In a recent encounter with award winning music producer, OJB Jezreel, he spoke on a reported relapse after his kidney transplant and his music comeback.

How far have you gone with OJB Foundation?

We have done a lot. January 19 marked exactly one year we launched OJB Foundation. In that one year we have done health programmes where we brought in doctors from abroad to do free screening and test people to know their kidney status.

How often do you do the exercise?

We’ve done it like three times in the space of one year. It is not an easy expenditure because you have to think about the cost of bringing and lodging the expatriates. We’ve visited areas like Festac, Ikorodu town (both in Lagos), among others. The idea really is to make people to be conscious of checking their status. We saw teenagers with serious kidney problems in some of the areas we went to, including a 13-year old, 9-year old and a case of a baby born with it. We had cases that the early detection prevented surgeries, etc and the victims are okay now. It becomes a seriousproblem because it is not in our cultureto visit the hospital.

How do you source for fund?  

Right now, there is trust deficit everywhere and I don’t want my story to become ‘he has come to disturb us again for money’. What we have decided to do is to reach out to one or two individuals and foreigners to support the cause and they must have seen that there is credibility in the whole idea. We partner with hospitals and sometimes we share the cost too.

Have you visited India for check up since you came back?

Since I got back it was normal to visit like once or twice. I have been there once and I think to a large extent God has been merciful. My story is just so funny, as the doctor also testified that the way I am responding regardless of the pressure is remarkable. I think I hold that to God. I am expected to just be sleeping, taking my medication and eating more. Naturally, when you come out of a surgery you will want to be careful with things you eat, drink and stay away from stress too, but I am a hard worker. I didn’t start music relying on people; I worked for everythingI had achieved. Since I am used to working, it is an issue to stay idle, but I still need to slow things down because I have no choice.

There were indications that you fell sick again last year and some people attributed it to the kidney illness. How serious was that?

I was coming back from Abeokuta with a friend after my birthday last year and we had an accident. The car somersaulted. The windshield of the car cut part of my body and it took a long time to heal, almost two months. And during the healing process, I had to start using a walking stick to move around because Ineeded to keep working. So people started making assumptions because they saw me with stick and the way I was in pain.

Didn’t you feel the need to inform the public what happened?

What happened was still related to the kidney ailment in a way because the healing process was slower than normal and I needed to be careful. I even heard people saying that they had flown me out of the country again for surgery.

It seems the pace at which you do music has slowed down?

The natural graph of life must always happen. There is a level you get to and your noise is not as much. This is not because you are not making hit songs, it is a level. There is what we call the new sensation; they must always take over. At a time I was the new sensation, I enjoyed that for 15-years. I don’t think anyone has held it that long. So, others must come up but my sound is still there. When they are calling top 20, etc, my music will still be some where there.

It is a natural graph of life; that is the way I see it. But in all fairness to my songs, I have had a rough seven years battling with sickness and many other things. So, I didn’t have time to concentrate on music totally for a while. When an artiste tries to drop a material and there are many issues to battle with, it affects the outcome. When I got back last year the songs I put out were not my best, but I had to do something because I am a hard worker. I appreciate all what Nigerians did for me, but I am not the type that will sit down and expect people to feed me. I worked for everything I had achieved. So it has been a rough seven years; there have not been time to put my whole energy on music.

How do you intend to correct that?

I just recorded a song titled Chinedu. Regardless of the hit songs I had sang over the years, I rate this new record high. On the surface it is a dancehall, but it is deep. I believe strongly in time and the fact that there is time for everything. I think it is time to actually make a strong comeback into the music scene. I sincerely had tried to come back with one or two songs, but it was probably not the right time. When the time comes, the unique idea comes. And the song is coming at a time I want people to know I am back.

But don’t you think the industry now favours younger artistes?

We have many artistes, but one OJB. We have one Tuface, one Psquare and so on. So it is not going to change anything. The problem here in Nigeria is that we try to disconnect the past from the present. Jay-Z, Puff Daddy are still doing music, are we not contemporaries? It is just like you telling me that Kenny and D1 should go sit down because they are not getting younger anymore. If you listen carefully to whatever these young artistes are doing you can link it to what we have done in the past.

Jazzman Olofin and co used to rap the way Olamide, Reminisce are rapping now. Even if you didn’t mentor them directly the inspiration is in the air and they were part of the people who put it there.

Who would you love to work with among the younger artistes?

In all sincerity it would be Burna Boy. He is strange and different. It is not something I’ m hungry to do, but if I have to, it would be him.

What year do you consider your breakthrough in music?

I think that peak period was 1998. It wasn’t even African Queen that brought me into limelight. In ’98, the music business was a small community and everyone just wanted that unique and foreign sound and there was no place they could get it but OJB’s. DJs and radio personalities were always coming to me to do one thing or the other for them. I did jingles and adverts that people might not even know were done in Nigeria. So my breakthrough wasn’t African Queen, though it put me in the eyes of the world.

Do you consider African Queen your greatest production?

I cannot deny that. The song was well traveled. From there, I started going to work in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Botswana, Italy, Scotland, Germany, among others, because of the success of the song.

Could you recall how you both arrived at the song?

It was during one afternoon, though Tuface was supposed to do the song with other members of the Plantashun Boiz. He didn’t feel good that he would have to do the song without them, but for some reasons the song gave me a kind of feeling I wanted. We however recorded it because we thought we should just do something and when everyone was gathered, we would adjust things for the others to do their parts. People always say they didn’t see a particular song becoming a hit, but I was expecting it. There were songs I did that I never expected to go far, but not with African Queen.

Since you’ve come back into music how many songs have you produced?

I have done like 80 songs. If I don’t work how do you expect me to survive?

For someone like Joe El I know I have done almost like 15 songs for him, though the way he is releasing them might be at random. In Abuja I have been there to do like 20 songs and have been to the east too. I cannot really remember all, but I am working. Like I told you I work hard.

When I got back to this country after the surgery I was with three hundred dollars. I am not ashamed to say this. So how do I feed my family? Do you expect me to ask for help again? Nigerians will just give up on me.