9ice Hooked for the 3rd Time

Hip hop, Afro pop musician Abolore Adegbola Akande popularly known as 9ice may not be as successful in marriage as he is in music. As one of Nigeria’s most celebrated artistes, he is recognised as the first Nigerian pop artiste to release two albums in a year, twice. While in marriage, he is recognised as the only Nigerian musician to marry the third time after two unsuccessful marriages, writes Ferdinand Ekechukwu

Nigerian singer Abolore Akande aka 9ice has had his fair share of broken marriage, however, it appears the music star is willing to give marriage a shot once again as he ties the knot with one of his baby mamas, Olasunkami Ajala, who he has a daughter with. His wife and mother of his fourth child, Sunkanmi Ajala is an event planner based in Lagos.

The Alapomeji Ancestral Records boss, 9ice in the past few months, has been away from the spotlight aside from a couple of singles which he released. The musician has also been away from controversies which he was known for in the past. Unknown to many, the award winning singer has been taking out time to be with his fiancée, Olasunkanmi who is the Creative Director of Lagos-based events management and decor company, De Sky Events.

Details of their relationship became public in 2015 when Olasunkanmi uploaded a photo of them on her company’s Instagram page. Since then, they have been off and on together. The two welcomed their daughter, Michelle Abolanle Akande, five years ago. The wedding took place this week and it was a glamorous one.

The beautiful Sunkanmi had earlier posted pre-wedding pictures to herald their wedding day.

In her post, she wrote: “You’re my fairytale in the making….. #countdowntoforever #beautyand9ice.” In response, the singer who has a five-year-old daughter with his baby mama, described her as his “longtime dream”. “Adigun Alapomeji” as he’s fondly called also thanked her for embarking on the journey with him. He wrote: “The Winning Team. My long time Dream. Happy U agreed to Embark on this journey with me. Pure Through You And You. Olasunkanmi Akande. #countdowntoforever #beautyand9ice.”

This is the third time the singer will be getting married. 9ice second marriage to Adetola Anifalaje, a United States based software engineer in 2018 was more dramatic. He decided to go digital by marrying Adetola Anifalaje via Skype. They had three wedding ceremonies which took place between March, July, and August of the same year. The marriage with Adetola is blessed with a daughter, Milani- Francoise Imisioluwa Akande.

9ice’s first marriage was to Toni Payne in 2008 and they had a child. After it collapsed, he got into a brief romance with Abuja-based Victoria ‘Vicky’ Godis who is a sibling to popular OAP, Oreka Godis. Godis bore him a set of twins who have since stopped bearing his surname due to his absence from their lives.

Then he moved on to Sunkanmi, who bore him a girl in 2014, after which their relationship went sour.

Victoria Godis who gave birth to 9ice’s twins – Azeezat Maya and Hadiza Maya, is the only baby mama out of the four that has not tested marriage with 9ice.

The “Street Credibility” crooner has been so unlucky when it comes to marriage. His first attempt with Toni Payne in 2008 ended bitterly for him to the extent he used it to sing “Twice Bitten”, a song he featured Nigerian soul singer, Asa. His marriage with Payne didn’t just end in pain; it produced his first son named Zion.

The 39-year-old hip hop, Afro pop musician 9ice was born into a polygamous family with his Muslim father marrying five wives. Following the success of his “Gongo Aso” album, having recorded his first demo, titled Risi De Alagbaja, in 1996, and his first solo song, “Little Money” in 2000, 9ice had to wait until 2005 before gaining recognition in the Nigerian music market. The first major break for 9ice came from his first single, “Little Money”.

Soon after this, he did collaborations with different Nigerian artistes that prompted the release of another hit single, “Ganja Man”. ID Cabasa produced this single, which was released with other songs in March 2006. The reggae tone and playful style of the song made it an instant hit. 9ice later founded his own record company and released all other albums under that label, Alapomeji Records. 9ice’s debut album “Certificate” was relatively successful, and included the songs “Little Money”, “Ganja Man”, “Make Dem Talk” and “Music Daddy”.

His sophomore album “Gongo Aso”, notable for his hit song ‘Gongo Aso’ included songs covering success, originality, partying and women, as well as themes on the institution of marriage and gratitude. He has nine studio albums to his name which includes; Certificate (2007), Gongo Aso (2008), Tradition (2009), Versus (2011) Bashorun Gaa (2011), Deluxe Version Versus & Bashorun Gaa (2011), CNN/GRA (2014), ID Cabasa (2016) and Greatest of All Times—G. O. A. T (2018).

As one of Nigeria’s most celebrated artistes, “Baale” is recognised as the first Nigerian pop artiste to release two albums in a year, twice. He achieved this feat in 2011 when he released the albums Bashorun Gaa and Versus simultaneously to critical acclaim. He would repeat the same feat in 2014 when he released Cancelling Numerous Negativity (CNN) and Galvanizing Right Ahead (GRA) albums simultaneously.

However, this move proved to backfire as both albums flopped in the market. Some say his involvement in politics at the time had an effect on the overall quality of the albums as well as the marketing strategy employed to push the albums.

For the prolific singer in 2016 released his “ID Cabasa” album. The album was so named after his longtime friend and superstar music producer ID Cabasa who single-handedly produced 9ice’s debut and sophomore albums.

The relationship between the two had been strained over the years and naming the album after ID Cabasa was part of 9ice’s effort to reconnect and re-establish their relationship. 9ice gave all monetary proceeds from the album to ID Cabasa. Commercially and quality wise, the album was adjudged better than CNN/GRA.