Vector talks about his background, loosing religion, his beef with M.I, Vibes Before T.E.S.L.I.M EP, T.E.S.L.I.M and clarifies the ‘2017 open letter.’
Dressed in a black, buttoned sweater, ripped jeans, a pair of sleek dark shades and adidas sneakers, all of a sudden, he seemed taller. Even worse, he wasn’t smiling.
The tension was palpable, but not boiling over. A few days prior, this writer had published a brief history of his beef with M.I. Abaga. It was in the thick of the action as M.I’s EP and reply were expected three days after the interview. He had also dropped a second diss track, ‘Tetracyling,’ only four days before this chat.
Due to traffic, he arrived 45 minutes behind schedule with his manager. All studios were occupied with Big Brother related happenings and interviews. Everytime this writer came down to give him and his manager feedback, he still wasn’t smiling. His manager did the talking.
Who is he?
His name is Olanrewaju Ogunmefun – the barrack kid. You know him better as Vector. As much as anything, he carries his hood, Lafiaji, Lagos Island, Lagos on his chest and back. It’s an identity, a grounding, a DNA and a strength. In return, Lafiaji recognizes him.
When he had a court case with YSG Entertainment – which he won – Lafiaji rose up. His third studio album is also titled, Lafiaji.
Vector visits Pulse. (Pulse Nigeria)
“They may not have had money to help me fight the case, but oh… they trooped in. At a point, even the Judge had to questioned why there were about 20 boys marching into the court house,” he says.
He tells Pulse about a time Nigerian legend, Sound Sultan was shooting a video in Lafiaji and boys told him in Yoruba that, “Alaye, you’re in Vector’s hood o,” just as he (Vector) drove past. Vector who now lives in a high-brow estate on Lagos Mainland says that he can afford to be in a bougie spot, but he doesn’t want to ignore his, “permanent truth (Lafiaji).”
He admits to being handsome and being a magnet for women, but he also recognizes that he has friends who are comfortable being bus drivers. He claims that people he surrounds himself with take pride in working for themselves and hate hand-outs.
By the time he entered the studio, the production manager was shocked at who he was about to mic. He said, “Oh! Boss, I didn’t know it was you. This interview go long o…” Vector laughed – the first switch from the stoic lack of expression and a frown.
The production manager was right, the interview was unexpectedly long. One of the best this writer has ever had.
Cele (Celestial Church)
He grew up in the Celestial Church of Christ. As the son of an affluent Pastor who was also a police officer. He says that he first realized societal disparity/classism in church. His younger brother would be allowed to play around the church with a console-controlled toy car while other kids were conscripted to a space.
Vector visits Pulse. (Pulse Nigeria)
He reflects upon how special ‘Church Harvest ceremony’ days were for his family. He would be dressed in gold chains with his brother and Dad while everybody else celebrated them like kings.
It wasn’t without its negatives too. People wanted to test him as they thought him bougie. He says even even had to fight a guy in church to prove his street cred.
But now, he’s left the church after a Pastor who was later arrested for fraud would always foretell money-related talk. Now, he’s spiritual, but not religious. However, he still visits the church to seek mercy from God. To him, mercy is all he needs.
That said, he likes two things about the Celestial Church of Christ; its power of putting people as equals with the uniform white outfit and how they have ‘ipese’ where everyone eats from the same pot.
Music
Vector ft 9ice -Angeli (Official video)
Vector’s mom told him he used to wordplay as a child. He was always different, but he didn’t understand it. At some point, he was going to become a Doctor because he was good at biology.
Then, he started drawing comics in his books. Then, while he was being beaten by Mr. Salami (his Maths teacher) at St. Gregory’s College, he’d go home and listen to the Raekwon album he bought at Obalende.
Then one day, he met some older guys who lived two blocks away in the barracks he grew up in. They were kicking freestyles. He remembers one line from that day, “I keep going, I no dey tire. Unleash the dragon, tattoo Sisquo higher.” Then he started a rap group with friends called, Badder Boys.
