Money can’t tear us apart —Hypa

HYPA brothers are currently signed to Dream Records label and have been getting a lot of attention in the last few months. Inspired by King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey, HYPA, in this interview with SEGUN ADEBAYO,  speaks about their music journey and plans to put their career on the map.

How would you describe the music journey so far?

It has been challenging and tasking. We started as studio rats, recording songs back to back.  All the while, we were undergraduates. It was quite challenging doing music and attending classes at the same time. A lot of times, our pocket money was used for studio sessions and we would go hungry for days. But, we thank God that Dreams Records gave us a call on our last day in the university and since then, it’s been a changed story.

 Singing together as brothers is not new in the industry. How are you working to make sure that yours will be different?

We have a different sound and we are bringing the old school vibe into the new school. We want to make the new generation feel the richness of highlife as a genre. Highlife music has been with us for a very long time but, many new musicians are not in that genre. So, we believe that by doing highlife and adding some new beats to it, we can make good music that people will appreciate.

How was it for the two of you to start music, and whose idea was it for you to come together?

Music for us has been there for a very longtime and we’ve always been together as brothers. So, it wasn’t difficult for us to do music together but, Ray came up with the idea of us coming together as one.

How do you think you can sustain the group now that we hear of brothers being torn apart over love of money?

Yes, we hear of that a lot of times, but Hypa is going to be here for life. We’ve always worked on ourselves and sometimes set challenges to build ourselves, as we’ve heard different stories of why groups split. We’ve worked on it, but definitely, money can’t tear us apart. There are groups that have stayed together as well, despite all odds. It’s not all groups that split. We believe that Hypa will not split.

Are you saying money can’t split you guys?

Doing music together for us is more than just making money. It’s also about the joy that we derive when we are with each other and doing what we love. Apart from the fact that we are brothers, we are friends, I mean best friends, and business partners. The understanding has been a major key for us, it’s a lifetime experience.

How would you describe the level you have attained now, and how close are you to fulfilling your dreams?

It’s been awesome, it’s been God; big thanks to our label, Dreams Records, Our CEO Ebony, our MD Big Larry, the management team, our PR team, Zebra Stripes Networks, our fans, media, clubs, DJs for their love and making our dream a reality, We released a new song and video entitled:  ‘Alert’ and since then, the support has been massive, we are close and at the same time, there’s still a long way to go.

Do you think you can go far as a group?

The sky is the starting point. We intend to break many barriers that some musicians face. We have resolved to stick with each other, not just because we are brothers but, also because we believe we can achieve a lot together.

Who writes the song?

We both write the songs. We are songwriters as well as musicians. So, we have huge credit as well, to every of our songs.

What’s the idea behind your new song, Alert?

The song was actually inspired by the current economic crisis, the recession and all. We were in the studio that day, very hungry and our producer and some of our friends were in the studio. There was no fuel and no light, and we called a friend to send us some money. Our phones were off at that time, till 4:00p.m. There was nothing, until the  restored and we plugged our phones and behold ‘na Alert oo’, it was 3k but,  you need to see the joy on the faces of everyone, DJ Exdot just shouted ‘Opelope Oyinbo’ but for technology and the invention of sms alert by the white people, we would have slept hungry.

PSquare just released Bank Alert, hope you are not trying to copy their song?

No.  If you listen to the two songs, you would observe they have different contents just similar titles, much respect to PSquare, they are legends we look up to and also love and respect.

Who and What inspired your style of music?

We listened to legends like Sir Shina Peters, King Sunny Ade, Plantashun Boiz, and Chief Ebenezer Obey. They inspired our style of music. Our environment, experiences and what we are going through also contributed to the songs we do.

How did you get signed to Dreams Records?

Signing to dreams Records was a dream come true for us. It was like a talent-hunt online. They listened to a couple of our songs and the CEO, Ebony, pulled a call through to us to come for a meeting. It was the exact day we wrote our final papers in the university, and having promised our parents to finish school before going all out on our music career, we can say the deal came at God’s time.