naijaXclusive: ruggedman

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh836O6hdhaDdZ9s0YrUhtTGn9c7MtVxOWUOUFmWwdGcLz6t4ftMFjQwl4-x4qQNjvtuCrk5PxBcKXrWNDcek_rRrIts_e2QMAz6JanJDFQmPrFJII07GZp5-0mn-O1vFwEn10v5D5NG6c/s1600/Toni-360x225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh836O6hdhaDdZ9s0YrUhtTGn9c7MtVxOWUOUFmWwdGcLz6t4ftMFjQwl4-x4qQNjvtuCrk5PxBcKXrWNDcek_rRrIts_e2QMAz6JanJDFQmPrFJII07GZp5-0mn-O1vFwEn10v5D5NG6c/s320/Toni-360x225.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Toni Payne, estranged wife of Nigerian artiste, 9ice spoke to <b>’Nonye Ben-Nwankwo</b> about the many controversies surrounding her life</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I understand you now own a cosmetics line. Is it a new <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD4">business</span>?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No. I have
 had this line since 2005. I was in the United States then. I used to 
come to Nigeria often to try to push the line. It is not a mass produced
 brand, it is more of an exclusive brand. We have customers who buy it. 
It is just recently that I launched a line of eye lashes that I am 
trying to do <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD2">mass market</span>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What made you get into this line of business?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was a 
publicist for one brand abroad. Being its publicist, I was always in the
 office and I saw how the processes went. They introduced make-up and I 
was interested since I’m a woman. I felt it was an interesting thing and
 I wouldn’t mind doing something like that myself. So I started 
learning. I would sit in the laboratory with the technicians and I would
 write down formulas and look at how they did stuff. So I decided to 
bring what I learnt to Nigeria.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And how has it been?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Business has been good. I have no complaints. A lot of people felt I kept quiet about the make-up business but that wasn’t the case. It is just that it is not a mass market. It is not a mass produced range. I didn’t want to over- do things.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You dabble into so many things at the same time; one might see you as a restless person…</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I agree. I
 am an Aries and we have this trait of doing everything. But I only do 
two things. I do PR, which has always been my background. But when I 
started doing PR in Nigeria, I noticed there wasn’t really a structure. 
You can’t just only be a publicist to an artiste. You might set out to 
be a publicist but you will end up doing managerial duties because there
 is nobody doing it. But now that more people are interested in that 
field, I have taken my hands off artiste management and I am sticking 
with PR.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You no longer manage artistes?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No. I 
don’t do that anymore. But I still do music promotion. It still looks 
like the same thing because of that lack of structure. But the duties 
are different. If an artiste comes to me now, I tell him straight up 
that promotion is different from management. I tell him his manager is 
supposed to do his business runs while his publicist is just to make his brand known and polish <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD7">the brand</span>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What issues did you have with Olamide? We heard there was a misunderstanding before you parted ways with him…</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I never 
had any problem with him. He had a label and I felt the label could 
handle the work for him. I had done my bit to a certain point and I felt
 I was satisfied. I didn’t want to be drawn into being an insider. I 
wanted to do Toni Payne Concept. I didn’t want to work for the label; I 
didn’t want to be too involved. When I felt it was time to let go, I had
 to go. And that is one good thing about me, I know how to let go. I 
don’t know if it is a good trait or a bad trait. There wasn’t a bitter 
quarrel. People do end amicably, not everybody has to fight. PR is 
easier than management. I have a child. With PR, you can do your job 
during office hours but with management, you are expected to work at odd
 hours.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You are into poetry too…</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes. I 
just recently started sharing my poems. I have been writing poetry since
 I was 13. I never used to share it. I was on Twitter one day and I 
asked if anybody wanted to read my poems. The response was good and I 
decided to share it. So a lot of people <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD1">downloaded</span> it. <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD3">I never knew</span>
 there was a huge appreciation of poetry in Nigeria. Since then, I 
decided to use my brand to push mainstream poetry. Young people now 
email me to teach them how to write poetry.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you know music so much that you had to go on social media to criticise Tonto Dike’s song?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I didn’t do that.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But where did the story come from?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know where <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD11">it came from</span>.
 I was at an event and somebody asked me what I thought of her song. I 
said she is a woman like me and she is trying. We are not all perfect. 
The next thing, I started <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD5">reading online</span>
 was that Tony Payne said this and that about Tonto Dike’s song. I was 
amazed. I never said anything negative about her songs. I have heard the
 song <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD12">just once</span> on the radio.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did the story cause any kind of rift between you guys?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It didn’t 
because I’m sure she knew I didn’t say that. I think that was what the 
person who put up the story was hoping to gain. Even when people were 
criticising her about the song, I tweeted that people should not insult 
her and if they must criticise, they should do so constructively.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But what do you think of her music?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I haven’t 
really heard it. I don’t believe in abusive criticism. If I listen to 
the music, I might even end up liking it because of all the abuses she 
has got.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why did you come back to Nigeria?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I got 
married. I just had to move back home. I felt I should have a close knit
 family. I got into working in Nigeria and I have been having fun.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are you going to move back to the States?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I can’t 
say that. There is no guarantee. I have plans. It depends. We will find 
out in the next couple of years. I have lived in the US almost all my 
life. I used to come back home for visits.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you regret coming back home?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don’t. I
 was even saying so this morning. If I didn’t, the curiosity would have 
been too much; I would have missed out on a lot of things. I’m glad I 