Vector – Get Down ft. 2Face [Official Video]
At the time, he also sang tenor in the Church choir while learning to play drums. His sister had taught him melodies and keys. His choir won competitions for fun and the first time he rapped in church, people said in Yoruba that, “Hip-Hop in church? The holy church is now spoiled o.”
It was the second strike that put him out of church. Then, his dad paid for his first demo in the 90’s – a song about money. He feels, “Whatever is destiny to you will come to you easy.”
Then came University of Lagos where Vector studied Philosophy. He discovered battle rap and he was unbeaten for three years.
In 2008, these events led him to a show organized by Illbliss. The DJ was Spinall. He won over the line, “And now you’re scared to watch. It is my time, it is your watch.” There, he met with YSG Entertainment. Then, he signed a deal with UK-based Odinero Records in 2009.
Then, his album, State of Surprise dropped in 2010.
Court Case, Label Issues and Personality
Injunction filed against Vector by YSG Entertainment. (Nigerian Films)
On September 13, 2013, Nigerian rapper, Vector’s dispute with his then-label, YSG Entertainment, under which he released his first two albums became a court dispute.
A Federal High Court in Lagos granted an injunction to restrain Vector from further breaching his then-contract with record label YSG Entertainment. This came after dispute over Vector’s willingness to see out the terms of the record contract he signed with YSG. He won the case.
Vector visits Pulse. (Pulse Nigeria)
Although he is now cool with the label guys, it was a torrid time. It was a time that also opened his eyes into the inadequacies of Nigeria. He claims that the issue wasn’t as much about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from the case, it was about PTSD for from watching the degeneration of Nigeria from a legal standpoint.
He says, “It’s PTSD but more from the angle of understanding that Nigeria’s problem was more than bad roads, light and water or healthcare. I got angry at Nigeria. So, if I couldn’t help myself, it would be how someone will cheat me. At what point would it be okay to speak against those types of things (cheating/slavery)?”
When the matter was over, Vector had been dragged to court dates outside Lagos. He says that he moved out of his apartment with only 33 pairs of sneakers and 20-something hats. It ended and he had to start from the scratch. He gave all the shoes and hats out and challenged himself to get back up.
Vector Tha Viper – This Vector Sef (Official Viral Video)
The money he had left on him, he used it to purchase studio equipment – music was an outlet to deal with the pain. He recorded his first song after his car got bashed. But then, he bounced back. He says, “Sometimes, you go all the way down, but you just have to get back up.”
Interestingly, he says he had lots of sex during that period. It made him realize the problem with overpopulation, “The poor man can’t afford anything fun except sex with him wife.”
On whether he has moved on, he says, “Guy, you never really move past it. I realized that everything you go through registers mentally. You may suppress it, but I don’t think you can ever move past it because there will be certain triggers in the future (that will take you back to that moment)… The human brain is such an amazing organ that deters you from those situations.
“You just have to suppress that and move on to greater to things. The same way I believe that everybody has negative traits, but what makes you a better person is the ability to take that negative trait and tell it to sit down for the positive trait. But now, I’m cool with that, I’m cool with the label and the CEO. I think I even owe him one content (laughs).
“I’ve also realized that to some people, I’m a bad person.” Unknown to him, he was describing PTSD.
Vector – Be Happy (Official Video) ft. DJ Magnum, Daddy Showkey
On how he deals with people thinking he’s a bad person, he says, “A lot of people think I’m cocky because I can speak plenty English and I’m 6’4 and I smile a lot, but I don’t find a lot of things funny. I get that misconception a lot, but it’s theirs not mine. I don’t bother about that (being a bad person).”
He feels like overthinking these things have adverse effects on mental health. He says the problem is that, “People don’t know how to point out where their happy spot is and stay there, except while having sex though (laughs).”
Loss
As he was working on Lafiaji, his dad passed.
