Remembering Legendary Sound Sultan

Ferdinand Ekechukwu

To mark the occasion of his death anniversary, the management of the late iconic singer, Olanrewaju Fasasi, best known as Sound released his posthumous album on Monday July 11. They were joined by his fans, friends, family and colleagues to remember him. The singer was working on the project before he passed on a year ago.

Titled ‘Reality CHQ’, the album listening party was held across three different cities of the world last Sunday night, including New York, London, and Lagos. The album was described as a special endeavour in a video posted on Sultan’s page by his brother, Baba Dee, who spoke from the listening party in New York.

He said, “We are having the one year remembrance of Sound Sultan, the great iconic Nigerian singer and we are having his official listening party for the album, Reality CHQ. This was the album Sound Sultan was working on before he answered the call of the Almighty. This is a very special project.

“I promised myself this project will come out and people will get to hear the voice of Sound Sultan and it’s coming out on the 11th of July.”  

Days back, the first posthumous single by the artiste was released across streaming platforms prior to the album listening party. The 3-minutes-13 seconds long single titled ‘Friends’ was released on  Friday and was the first offering from his posthumous album.

The accompanying music video shows basketball players, an activity he was passionate about. Same the likes of Basketmouth, IK Osakioduwa, ID Cabasa, and a few others were captured holding a photo of the singer in tribute to him towards the end. Produced by ID Cabasa, the song digs into the late singer’s Afrobeats prowess with a beat reminiscent of Fela’s ‘Water No Get Enemy.

He sings about friends who turn around to stab people in the back, noting that it is better to have that one true friend than several secret enemies. Known by different monikers, prominent among which is the Naija Ninja, Sultan passed away at 44 on July 11, 2021, after a “hard-fought battle” with throat cancer. The late Sound Sultan was reputed for using his music to speak against poverty, corruption, bad governance and societal ills in Nigeria.

At 44, the age he passed on, not a few of Nigeria’s political class can be said to have impacted lives as Sound Sultan. He was regarded as one of the pacesetters of modern music in Nigeria. A 1999 graduate of Lagos State University where he obtained a degree in geography and regional planning, by same year had won multiple talent shows.

In 2000, he released his breakthrough hit ‘Mathematics’ — a song on which he used BODMAS to advocate a new approach to governance in Africa. After independently releasing other singles, the musician joined Kennis Music. Under Kennis Music, Sound Sultan made four studio albums. In total, eight studio albums were credited to him, including Kpseeeeew (2001), Textbook (2004), Naija 007 (2007), Back to The Future (2010), Me, My Mouth, and Eye (2012), Out of The Box (2016), and 8th Wondah (2020).

Sound Sultan starred in films like ‘The Washerman’ (2018), Head Gone (2014), ‘Campus Queen’ (2004) and a web series by comedian Basketmouth titled ‘Papa Benji’ (2020). In a February 2021 interview shortly before he died, he spoke of some of his projects in the works including music compilations and sitcoms. An ardent fan of basketball even before he became a music star contributed to the development of the sport in Nigeria.