My heart now my church, that’s where I worship –African China

Chinagorom Onuoha otherwise known as African China is one of the reigning reggae/dancehall sensations sometime ago. He started music professionally in 1999 with hit songs such as Crisis, Mr. President, No Condition is Permanent among others. African China was said to have bitten more than he could chew with the pro-people song, Mr. President, which pit him against the powers that be at a time. About this and more, he speaks to LANRE ODUKOYA

Many politicians didn’t like your music back in the days. How did it make you feel?

I couldn’t really worry much. For me, I was happy about the impact my songs made. I believed that someone needed to speak for this country, and I did quite often. Even now, when I go to events people keep greeting and welcoming me so warmly. Sometimes, it is overwhelming. You know what they tell me? They say, “You said it. But nobody listened to you. All the things you said are still happening today.” “Mr President, food no dey” was released about 18 years ago and people are still hungry till date.

What spurred you on to write those songs? It was the spirit that lives in me. It was the spirit that saw tomorrow. I didn’t sing about those things on my own. They were prophecies as anyone can testify today. And, of course, the ugly events and the anguish of the people were also a motivating factor. When my colleagues were busy singing about love and girls, I chose to speak into the present and the future of Nigeria.

Mr. President and Letter to Mr. President, did these songs pit you against the powers that be at that time? No. They couldn’t dare it. If they tried to be funny, I would have gone ahead to do another song. I was waiting for any action. Let me tell you, the government is not dumb. We actually have smart people in government. When they listen to your songs, they know what you are saying, they know you have facts. Some of them are following me on Instagram, some are following me on Twitter and on Facebook. And they see my posts. Most of my posts on Facebook are political. They know that I do my research. Eighteen years ago, the newspaper was the only way we knew about the government, but today the internet has made things a lot easier. I was not in confrontation with anybody.

There’s also a belief that artistes who attack the government hardly ever go far in their career. How true is that? I agree with that. You know, because the government would not engage you in any of their events so that you don’t come to insult them because they are all thieves. I say that again: our politicians go to government to steal, kill and destroy – all of them. They killed to get to the position they currently are; so they would not want to pay you that kind of money to expose them or make them feel uncomfortable. Watch the kind of music they dance to especially the ones we find on social media, you would see that those songs are the ones that support or encourage what they do. And these are people who are supposed to take us to the next level. Then you ask yourself, where are we going?

So, how have you been coping? Yes. I have been taking care of my business aside music because if I don’t do it, these people want to see me beg. They want to make a scapegoat of me to those who might want to oppose their activities. I have to take care of my business so that I don’t come to lick asses or butts.

Do you think they succeeded because you have been out of the musical radar for far too long? No. They didn’t succeed. I simply took a break to reinforce. My fire is not out yet. I am here. I am not living a beggarly life. I am successful and I still have my fans. Though I cannot compare myself with any of these contemporary artistes because my music and my fan base are more focused and people -oriented. People are going to see more of African China in the coming days.

What do you do now? I run an event company. I am into property and real estate. I buy, build and sell. Sometimes, I buy, build and keep for myself. I have a salon called China town. I am an entrepreneur in short. And I am also planning on opening a lounge very soon in Owerri [Imo State]. We just acquired the property. My lounge will open soon. That is it basically.

If you are going to sign an artiste, would you sign a female artiste? I wouldn’t lie to you a female w o u l d not be the first signee f o r my record. I would like to sign a male artiste because in the industry female artistes are regarded as the weaker link. If I have about three male artistes, I could make the fourth a female, so that the male artistes would properly guide her.

How did you get into music? At a very early age, I discovered that I could dance, that was back in the days of Michael Jackson and the break dance; John Player; Benson & Hedges concerts. I had a thing with dancing, break dance in particular. While I was dancing I also began to mime songs like Chaka Chaka, Brenda Fassie, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Lucky Dube among others. I discovered too that was doing pretty good at it. My elder brother suggested that I go to a music school, which I did, but dropped out. I ran into church. I joined the choir.

You started from the choir? Yes. And then went out of church to the street.

Will you be going back to the church? I still go to church, even though I don’t have a particular one, because these churches are becoming like politicians, they want to pin you down. I can go to Synagogue today, RCCG the next and House on the Rock after.

What is your take on the issue of tithing, a topic that is rather gaining ground on social media? Tithing has become a serious issue in Nigeria today at least after Daddy Freeze began to speak about it. I think I support Freeze. We are not the ones robbing God, it is the Men of God that are robbing God. Once upon a time, these men of God did not have even bicycle, but now they have private jets, they have universities among other things. One would think it would have been only proper for them to allow the congregation, people who went the extra mile to build the church and the universities, to at least be able to afford these schools? But that is not the case of our big churches. People whose sweat built the schools can’t send their children to the schools. So, why am I paying the tithe?

Don’t you pay tithe to the churches you attend? These days, I don’t go to church any more. My church is in my heart. My wife keeps begging me to always go to church. I tell her to take the kids to church. The church is not for me because when you go to church all they preach is prosperity. Let me ask, why are gospel singers not making it in Nigeria?

Have you any answer to that? It is because they tell them that they are doing it for God. ‘Hello, Man of God, but why are you not doing your preaching for God’ Instead you are making money.” These gospel artistes can’t go to shows because of the songs they do. I used to go to church before I backslided. And that’s me. I began to sing secular songs. Trust me since I started singing secular songs I am okay.

Newtelegraph