He says his dad never said, ‘I love you’ till he was in high school and broken nose from fighting a bigger guy. This was after his dad saw mass death in East Timor while on a mission.
Losing his dad impacted fatherhood for him, “I realized that be a father in every responsible way hat you can, but realize that na person wey dey okay na him dey be responsible o. Sacrifice, but you count. The day you die, your child will have consolation sex.”
Beef
VJ Adams – Define Rap (Official Video) ft. Ice Prince, Vector, Sound Sultan, Mz Kiss, MI
First things first, he says, that, “I never compete with myself finish. Everybody’s life is too much of a rollercoaster… Even worse, you’re worse. But then, that’s the mentality we were raised with. We were raised in the competitive nature of things… You automatically register in your mindset what all your mates are doing…
“And I’m sure we’ve thought about it as adults too. The yardstick we judge ourselves by is what will other person do…”
As M.I claims in that open letter, Vector confirms they did meet at the British Council, Words and Pictures, Ikoyi in 2007.
He says people told him, “’This could can rap with virtually anything’ and they go ‘okay, thrown words at him, show him stuff’ (Vector raps). They were like ‘Oh my God’ and I was just a barrack boy that was there – a different type of kid. I guess that was it, the first encounter.”
However, they never had a rap battle.
M.I Abaga – The Viper (Official Audio)
On ‘The Viper,’ M.I confirms that he felt some energy from Vector after listening to ‘Kilode,’ Vector’s debut single from his debut album, State of Surprise in 2010. He rapped that he felt Vector had always hated him.
Vector rejects that claim, “To be very honest, I was just getting too many ‘you sound too much like Jay Z’ and I was like, ‘Guys, I’m just a very young boy rapping. If I would project, I would sound on a high pitch, There’s no bass in my voice. Today, If I project, projecting is leaving your comfort zone of speaking and increasing your vocal ability.
“I will definitely get into head or slightly no voice. And I was like ‘Kilode?’ Like General Pype is my friend and he sounds like Sean Paul. Durella sounds like D’Banj, but it’s this guy that… P Square, that’s Usher and Usher Ray… Na so e be… But these guys were not listening to me. I was saying some stuff.
“It was just me using my music as usual as an avenue to let out what I felt and that was like… And they kept asking my like, ‘Yo, can you battle M.I?’ And I was like he’s a cool kid now, like he’s chill. Not in a condescending way… We all call ourselves cool kids on our records. So, that was what that was it was.
Vector visits Pulse. (Pulse Nigeria)
“If there was any animosity or frustration, it was more from the angle of, ‘You guys are denying me my respect and things I deserve’ simply because they think I sound like Jay? Come on.”
Oleku (Remix)
OLEKU – VECTOR THA VIPER’S VERSION
Vector says the first time he felt the energy from M.I was after he made a remix to Ice Prince’s ‘Oleku.’ He rapped, “As a point, where it all started was the ‘Oleku’ remake that I did with H-Code. He played the beat and I was excited. I did my verse and from there, I was hearing a lot of things that were coming in that it look like I was sabotaging their work…”
“I was like ‘No now, like come on, guys…’ Okay, so I just left it… It even leaked out of H-Code’s studio. At that point, it started to feel like they took a lot of offence and they took it personal. But I didn’t understand why.
On why he feels Chocolate City felt slighted, Vector says, “I wouldn’t know. I’ve heard people say my version was fire. I guess it was the first rap song that had people going, ‘I’m A-list now, so I cannot be you. Oye mi tide po si you…’ I was just having fun, it wasn’t… People have preferences, but I always gave shout-out to Ice Prince and all that.
“I remember always telling people that, ‘Don’t say Ice Prince’s version’ is the original version.’ I remember saying that on Rhythm FM back in the day. Ice is the originator, I am the one with the version.
Ice Prince Ft. Brymo – Oleku [www.afrogrooves.
Vector’s frown, Vector’s smile and Vector’s truth (Pulse Interview)
