Kenny Ogungbe , owner of Kennis Music , needs no introduction in the Nigerian entertainment scene as he has influenced a lot of artistes over the years. Despite the fact that a lot of Nigerian heavyweight musicians have passed through his record label , the Kennis FM boss told Saturday Beats that Tuface and Eedris Abdulkareem remain his best artistes of all times and gave reasons.
Fondly referred to as Baba Keke , he further described the acts as his best friends . “ My greatest artistes of all time would be Tuface and Eedris Abdulkareem. As for Tuface, I call him my best artiste of all time because he sold the name Kennis Music and the highest number of records. I like Eedris Abdulkareem simply because he is straightforward and honest . Eedris is a very loyal person that would stay with you forever, ” Baba Keke said.

The music executive revealed how Eedris Abdulkareem left his record label . “ Eedris never left my record label controversially . The contract I signed with them was for sales and management fee but it was only Tuface that was giving us management fees , I did that for quite a while till I held a meeting with my people. I told them that since it was only Tuface that was giving me management fees , I could as well forget the others. I remember that I granted an interview with Ayeni and he captioned the story , ‘Kennis Music sacks artistes except Tuface ’. That was what happened . The artistes were upset which is a normal reaction because if I were in their shoes, I would be upset as well but everything was eventually settled . Eedris came to me and said that he had a song , I listened to it and that is how we started working together again . Like I said, Tuface, Eedris Abdulkareem are my two greatest friends,” he said.

Speaking on how he met both artistes , Baba Keke said that after Tuface left Plantashun Boiz , he came to meet him . “ Tuface came to me , I did not go to him . He came to me and said Baba , let’s work . The first time we met was while he was still with Plantashun Boiz ; it was Tony Tetuila that introduced him to me. I was thinking of signing Plantashun Boiz but they were with Nelson Brown , so I did not push. After their group split, Tuface came to meet me that we should work together and I agreed. I did not need any confirmation that he is a great guy . He is humble , gentle and very talented .
“ I signed Eedris and the Remedies because their music was unique. No one was doing the kind of music that they did . It was very genuine , youthful and energetic . It was equally attractive . I did not know them before I signed them but the first time I heard their song , I aired it on the radio. At that particular time, Dr . Raymond Dokpesi had instructed us to search for Nigerian artistes and there was nobody till I met them . Their song, ‘Sha ko mo ,’ was recorded by the Ray Power producer who later became their official music producer . They had initially recorded the song at Alagbado but it was not clear enough , so we had to re- make it at the Ray Power studio , ” he said.

He further stated the reason why he could not stop the separation of The Remedies despite the fact that they were under his record label . “ If a group is together and they want to go their separate ways , if you try to stop them , you are wasting your time because they are the ones that know what they are going through . They are the ones wearing the shoe and they are the only ones that know where it hurts, ” Baba Keke said.