Ice Prince Hints At the fall of Alaba Pirates and Piracy

For decades, the Nigerian entertainment industry especially the arm that relates to music and movies suffered a great deal under the criminal activities of pirates and more than a few artistes, actors, producers and other professionals can testify to this.

It was therefore quite stunning when multi-award winning rapper, Ice prince recently revealed what might as well mark the beginning of hard times for pirates especially those who operate within the popular Alaba International Market in Lagos.

According to ice Prince, the era where artistes groaned under the activities of pirates is slowly but gradually coming to an end with reference to his album, “Fire Of Zamani (FOZ).

“FOZ is an 18-track album. It is doing well. I wouldn’t say it is selling more than my debut album. Everybody Loves Ice Prince sold quicker. The fans love Fire of Zamani and they feel that I took them by surprise. They didn’t expect the angle that I came with. In terms of sales, it’s a different thing and I think that is how the market is right now. If you look at all the albums dropped so far, it’s the same story, compared to those released last two years. Now most people want to download their favourite tracks on their phones and that’s it. It’s not just a FOZ album issue, it’s a trend across the globe. Jay Z has dropped an album, Wale has dropped an album, a lot of artistes have dropped albums, Kanye West has dropped an album but I have not even seen a hardcopy of it. It’s a global thing. Physical sales of musical works are being overshadowed by online downloads. ‘Even the Alaba traders dey cry, dem no dey make money (The pirate market in Alaba are also bleeding because they are not making sales from musical CDs again).’ So now if a song is released you download it, folks also download the tracks of the album. But it doesn’t stop the album culture from thriving.”

He also noted that he presently has enough songs to produce two album but added that he didn’t feel the time is right to release another album.

“You have to give people a body of work at the end of the day. I’ll definitely drop more albums. Whenever I’m inspired, I’ll drop an album. Right now, I have already a body of work to make two albums, just waiting for the right time. I’m working on my 3rd album and 4th one already. I record everyday so I’ve songs already for those. I even take my studio abroad sometimes when I travel. I pay for the fare of my music producers, engineers and we carry our systems along like we did in South Africa recently,” he explained.

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @simplysamad for more exciting gist, photos, interviews, reviews, jokes, quotes and other entertaining content | BB pin: 2B3D28E3.
By: SAMOD BIOBAKU