I walk through the streets of Lagos this weekend, as always. The air is cold, the women have bouncy bottoms and the children bear smiles and innocence and happiness in their hearts. They carry around a contagious love that I can connect to and express also.
But only this time, I don’t feel the love. My heart is heavy, my steps are leaden, and even the air I breathe now feels foul as it hits my lungs. I am sick, and Psquare are the cause. Peter and Paul Okoye have made me sick, and I am yet to recover. They broke my heart, something that I have never experienced in over 24 years of existence and 30 failed relationships. 30 women have come and gone through my heart, and none have achieved the feat of breaking it.
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But Psquare have, and it hurts like hell. You know those stories about being in hell, and how hot it is. I have experienced hell in 2016, and it is not the one caused by Buhari and his recession government. Psquare gave me my special kind of hell.
I have always loved Psquare. Perhaps too much. There has always been something magical about the electric brothers who have spent over two decades ruling the African music scene. They are legends, kings, leaders of sound and rhythm. They didn’t pioneer any new wave, or create a new system for others to follow. What they did was jump on every available wave, remixed, filtered and appropriated sounds to create their own wave. In essence, they made a career out of copying stuff.
But I loved them regardless. I loved the way they switched everything, danced and sang to it. I loved the colourful outfits. Some of them were corny, others stupid, but I love them. They were my stupid people, my twins, Taiwo and Kehinde, Ejima for life. Heck, if any of my girlfriends had broken their CDs, then I would have broken their hearts in return.
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Psquare shoot video for new single 'Bank Alert'
(Psquare)
But Psquare have broken my heart. This year the brothers fought like hell. They shared stories of their fight, cried in public, released songs to remind me of their shame, and still hardened their hearts and split, even after some of us begged and cried for them not to break up, they broke up. Each interview was like a knife to my heart, every time they attacked each other on social media, I died a little inside. They made me bleed for them, and now I am empty on the inside. My world had become cold.
When Peter took to Instagram to announce that they were back together and are releasing new music, I tried to be elated. I forced myself to be happy, listened to all their albums, and worked hard at convincing myself that these guys were worth loving again. But no. The damage had already been done. My heart bears scars of their battle, and now all I feel for them is nothing. I feel sad when I say it, and it hurts a little more with each time I think of it. These people destroyed my love, and now that they are back, there’s no part of them that I want again.
Last week, they tried to tempt me, by releasing new music. ‘Bank Alert’ they called it. I rushed to listen, thinking that the sound of their voice recycling old material will rekindle my love.
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Psquare shoot video for 'Bank Alert'
(Psquare)
But alas, I am done with them. The video is awesome. They have Mr Ibu and Onyeka Onwenu dancing and making faces. But it failed to arouse desire in me. I felt flat.
So last Saturday, as I took my walk, heavy in spirit, and with no joy, an old friend attacked me.
“Guy, you don hear the new Psquare song?"
“Yes”, I said.
“Wetin you think,?” he was expectant.
I looked him long and hard, and debated between telling him the truth, or just saying something political. In the end, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Both you, Psquare, the fight, Nigerian music, the song, the video, this evening, and everything else are mad!”
That’s all I could say and walked away. For the first time in 6 months, I felt good. Will I ever forgive the twins for breaking my heart? Perhaps later in the future. They just need to release more music, then I will fall back into love. But for now, I'm still heartbroken,
Only the love of my 31st girlfriend will heal me.
