Challenges inspirational artistes face -Kani Williams

Kani

Kani Williams, a contemporary hip hop artiste whose songs inspire its listeners in an interview with ADA DIKE, among other riveting issues revealed why he abandoned Electro/Electronics Engineering to do music.

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Unlike many people’s claim that they started singing from their mother’s womb, Kani Williams has a calling to write and sing songs that motivates and inspires people.

The genre of his music is a contemporary pop because it is a fusion of hip hop and African inspirational and motivational mix.

Born Akanimo Williams, Kani, who hails from Akwa Ibom State has professionally been singing for over seven years, though many people noticed him after he made a guest appearance on Olu Maintain's hit song, Second Chance.

Signed under Newschool Entertainment, he released his first single, ‘Swaka Swaka’ in 2006 and later released an 11-track-album titled ‘Talk Ur Mind Unlimited,’ which has hit songs including: Man Be God, I Can’t Stop Loving You, Mr Junkie, Feel Masef. Among all the tracks in his album, Man Be God recorded a tremendous success. There are other inspirational and love songs in the compact disc (CD). Some of the songs try to motivate and encourage people whose lives or relationships are not going the way they want it. He used his personal experience to write some of his songs. Also, Impossibility is not the Reality is another beautiful song in his album. “People who are looking forward to realise their dreams should listen to it. I love You is another track which tries to tell people that there is up and down in every relationship but how you go about it matters,” he explained.

 Since he was not in any relationship when he released the above track, one may wonder how he could advise people through his song. “All relationships have the same principle, no matter the kind of relationship you are into, be it boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife. We are talking about how people will love each other and live in peace,” Kani explained.

 He tells what Man Be God is all about: “In life, human beings capitalise on every opportunity they have to bring somebody down or oppress him. So if man were God, you can imagine what would happen. In fact, the world will not exist in the first place. The world still exists till today because God is on the throne. A lot of people have helped me in the past and many others have hurt me, which proves that man is not God.”

Many things inspired him to do Man Be God. “When I came to Lagos in 2005, I had no idea where I would sleep. I entered Lagos with just my dream with faith that God would take me to places. I got to Lagos around 7pm. As the clock was ticking, I was wandering about, having nowhere to enter. In the course of that, my luggage was stolen. Then I decided to go to Ikeja. I reached Allen Avenue tired without knowing where I was because I have not been there before. Luckily for me, I found my helper, Mr. Deola Otukpe of blessed memory who took me in as his godson and introduced me to a studio called Heavy Metal where I recorded my songs although, he initially advised me to go into sound producing and engineering.”

Kani was doing music in school while studying Electro Electronics in Cross River State Polytechnic, Calabar where he graduated in 2003. “I studied the above mentioned course to please my parents but I actually wanted to be a musician.

Music was inside of me from the onset. I was composing songs while in school and was doing music with a three-man group called Soul and Dreams.

Later on, the first song I did titled ‘A Tear Drop to Happy Days’ which I did with the help of a Cameroonian, Sergio Marcelo was dedicated to my mother because my mother and I are quite close. She believes in me and has been supporting me from inception. My father is a nice person and a disciplinarian but he did not encourage me to do music. It was lately he bought my album from a market and told me that he loved all my songs. In fact, he did not know that I have this talent.

He revealed his plans for the future. “My plans for the future begin now because I see myself as the future. I have an annual show known as ‘The Kani Show,’ where achievers are appreciated. It is an avenue or a platform where people hear the success story of stars in the entertainment world. I use this annual event to inspire the youths who have lost hope because I almost lost hope in life. It is an avenue to hear a story that will inspire everyone because everybody that has made success today has a story to tell. Learn from other people’s success story and discover your talent. Believe in yourself.”

He aimed to use his songs to reach out to people who smoke Indian hemp, street urchins, clubbers and everybody. “I use Man Be God to send messages to people from different strata or race.”

It is not easy for artistes to release songs that appeal to large number of people. Kani said: “It is not easy for every artiste, especially, inspirational artistes’ song to be a hit. They always believe in the industry that you have to record a club song before you will be celebrated. One of the challenges inspirational artistes have is how people can accept their songs and dance to it. I tried to overcome this challenge by harnessing my talent and recording inspirational songs many people love. I can do a club song tomorrow, though it will be inspirational to pass a message across to people in the club. You don’t do fiction these days but a song everybody can relate with.”

Kani looks up to some artistes as his role models due to their music. I used to listen to Bongos Ikwue when I was growing up. I am a lyrical person, I like good lyrics. In our generation, I like 2Face because he is talented and his lyrics have strong messages. Internationally, I love R. Kelly, Paul Simon and Tracy Chapman.”

Concerning his relationship, he said he does not want to reveal it to avoid distraction. “Definitely, I am a responsible person. When you bring your relationship into showbiz, it will become a topic of discussion though some people bring their relationships in order to be famous.”

In terms of fame and fortune which showbiz brings, he said the kind of music he does brings popularity. “For the fortune aspect of it, I will die of hunger if I can’t make money to satisfy my needs.”

As a young man, he has a goal and strives to make sure he fulfils his purpose on earth. He advised the youths to be focused in life. “In a church one day, after playing my song, one man walked up to me and told me he loved my songs, saying that after listening to it, he changed his mind from doing what he wanted to do. I am happy when my song makes somebody to repent. That is my calling.  I know that God will be angry with me if I relent. I want the youth to discover themselves so as not to lose direction. Dreams are free but achieving it is the price to pay.”