Controversial artiste, Ruggedman, was definitely not one of Kenny Ogungbe’s best friends especially after ‘dissing’ the Kennis Music boss in his then hit song, Ehen.
But now, Ruggedy Baba, as he is also known, may have realised his mistakes as he told Saturday Beats recently that he had apologised to Baba Keke (as Ogungbe is also called).
“When I did the song, Ehen, I didn’t really know him. But I believe I had to do what I did. Whenever anyone asked me about the song, I would say it was not a personal thing but a musical thing. Whenever I see Baba Keke, I greet him and I give him his respect because he is older than me.
“Right now, everybody is enjoying because of what I did back then. Even if they do not want to give me the due credit, people who know the truth know it. From my end, myself and Kenny Ogungbe are fine and I have actually apologised because I believe that if you do something that annoys an elder and you cannot apologise, then it is personal. I have seen him and apologised and we have partied together a lot and anywhere I see him, I greet him,” he said.
But Baba Keke wasn’t the only person that Ruggedy fell out with.
Back in the days, he and another rap artiste, Mode9, were reportedly at loggerheads and even went as far as recording ‘beef’ songs targeted at each other.
But Ruggedman told Saturday Beats he did not have any issue with Mode9 because the rap artiste did not mention his name in any of his ‘beef’ songs.
Ruggedman said, “Mode9 is a rap artiste like me but unfortunately for him, he has some issues with me. But then, in most of his songs, he never came out to mention my name. That is why I did a song called, To Whom it May Concern. If he wants to talk about me, he should say it to let me hear and he should call my name. He never called my name, so as far as I am concerned, he was not talking to me. I am a very direct person and when people said I should reply him, I asked on what basis? Mode9 was just rapping and rappers brag. When it comes to me and Mode9, we are both rappers, doing what we know how to do best. Like I always say, I wish everybody the best.”
Ruggedman was also in a messy scandal when it was alleged that he had an affair with 9ice’s ex-wife, Toni Payne, leading to the crisis in the marriage.
The rapper denied the incident and said that all he was trying to do was to clear his name from the messy scandal.
“As for 9ice, I have not seen him in a long time but all I wanted to do was to clear my name from the whole issue that happened. To me, it was a bad thing. In Nigeria, it is bad to be branded as a home breaker and that was why I fought tooth and nail to clear my name. I never had any issue with 9ice and he never told me directly that he had any issue with me. Even in his song, Once Beaten, Twice Shy, he never mentioned my name; neither did he mention Toni Payne.
“I did not reply the song but I talked to him because it was his song that was causing the whole problem. I called him like a friend was supposed to do and told him that his song was causing some issues that I did not like. I asked if he was talking about me and he said no and I told him to tell his publicist to clear my name but he refused and I wondered why. I watch too many American movies, so I recorded the phone conversation because I felt that for you to have kept quiet for over six months and the whole story started from your song, then his silence meant a lot of things. I told them that I would give him a week to clear my name and when he did not do anything, I put out the conversation.
“When I called him at first, he said he was too busy to do anything but when I posted the conversation, he suddenly had time to talk and even had time to record a song to ‘diss’ me. Unfortunately ‘dissing’ me is like going into the bush with a stick to fight a hunter. I was sorting the whole thing out my way but when he put it into music, I had to respond because he mentioned my name in the song. I did not reply by insulting him, instead I reminded him of how he started, where he came from and where he is in life right now. I reminded him of what I did for him and for him to go against me was not right and I ended it with ‘God bless you.’
“What I learnt from the whole scenario is the need to be very careful and expect anything from anybody. Although that is how I have been living my life, I did not expect it from somebody that was close to me. But now, I expect it from everybody including my mother. Now I am careful about everybody and everything,” he said.