The middle to late nineties entertainment television shows remember the captivating voice of John Odafe Asiemo ‘Daddy Showkey’ performing a unique, off-the-head genre coined as ghetto music. This tag, playing over strictly Kalangu drum and jingling sound, only symbolises a prism into largely impoverished Nigerian neighbourhoods, which was what the singer has been credited to have created but not without life-threatening bumps in a bid to pass his message to listening millennial hippies.

So many deep emotions ran through the background first before the vibrant Mr Asiemo became everyone’s favourite, no matter their orientation. All that was initially obscure will now be laid out in the open a few hours from now when an episode of The Honest Bunch Podcast with Nedu, Husband Material, Toun and Ezinne premieres.

By 6 p.m. on Monday, 20 May, the Diana singer Daddy Showkey will tell listeners what they never knew about their entertaining 1995 to 2000s-peaking musician.

Already on social media, there have been snippets touching on what listeners might discover in three hours if they tune to their YouTube and the podcast’s designated channel. It was only after the 53-year-old back in the eighties or nineties possibly, faced with a defining death-in-a-minute situation, that his life changed for the better.

While chatting ahead of the premiere with Nedu and friends, Daddy Showkey opened up about his life as a gang member and he said he isn’t ashamed to admit it. Where he found himself living dangerously was Ikorodu in the north-east district of Lagos.

Although Ikorodu is a city of ancient Yoruba culture and also has an Oba, in its belly lies Ajegunle, where youthful exuberance was being groomed.

The Delta State indigene saw his end in front after he and a gang member were seen brandishing 9-millimetre guns, which made the public think they were thieves. Both partners were tied together and were awaiting their death of being burnt alive. That is just how far one snippet posted on Instagram goes.

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But this much was revealed by Daddy Showkey in his common granular pidgin way of speaking when he said that some of us found guns where we used to scrap for refuse dump revivable in Ikorodu. We started using the 9mm guns to terrorise the area. So, a day came when we went out for a gang sweep in a neighbourhood and then someone saw us and started screaming, ‘Ole! ole!, ole!

Ole! is a way to squeal about the presence of a thief mostly to alert those nearby to catch such. That’s exactly what happened to Daddy Showkey and his partner when they were caught. One other member of his crew he remembered as 91a did not make it on their rampage because he was sadly meted with jungle justice on another street.

After cooing like a chicken in the moments that could have led to no Daddy Showkey on the radio for the nineties kids, John Asiemo found his galala calling but a person only needed to be on the channel by evening time to be a part of the live reconnection that would go on as well as the moral lessons that come with it.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.