Psquare: I don’t regret being an independent artiste – Mr P

Peter Okoye, the one half of the disbanded group, Psquare, has said he does not regret his decision to pursue a solo music career.

The singer said, “Being an independent musician comes with a lot of impacts. Am doing a lot for myself now and I have no regret about it. I am opportuned to do a lot of things right now.

“Asides being a musician, I am also into real estate. I have launched my lottery platform. Every month I give out N2 million to four individuals.”

The talented singer-dancer, who now goes by the name Mr P, said this on a radio interview with Cool FM’s Do2dtun and Kemi Smallz in Lagos on Wednesday.

Coincidentally, the interview aired on his elder brother and former Psquare manager, Jude’s birthday.

So, when the radio host asked if he wished his brother a happy birthday, Mr. P said, “I am not on speaking terms with my brothers. But, as I said, I have no hard feelings. I will always wish my brothers the best of life.”

When a caller asked what his brother, Jude, currently does for a living since Psquare fell apart, he said, “I honestly don’t know what he does these days because I mind my business.”

The 37-year-old musician also spoke at length about the creative process with his previous team and the untold behind-the-scenes stories while making music with his Psquare.

He said, “When I was still with PSquare people didn’t know what I did, they thought I wasn’t contributing anything to the group. They didn’t know I set up Psquare’s official band and I was very involved in our video shoots.

“But today, I am expressing myself, now that I am a solo artiste. While shooting my new video which features Niniola I was involved in the styling and everyone was surprised because they didn’t know I could do all that I currently do.”

Mr. P also revealed his future plans as an independent music artiste.

“I am working on my clothing line and I also have a beverage factory in the pipeline. As a solo artiste, I can decide when not to travel or go do anything and enjoy my family time.

“Not the one that my kids would go on family holidays and I can’t go because when I am going, they’ll (Psquare) say we have a show. Now I can decide,” he said.

The singer recently released the visual for his latest single, One More Night, which featured Afro-house artiste, Niniola.

Speaking on the collaboration, Mr. P noted that he wrote the song when he was still performing with his brother as Psquare.

He added that he decided to feature Niniola on the song because he wanted to maintain his original sound.

“One More Night is older than every other song I have released. I did this song back in PSquare. I’m more like an R and B person, but the second verse of the song has a bit more of the Fuji.

“So I said, Peter if you want to start out this, be you. Because leaving the group and doing the same thing is a no! I wanted to carve out myself even if it doesn’t work out,” he said.

“At the moment, I have spent almost 20 years doing things for the people, now start doing it for yourself. So I had One More Night and said let me cool the situation down. So what I did was I removed the second verse and called Nini. And she did it. The song sounds all fresh in my ears again with a fantastic video and amazing woman.”

Mr. P also debunked cheating allegations levelled against him by Tanzanian music star, Diamond Platnumz.

The latter claimed that Mr. P had an affair with his estranged wife, Zari.

P-Square split in September 2017, after Peter allegedly accused Paul and their elder brother Jude of shortchanging him. They began their career in 2003.

In March 2016, the duo disagreed over what Peter perceived as lopsidedness in individual input of songs, which was getting featured on their joint albums.

Peter accused Paul of being uncooperative and ruining their plans as a group for a musical tour in the U.S.

The twins, known for their engaging dance routines and electronic style songs, dominated the Nigerian music industry for many years and became pop idols.