The beautiful thing about entertainment and sports is their all comer’s policy for green horns and veterans, real talent and mere semblances. The doors are always open for those willing to take a chance and comebacks although rare are known to happen. The likes of Michael Jordan come to mind, NBA great who returned to the game a record-breaking three times. Rapper and Hiphop mogul Jay Z too is also in his second honeymoon with the game after calling it quits albeit prematurely after his Black Album release in 2003. Music lovers all over are still waiting for Lauryn Hill to make a return. In the spirit of the comeback we see rapper Timi Dablackone take another spin on the merry-go-round. Wait! Who is Timi Dablackone? Well depending on when you jumped on the Naija Music Train you either know or do not know Timi. Late boarders would hear his name and it would either draw a blank in uppercase or worse yet a correction that maybe, just maybe it was Timi Dakolo you were asking after. Old timers on the other hand would easily tell you that the name does ring a bell.
Not a member of the foundation set,Timi can be assigned to the lintel class : artistes that came after the first onslaught of this present wave of Nigerian music made up of the likes of the C-mion, Kay Sho and Six-0 blah blah blah . A member of d ‘trybe collective, that offshoot of theTrybesmen responsible for that feel good jam of the early 2ks ‘Oya’, Timi would go on to score some solo points of his own with ‘Na Flash’- an ode to the high tariffs and peculiarities of owners of the then newly acquired GSM(does anybody still say geezm?) phones. A solo album would ensue and like a flash (in the pan) Timi’s name would ring for a bit then halt ……..till now: a totally different time space from 2004, phones no longer status symbols and tariffs now spread between per second billings and monthly BIS service
Two weeks back a slew of ‘missing’ posters came up on all the major social networks asking if anybody has seen the rapper. Like a catalyst, the posters triggered other questions. Where has he been? Well medical school amongst other places. At the time of his being a member of D’trybe, Timi (real name Timileyin Akinmuda) was a 200L medical student at the University Of Lagos. He had caught the eye of Eldee the Don who was initially skeptical about signing on a medical student but upon seeing Timi’s star potential at a campus show, had a re –think and promptly scooped the budding rapper up.
Why did he leave for so long? Rigors of combining getting a medical degree and active music would prove a little too much for the young man and coupled with threats from his professors in school, Timi would have no choice but to hold off any ideas of a career in music till further notice.
Why is he back? Six years in the ears of a fickle music listener might as well be eternity. A lot of water has passed under the bridge, a lot of acts have come and gone in that relatively short period, why come back at all? Well for the obvious and not so obvious reasons. Obvious reasons? Even a blind minstrel can see that Nigerian Music is at one of its rosiest periods. There are a lot more avenues than there ever were and a lot more ways to get paid through music. Although the bulk of that money is still in the hands of an exclusive few, it is more than worth the fight to be in that exclusive set rather than eke out a living as a dentist. Not so obvious reasons? A burning passion and a conviction that he still has something to offer in this dispensation
Does he still have it? Check out his two new singles (‘where you dey’ and ‘Police’) and judge for yourself.
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