N50,000 out of it!

So far, how have you been coping with the instant celebrity status of yours?
I know I can’t be carried away by all these. I’ve learnt to control myself about all these, especially the girls that are coming to me now. I know the celebrity status naturally may get some carried away, but I’m focussed and know exactly what I want for myself. I will prefer to keep giving glory to God who has been moving me forward. I’ve been praying to God to commot me from poverty and give me something with which to satisfy my needs, take care of my family and give to those who will come to me for help.

What advice will you give the young ones that also face the kind of challenges that took you to the dump?
Well, I will like to advice everybody generally that life is like a flood that is gushing forcefully and God always puts a rescue rope that any man must hold on to. But out of frustration and difficulties, a lot of people may decide to leave the rope and get drowned by the water. But my advice to people is that: hold on to the rope and keep your head above the water because one day, things must get better. And to some up and coming artistes like me––because I’m still up and coming, not up to the status of great artistes like the 2Faces and D’banjs of this world––the only thing I can tell them is that whatever they are doing, they should stay positive. Individuals who are into art, music inclusive, must shun negativity in their lives. If they do negative things, they are breaking the rule of art because the art is being controlled by the spirit of God. If you go into wrongdoings, the spirit of God will leave you and you will be taken over by the evil spirit.
So, all up and coming artistes should stay positive and not be distracted by the things or challenges of this life, like going into cyber crime––Yahoo Yahoo––armed robbery or drugs.