One Kiss For Tito Da Fire
After a long spell away from music, singer and songwriter, Jedidiah Uduak Peters, whose stage name is Tito Da Fire, returns to the game with a new body of work titled ‘One Kiss’. Ferdinand Ekechukwu reports
After many years of music break, Nigerian pop music rave of the early 2000s, Tito Da Fire, rekindles his music career with a new single late last year titled ‘One Kiss’. The impressive reception that followed his music come back has now inspired a new album which was presented at the periodic Meets Media session in Lagos.
The event had strong industry names like Rugged Man and Sound Sultan who were his musical influences in attendance to support the comeback artiste.
“I think my major regret is the fact that I took a break, like a long break!” he said emphatically. “In music taking breaks is not good for the health. Like why are you taking break…it’s like you are breathing why are you stopping breathing? You know that’s why I’m trying to make up for the lost time with a body of work. Some were saying ‘wait till next year to drop the album’, but I’m like there can’t be a better time than now. For now I know for certain we can talk about now, we don’t know what exactly tomorrow will be.”
The 17-track album with a fusion of afropop, R ‘n’ B and reggae, Tito Da Fire in some of the tracks collaborated with some notable music acts in the country like 9ice.
Real name Jedidiah Uduak Peters, the singer whose song was a radio toast back in the days, recounts his journey into music: “When I was coming up, I had to study a whole lot of people; I studied Rugged Man right here. Rugged Man at the point in time had the most collabos you can ever find (I think he still holds that record) by any Nigerian artiste. I studied Sound Sultan because he was spiritual; like he tells what’s happening around. I studied even Chantaman; he did a verse and I was wondering how much time he must have taken to put that together. And if you talk about the dedication, the hard work, I think everybody should learn something from Olamide, from Davido, from every musician that’s releasing hits back to back.”
The singer and songwriter further shared his experience while working on the album One Kiss. “When I started recording this album, there was a time I was in the studio consistently for almost like a month, I couldn’t do anything social. I was like ‘God, is this what this guys are doing . . . you know.’” The artiste describes his sound as Ganta music.
The new album features contributions from Jamaican dancehall star, Beenie Man and production credit from American beat maker Mantra who has worked with Rihanna and Future. “In terms of consistency, I have learnt from Tubaba (Innocent Idibia), and other great artistes who have proved their mettle in the entertainment industry, paved way for others and continued to remain relevant,” he added.
On what makes him unique as an artiste, he said, “I’m an Afrocentric musician who loves to tell stories about myself and the environment. Social relevance is very essential in my music. I am not afraid of competition because I believe there is a big playing field for everyone. If you have your own unique sound, there is a place for you. I believe music is something that will outlive you. I had to divorce myself from everybody’s sound and do me.”
His earlier releases include Majekaja (which could be referred to as one of the early original Nigerian pop songs), and Seun Rere, and of recent, Imagination, Pop Tins and others. “Five years from now, I see myself doing good music, more collaboration, more albums and Ganta Sounds recognised. I also see myself being the best I can be in my musical career,” he enthused.
Born in Ganta, Nimba County, Liberia, Tito Da Fire spent most of his childhood in Tappita with his parents. The family relocated to Nigeria in 1990 during the Liberian Civil War and spent one year in Yaba, Lagos where the young lad took interest in Nigerian and foreign music. During this period, Tito with his brother, Mickey, recorded several demos and continued to perform at gigs in Sango-Ota High School, Sango-Ota, Ogun State, when their parents relocated from Lagos to Ogun State. Later in 1997, he met with Daniel Wilson a Reggae/Dancehall icon who tutored Tito Da Fire and his brother Michael “Mickey” in songwriting and singing.
Tito Da Fire and Mickey formed the band Gent 2 men in 2002 with their first single “Seun Rere (Its going be alright)” becoming a chart-topper across Nigeria. He was the official male “Voice” for Fanta rasta radio commercials used between 1999 and 2002. He was also the official Close-up Toothpaste “voice” during same period. Gent 2 Men released two highly successful singles namely; Seun Rere and Their follow up single “Majekaja” (a Yoruba word meaning “Don’t let us fight”) which was an afro-fusion song and later album title.
It became a national anthem of some sorts and earned them spots on numerous charts, MTN Top Ten Chart, it also was in the Top 10 spot of the 100 most-played songs in Nigeria on Ray Power 100.5Fm and Rhythm 93.7Fm’s year-end countdown, and on other stations’ top rotation.
Tito Da Fire also became a favourite TV personality for anchoring of multiple awards nominated nationally syndicated (2002-2003) Star World Chart Hits (Star Music), a TV musical show where Tito interviewed Usher and Shaggy on their respective visits to Nigeria. Gent2Men split in 2007, and Tito went solo.