Daddy’s Baritone Has Always Been The Best –an Interview with DETAILMADEIT

Detailmadeit was born into music. “It really started from back then as kids. You know, one thing that most Nigerians won’t forget is the early mornings of each day when they have to wake up to pray as a family,” he said. While those few minutes of corporate devotion was literally some form of hell for many children, Detailmadeit found it very interesting, especially because of his father’s voice.

DETAILMADEIT

“He had a very sonorous voice. It was a cool thing to wake up each day to hear my father raise songs at morning devotions.” He describes his father as someone with the best voice in the family. “We all loved to hear him sing, I’m speaking for everyone.”

Growing under the influence of his father’s sonorous voice, Detailmadeit unconsciously found himself drawn to the possibility of singing as good as his father. “It was not as if I wanted to beat him at a competition; of course he wasn’t looking forward to competing,” he said, light-heartedly. “I just wanted to sing like him.”

As early as 10-12 years, his classmates would always ask him to lead any songs or national anthems. He enjoyed it. He sang in the school orchestra where he and others who were passionate about music had a wonderful time learning what music was. For others, it appeared like something they did for leisure. For Detail, it was more than just a passion: it was just like a string attached to his future, pulling him in. He also sang in the church choir.

 It wasn’t just about his father that got him started in music. His elder brother also did music. Whenever he watched him writing, in the studio, or listening to a beat, “I didn’t get tired of it. Ever. That has been one of my drives to keep going without stopping,” he reminisced.

 Years later, with different responsibilities in the music scene as a producer and recording artist (as well as creative video director), Detailmadeit’s creative process remains something of note. “I produce for myself,” he tells me. “You know, I just find myself humming melodies. Or, let’s just say, I hum melodies, sometimes not sure of where they’re coming from or why they’re tugged behind my ears. After that, I find the best lyrics. We need to understand that finding lyrics is one of the most difficult tasks! You feel you know what you want to say, until you’re listening to a beat, and being expected to say it to the beat.”

Over time, Detailmadeit has learnt to overcome the brain racking process of finding the lyrics for his songs. “I have come to understand myself. I know what I would want to say if I am approached and asked to give my perspective on a thing. You know, music is just someone saying something over a beat. So I tell myself, ‘forget the beat. Just tell the world something.’ That way, I find it easier to talk about things that relate to humanity: natural disasters, AI, war, beauty, you name it. Then I couple the beat over the lyrics. Believe me, it gets easier that way.”

“How difficult is balancing your different roles as a producer, director, recording artist?” I ask.

“It isn’t easy,” his tone emphasized unsparingly, “however I’ve been good at it. Part of the things that has helped me comes from my DNA. I am highly educated, so I find a way of interconnecting everything, from frontier music, to non-frontier music aspects.

“Let’s take an example from my academic background. My graduate level study in management has given me an advantage to know what managing a music label is about. I know what makes a business work, and what makes it crumble, so when I see my label striding towards a rock, I know the best mechanism to steer it back to the way it should be. My postgraduate studies in Audio Production has given me what it takes to thrive in the recording studio, an essential part of my music career, and in a record label.

Asked about how he carries his roots along in his music. “In every way possible, I try my best to tell the world, ‘Yes I am from Abia state in Nigeria.’” From an teaming with live bands in Abuja as a bandleader for highlife festivals, to refusing to move to Aba (where he’d entrepreneured under a mentor) because the same crusade he looked for in Aba existed in Abuja, he has been in the fore towards ensuring that his Aba roots have been given enough recognition, as much as he receives.

“When I’m 40 or 45, I will go back to Abia and join partisan politics. I know enough to implement policies that could make a state thrive, especially in the arts and entertainment industries, sectors that have been neglected large-scale,” he comments.

One way to thrive in the entertainment industry is collaboration between artists. Most music artists look out for the potential of jumping on a song with someone, especially someone with a greater or same average level of influence with them. Does Detailmadeit have any dream collaborations in the long or short term?

“I don’t have any dream collaborations. None.” He buttresses. “There are too many things going on in the industry. All these things have contributed to my distaste for any collaborations or visions of jumping on a song with someone.”

While others would pay huge amounts of money, lobby, and do other behind-the-scene negotiations to get someone on their song, Detailmadeit believes that he doesn’t necessarily have to boost his music by combining his influence with another’s. His 1:1 friendship with the Declan Rice crooner, Odumodublvck, doesn’t affect his stance: “If these collaborations come along the line, I am receptive to them. However, I cannot categorically say that I have a dream artist I am so enthused about having on my song,” he tells me again.

What sort of emotional legacy do you want to leave on your listeners?” I ask. “When someone listens to your song, what do you want them to leave with?”

 “I am an artist, therefore I’m a fan of good music,” he says. He speaks further by creating an analogy of artists who preach a philosophy on stage, but go behind to do something entirely different. “It’s not just the good guys who preach love that go behind us to spread hate. It’s also about the ‘bad guys’ who preach hatred and vandalism on stage, but go back off-stage to be the coolest set of humans you can ever encounter. This leaves fans confused. Or, let’s just say, it leaves them pranked.

“We have seen music artists that have painted an image of depression in their songs, while behind the scenes, they are happy, even happier than most of us who listen to them. It’s not my duty to control what my fans pick from listening to my music,” he disrupts. “It’s just like books. The authors have no say over what the readers think of it. They just write. In music too, I just give the art. It’s left for the fans –or the media– to generate an impression of it. I’m entirely free from any perceptions that people get from listening to my music.”

“What’s your thought on AI?” I ask.

“I have never experimented with that. I don’t know how any of these bots work. We are not necessarily aware of the dangers of AI. AI just came upon us. We went to bed as human beings, and then we woke up to machines trying to fake us. Let’s just put it this way, they tried to warn us earlier, but we dint take notice of that. Transcendent did a fine job in the video, but we just left it in the screens. It wasn’t coming early, we thought. So we went to sleep, and BOOM! It’s upon us now.”

“How about people that ask AI to write their music lyrics? What do you think about their creative process?”

“If it works for them it’s fine,” he shrugged. “Like I said, I haven’t tried AI chat bots before, and I’m not interested in trying it. You know why? Because I trust my creative process. That takes me to a salient advice I always give to younger artists jumping into the music scene: they should believe in themselves. Be patient, because if you’re not, there are many other alternatives, and you may not like it.”

Do you, like me, wonder what Detailmadeit does when he’s not around music?

“I’m shooting videos. Then, I love spending time with family too. I really really have a very large spot in my heart  for my family. I have a few friends, and I spend time with them maximally when I can. And, of course, I love spending time with my girlfriend.”

“It’s five, maybe ten years from today. Who is Detailmadeit?” I closed the interview.

“Detailmadeit is a household name,” he responds with a smile.

 Music isn’t just about entering the studio to drop lyrics to a beat. It goes beyond knowing beats and lyrics: it’s a blend of art, intelligence, and unbending passion.

And Detailmadeit is showing us exactly how to do that.

ECHOES IN FRAMES

 Behind-the-scenes photos of DETAILMADEIT's video shoot for his recent single, Shashe.

"Musicians are the ambassadors of emotion, carrying the responsibility of translating the human experience into a language that transcends borders. In doing so, they contribute to the growth of a world that understands the power of empathy and connection."

- Yo-Yo Ma