came back home. My feet are so well grounded. <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD8">I know what</span> I want and I know what I am capable of doing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For somebody who is into PR, how come negative publicity has followed you in the short while you’ve been in Nigeria?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will not let negative publicity control my life. It can’t make me not to live the kind of life <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD6">I want to live</span>.
 That means the people behind it have won. Some other persons would have
 run back to the States, but I didn’t and I will not. It is a little bit
 harder to manage yourself in terms of PR. I managed it well. I did as 
much as possible to reverse the notion about me. The <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD9">terrain</span>
 was even new to me. I kept wondering why people would want to say bad 
stuff about me. But now I have learnt, once I read or hear anything bad 
about me, I write my defence on Twitter.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What has kept you going?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve been 
busy. A lot of people would have suffered from acute depression. I got 
angry at times but I was determined not to be broken. People ended up 
liking me. They found out I was the opposite of what was said about me.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you have any issues with K Solo?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don’t 
have any issues with him. We are not friends. We’ve never sat down to 
have a 10-minute conversation. The issue with him came up because I 
follow him on Twitter and I saw the comment he made concerning his son. 
The mother in me couldn’t take it. I was angry about why he could say 
such concerning an innocent child on social media. That was it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD10">How are you</span> coping as a single mother?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My son 
still has a father who is alive. It is not hard. He is well taken care 
of. I’m doing very well. It is not a big deal. Things happen, I will not
 be the first and I will not be the last.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have you ruled out marriage?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Everything is in God’s hands. I will not rule out that aspect.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What if 9ice comes back to you?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(laughs) No comment. I will not answer that. I cannot predict the future.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is this story that he snubbed you at an event?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don’t 
know where that story came from. How could he have snubbed me? We are 
not enemies. He didn’t snub me at any event. I got to the event quite 
early. At that point, I was about leaving. And because there were too 
many eyes on me, I just had to stay awhile. It was even later that he 
asked me if I was at the event.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you still talk?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh yes we talk. We have a child together. We are friends.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During the brouhaha, you were outspoken, why?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There will
 be a time in the future when my son will be able to browse the Internet
 and read up all the stuff that happened. I didn’t want him to ask me 
why I didn’t defend myself. That was what inspired my own decision. I 
didn’t care whatever consequences that came out from my defending 
myself. I had to defend myself.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why did you marry 9ice? So many people were of the view you were taken by his fame…</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I met
 him, he wasn’t that popular. I met him before the stardom. He was 
somebody whose personality I liked. It didn’t have anything to do with 
his being a celebrity. I saw a person I liked. I didn’t look at his 
status. I would say he was the first guy I was ever really in love with.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Was he your first boyfriend?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No. he wasn’t. But he was the first guy I had genuine love for.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Who was your first boyfriend?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was one guy. We still talk. I’m not going to mention his name. He is still my friend.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How did you feel when you heard that another lady now has kids for 9ice?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No 
comment. I am not going to say anything concerning that. I don’t even 
know about it. I read about it in the papers. But then, I have read so 
many things about me that weren’t true in the papers. However, true or 
not, I will not talk about it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is more than two years since you separated. Are you now officially divorced?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ll not say anything about that. I’m sure 9ice will not tell you either.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We learnt you went back to beg him to take you back?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me? Never.
 I did not. I know where the story came out from. Somebody close to him 
was feeding the press with the story. For some reasons known to him, he 
never liked me. He was the one that was always talking about me and 
coming up with such stories.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I guess you mean his former manager, Deinde?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes. And since he left him, no story has been said about me. I didn’t go to beg 9ice to take me back. Why would I do that?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did you actually sleep with Ruggedman?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course I
 did not. I can categorically tell you I did not. Ruggedman has been my 
friend. But even before then, we didn’t see. And even after the whole 
incident, we have hardly seen. The last time I saw Rugged was during 
Occupy Nigeria. I have not seen him again since then.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Would you want Ruggedman and 9ice to be friends again?</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They are 
adults so they should make their own decisions. But then again, I want 
peace between them. The fight was not warranted. There shouldn’t have 
been any fight in the first place. The song that caused the problem 
wasn’t about me. I was there when the song was recorded. I can still 
remember what I cooked that day. I cooked jollof rice and I diced the 
meat I used in cooking the rice. The lady referred to in the song was 
not me. All the attributes didn’t have anything to do with me. I don’t 
have tattoos. The last time I checked, I wasn’t bisexual as the lady 
referred to in the song. It was just a song but people just chose to 
believe whatever would suit them.</span></div>
<br />

Xclusive Interview: 9ice, Ruggedman Shouldn’t Have Fought Over Me –Toni Payne

Toni Payne, estranged wife of Nigerian artiste, 9ice spoke to ’Nonye Ben-Nwankwo about the many controversies surrounding her life ...

Xclusive Video: Mbryo - Melody FT Ruggedman

Xclusive Music: Ruggedman -- 8 Figures Ft Reminisce

Xclusive Interview: 9ice, Ruggedman Shouldn’t Have Fought Over Me –Toni Payne

Popular Posts