In December 2020, Jeffrey Benson caught everyone’s attention on Twitter, with some of his songs incorporated into video clips of old Nollywood movies as their soundtrack. It was both creative and apt, as the tracks fit perfectly in each scene and added to the cinematic factor. The tracks he used were off his EP Sorry Dad I Make Music Now, which had dropped on the 6th of December.
More Branches had a discussion with Jeffrey Benson where he spoke to us about his music, getting inspired to use old Nollywood to promote his music and the challenges behind his project name Sorry Dad I Make Music Now.
Can we start with a brief introduction
Jeffrey Benson: My name is Jeffrey Akachukwu Okonkwo. I’ve been doing music ever since but started taking it professionally, as a career started in late 2018 when I got back from uni. That’s when I started taking music seriously cause I had like family around me; my cousins, who already do music and that. I had a better environment conducive enough to create music plus the feeling you get when you’re back home is better than when you’re outside. When I was in school, I would do just beats and instrumentals or write songs for my friends that do music and give opinions on what should be on it and what shouldn’t. Everybody I recommend stuff to, eventually go on using it, but I had songs stacked away that just me and my friends would play over and over till I kept getting pressure from them to drop.
Yeah, the title of your debut project suggested you faced challenges, what were those challenges?
JB: Okay, as I said, I’ve been doing music for a long time and the reason for not putting out music is because of the challenges that in most cases Africans face from our parents. I remember a conversation one time I came back for summer like around 2016, I was about to drop my cousins at the studio and my dad overheard me telling my mom. He told me not to do music, he hated the idea of me partying around and doing music cause of the lifestyle. He gave his points, his perspective made a lot of sense, they were valid enough for me to respect them and were views and fears I had to deal with personally.
I used to even deny or say I do music for fun, it sounded cooler to say that than tell someone I do music. But when I started understanding that everybody has what they need to get done in this life, like literally, if you keep on running away from your calling you’re going to regret it when you’re older, you’d know that it was fear that caused everything, fear of family, of yourself, what people would say and all that, you get me? I had to battle the fear. I’m not usually afraid of anything, but this was a battle I know for a fact that I am not probably the best singer, I can’t sing like Wande coal with the high pitch and all that, I can’t speak all the lamba that people would understand, what am I actually bringing to the table to make it good? Because anything I do I like to be the best or one of the best at it. I had to question myself, like am I willing to put my money into this, whatever money I earn work or whatever. Do I see myself doing enough to invest in myself? And once I was done with my degree, I started understanding life on a deeper level, I just decided I need to forget what people say and do it. I recorded that EP in my house with my dad going back and forth from work, like when he comes back he knows I’m downstairs but he doesn’t know what I’m doing. If you see my setup men, it’s crazy. I recorded my songs, the whole process myself, my friends and I shot the video together. I’d rather say I did it than say I didn’t do it at all, you get me?
What was recording the EP like?
JB: Fun fact, every beat from my EP was from Youtube cause I didn’t know any producer or have the amount to pay them. I looked for what was affordable for me at the moment, go to Youtube, listen to beats and vibe to it, if it made sense I’d purchase it online or get the limited version then record and send to my guy for mixing and mastering. So I had an EP before this one, but that one had a different vibe, I was giving them just came back vibes. Then I did Away and that lagged it for me, that was me trying to sing for the first time, and I liked the vibe cause it felt original. I wanted to do more of it and even better than it.
Who would you say are your influences?
JB: Funny enough, Wande Coal is still one of my influences in music. My greatest influence would be Wizkid, not to cap you cause Wizkid’s album I used my lunch money in school when I was in Naij, to buy that CD on the road, like 3 of it and that was a big deal for me.
Superstar or Ayo?
JB: Superstar, I was in high school then. My uncle was a marketer so I was always surrounded by Nigerian music when it was about to kick-off to the highest level. On the other hand, my brothers mentally were in America; like the baggy jeans, durags and stuff, everybody from 2pac and JayZ. Like I grew up listening to hardcore hip hop and also pop. So I had the blend of both worlds, but personally, the one that hit different for the hip hop side I’d say was Naeto C cause I used to rap before I started singing. He was a major inspiration for me when it comes to rapping, the dude was so fresh and every song he had was catchy, he had those hooks that would just stick no matter what he’s rapping about.
You did this really interesting thing for the promotion of your EP, where you used old nollywood videos to push your songs. What inspired that?
JB: God just helped my life to be honest. As an independent artist, I didn’t have money for promotion cause I really put money into my EP and doing videos, I had like just budget for Instagram ads. I literally did the best that I could and just asked God “help me”. I was on my laptop 24/7 doing promotional videos, every video you see, I did it myself to create content if it worked or it didn’t no p. I’ve always used Aki and Pawpaw for my dp cause they’re like the funniest people. Their names had always been trending then I got the idea cause I remember Nollywood used to have dramatic soundtracks. I had to go to Youtube and watch like full blown Nollywood movies but I knew what I was looking for. I checked the most popular one people were already putting songs to, that dance video, and decided to put a high tempo song off the EP. I actually did for every song on the EP but I picked three I cleared with my guys.
What are your plans for the future?
JB: I have incredible things planned out. I already had an EP before this one, when I came back I was so gingered. The plan for the future is to keep on living. I told you all this to tell you like the process of getting here. The journey just started so I hope to do more songs people can relate with and say we need to watch out for this guy in the future. So I’m trying to build a core following of people who believe in the sound and I don’t care how long it takes. I really want people to gravitate towards me as an artist, for I don’t even know who my fans are
How was the reception of your last project like?
JB: I’m still clueless on a lot of things and just depending on the internet. Without any promotions and push my tape is on 8,000 plays on Audiomack which is incredible in my opinion. On Apple music we have incredible numbers, for me as an artist I’m grateful for every play.
