E.M.E record
label co Ceo, Segun Demurun's birthday brought as he wrote him a touching tribute for his birthday, he wrote;
"About @segundemuren: The morning of
Jan 1st 2009 was one of the worst of my life. I went to Church the night before
to pray in the new year... and there I poured my heart out to God. You see, i
moved back to Lag on Feb 14th 08. It was a tough decision quitting my well-paid
engineering job in nyc and moving back, but I felt incomplete and unfulfilled.
That decision however, led to a tough year. I had gained some small popularity
in music, but fame comes way before fortune in my line of work. So yes there
were videos on tv, but I was flat out broke. I'd spent all my savings on my
music business.. I was driving a beat down car that broke down on every
possible major road in Lagos, and I had resorted to "borrowing" 5k
from my manager weekly, to fuel my car and buy recharge cards. I'd started
second guessing my decision. Shld I have moved back at all? Shld I have
listened to folks and stayed in nyc? It was hard. I wasn't getting any show
bookings, infact Segun & I used to show up to events wayyy early just to
make sure we could get inside, and times without number we wld beg & plead
to get 5 mins to perform on shows only to get turned down. I was frustrated.
Why wasn't my music working here? Why couldnt
ppl see what we saw? Maybe I wasnt meant to be here? And then after church that
morning, I got accosted by armed robbers, driven around on the
joy-ride-from-hell, roughed up, and robbed of everything on me. Phones, money,
jewelry, ipod, hat, shoes, u name it. They kept threatening to shoot me, but I
just kept praying psalm 91 and somehow I made it home to Segun's house in one
piece. And while I was grateful to be alive, I sunk into further depression.
For a week plus I wouldn't leave my room. I
felt like my whole world had come crashing down, and like I had nothing to show
for all my effort and prayers. And then Segun walked into my room and said
"hey bro.. I know it's really bad right now. But the good news is, this is
rock bottom. U have hit it, and ur still alive. It can only get better from
here, but U can't let it defeat U. U gotta get up, dust it off, and channel all
that nervous energy into making music again!!" I was in shock..
. How did he
expect me to just shake everything off just like that? My mental state was a
total mess. I didn't have a penny to even pay for the studio time, and even my
car had been bashed. I said "bro even if I want to record, how would I pay
for it?" He asked who I'd wanna work with and I said Cobhams.
He asked me to find out how much it would
cost... I did. The next day he walked into my room with the entire amount in
full that he had borrowed from someone. Plus extra for cab fare. I paid for the
Cobhams sessions, and the very first song we created was "Strong
Ting".. till date one of my biggest hits in Africa. The requests for
performances started coming.. I started actually receiving airplay.
Ppl finally started understanding me and
my music, and better yet, they ACTUALLY liked it! My life changed from that
moment and so did my finances. God has used Segun to guide, direct, help,
support and save me on too many occasions. I want to wish him a happy birthday
and pray for him that he and his family will never know lack in Jesus name.
For the seeds of
kindness, love and support he has sown in my life and many others, may God
bless him and every generation born of him. I love you forever, and I look up
to you. I shared this particular story because I also want to encourage y'all.
I know life can be hard and harsh, but don't give up hope after the darkest of
nights, because your morning is right around the corner."
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