Peter Okoye of P-square just landed what seems like his debut solo cover for Vibe magazine and he talks P-square and what transpires when the cameras aren’t up, family and what’s next for him as a rookie. Peter just dropped his debut single as a solo artiste since breaking ties with his brothers, Paul and Jude Okoye on grounds of utter disrespect and disdain towards his family. The interview goes thus:
Vibe: 18 years down the line-what would you say is your fondest memory of P-Square?
Peter: Ever since we started till date, it has been fun till like probably late 2013.
Is there anything you’re likely to miss?
Like I said, 30 children cannot continue to play together for 30 years. We are at a point where we no longer have respect for each other. It is not ego or pride; it’s respect… Respect as an individual, and as family. This is the best solution we could come to.
You guys have been together for quite a long time. Not many groups have done that. What helped the group last as long as it did?
Respect. It was respect all through. What made us grow was respect? Not because we’re brothers. Not even because we’re twins. It was because we had respect for each other.
We’ve seen videos of people crying on social media because they heard about the breakup. How do you think fans will handle this transition?
Change is constant. I always hear people say blood is thicker than water. I’m married. I did not select a wife for anybody. The question is, who is water? Are my brothers blood and my wife and kids the water? It’s like asking me who is priority. When was the last time your parents decided to look after their siblings more than you?
To the fans, we’re sorry. You don’t want to see P-Square on stage when they just fought back stage; pleasing you guys when we are not happy. I’ve tried many times to make it work but it did not work… I just had to give up for the sake of the respect of our individual families.
Is there a slight possibility that some day, we will get back the P-Square we used to know?
Of course. When the respect is back. When you stay apart for a while, the respect will come. We’ve lost it.
People will never understand but we’ve lost that respect. Like I said in the open letter, we will work in future but when we come back, it will be from respect. There was no respect that’s why there has been a back and forth. Aren’t you guys tired of it? If I tell you that P-Square is back now, people will say “You guys are tricking us”. Don’t play with people’s minds.
Social media has indeed been utterly crazy. Everybody has an opinion about this matter. How have you managed this intrusion?
Whatever is out there, is what the fans need to know. Last year, nobody knew what was happening. “When are you guys releasing a song?” They did not know we were fighting but we’d still go on stage and perform. All I wanted was to keep the family together but what the fans wanted was to have P-Square. We gave you guys P-Square even though the family had been fighting for about four years-even as of last year that we claimed we were back. I cannot even face the shame of making the fans feel that we are okay. We are not okay. It’s not healthy. I don’t have any problem with their own family. The wives, everybody. I am cool with them. I don’t know what’s wrong. I don’t know why it looks as if the hatred is on my family. I’ve tried to ask them what the problem is but nobody is telling me anything.
It’s like saying Mr Charles and Mr James are business partners and they own a beverage factory together. Mr Charles and his partner work together but Mr Charles doesn’t like his partner’s family. All the time, he insults the family. All the time, he says sh*t about the family. All the time he doesn’t attend the family’s functions. Do you expect two of them to still be working together? Be honest with yourself.
Now it looks as if the most important thing is for the 2 partners to be in the business while they are fighting. They will come and smile to the people that everything is fine. It’s not fine. There’s a way you pinch someone; it will be painful at first and then later, you don’t even feel anything. I don’t feel it anymore.
From the little glimpse into the plans for him as an individual act, Mr P is a ticking bomb. His Glo sponsored Dance with Peter show which halted due to the numerous conflicts will soon be back in full effect, He has another reality show in the works, he had just paused his tour to be with the Mrs and the babies for a week, he just dropped arguably the most popular music video on the block –Cool it down-, He had just signed an impressive digital marketing and distribution deal with American based Empire records, P Classic records is still going on strong and has a new act called Singer in addition to Papi J and DJ Switch and we might just have a P-Square cartoon show running soon! Even with all these, he chose to go all modest on me.
‘I’m upcoming… I will say it. I won’t lie. I want to say it boldly. The ones that want to insult me, so be it. When I mean I’m an upcoming artiste, I’m an established, comfortable, if you wanna use rich, upcoming artiste. I’m okay with it. Change is constant. People are scared of change. You can’t remain in one place. People must expect and respect change.’
Celebrities like Waje and Tiwa have expressed their fear of their children gravitating towards music but not Peter.
‘I will allow them. Truth is our parents never gave us that moral support 100 percent; except our mother when she discovered that it was going to work out. but I think some of us, our parents stopped us from being whatever we wanted to be. They always wanted us to be doctors or lawyers… You can’t beat talent. It stays in you.’
Get the full interview here.
