Top Nigerian duo P-Square will headline this year's Lion Larger Summer Festival scheduled for October 13 at Glamis Arena. The R&B group made up of identical twin brothers Peter and Paul Okoye is set to invade Harare after several failed attempts to bring the duo by local promoters. Delta Beverages, through their Lion Larger brand, have inked a contract with P-Square with help from an unnamed Zimbabwean events organisation.
The Herald Entertainment understands that while the paperwork including the clearances are still to be finalised, the P-Square deal is as good as done.
"The signing of the deal had nothing to do with earlier reported efforts to bring P-Square," an official said.
The official also said the supporting acts will be announced in due course and that P-Square will bring a live band.
The twins are known for their close resemblance to American R&B superstar, Usher Raymond.
To those not in the know, P-Square is making heatwaves on both the airwaves and in club with chart toppers that includes "Chop My Money", "Beautiful Onyinye" featuring Rick "The Bawse" Ross of Maybach Music and lately "She's On Fire".
The duo produces and releases their albums through Square Records. In December 2011, they were also signed to Akon's Konvict Muzik label. In May 2012, they also signed a record distribution deal with Universal Music South Africa.
But as the duo's popularity firmed so did controversy.
One of the biggest criticisms is that the duo are reported to handle most of their production/beat making in house. The band has been criticised for their habit of sampling Western songs and popular hits in their records. The duo has since denied the allegations saying technically they reconstruct the drum patterns, chord progressions or lyrics of the sampled songs as against actually cutting parts of the song and directly sampling into their production. This accounts for the largely electronic feel of their sound.
Some of the songs which have been called up on this account include "Get Squared", "Game Over", "Danger" and others.
According to Wikipedia, P-Square began at St Murumba Secondary School, a small Catholic school in Jos, Nigeria. Identical twins Peter and Paul joined their school music and drama club where they began singing, dancing and miming songs by MC Hammer, Bobby Brown and Michael Jackson. They later formed an acappella quartet called "MMMPP" (M Clef a.k.a. Itemoh, Michael, Melvin, Peter and Paul).
Drawing inspiration from their music idol Michael Jackson, they began break dancing, formed the group called "Smooth Criminals" in 1997. They dropped M Clef from the group "MMMPP" which later was changed to "MMPP". Their artistic talent and precise dance routine made them household names in the city of Jos, where they performed at school functions and other occasions.
Later in 1999, Peter and Paul returned to music school to develop their skills on keyboard, drums, bass and rhythm guitar. Their work includes the soundtracks for a number of films like "Tobi", "Mama Sunday", "Moment of Bitterness" and "Evas River".
Later in 1999, they applied to the University of Abuja to study Business Administration. The Smooth Criminals disbanded when its members left to various other universities.
Peter and Paul formed their own group, variously called "Double P", "P&P", and "Da Pees", until they eventually settled on "P-Square".
They are managed by Bayo Odusami a.k.a. Howie T, a seasoned concert promoter and the CEO of Adrot Nigeria Limited.
In 2001, P-Square won the "Grab Da Mic" competition, and hence Benson & Hedges sponsored their debut album, titled "Last Nite", which was released under Timbuk2 music label. P-Square was also nominated as "Most Promising African Group" in the Kora Awards three months after the release of their debut album.
In 2005, P-Square released their second album, "Get Squared" under their own label, Square Records. The video for the second album held the number one position on the MTV Base chart for four straight weeks.
The group has performed alongside international artistes like Ginuwine, Sean Paul, Akon and Busola Keshiro.
Late in 2007, they released their best selling album so far, "Game Over". In 2009, P-Square released their fourth studio album, "Danger". The album features collaborations with 2face Idibia, J Martins and Frenzy.
The first single called "Danger" is a hip-hop song with cutting synths and a frog bass baseline similar to an Eminem song. The video affirms this with the presence of clowns and staggered movements in front of the camera reminiscent of comical videos by Eminem.
"On 4 April 2010, P-Square was named the Artist of the Year at the KORA All Africa Music Awards in Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso while they were in London for a Concert at the Troxy, and they will receive a whopping sum of $1 Million Dollars as the Award Winners, in Ebebiyin City.
"They have the highest video views online on their official YouTube. They have also done so many charitable works for Nigeria and Africa in general."
Source: The Herald
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