By Musa Jibril
If the name Innocent Ujah Idibia did not immediately ring a bell, mentioning 2face or Tubaba will certainly rouse your emotion. To some of his numerous fans, he is the muse of Afro pop. By music he acquired a fame that spread beyond the shores of Nigeria. For some years, he was one of the proud exports of the country’s vibrant music. There is no doubting the world-classiness of his talent. If talents are to be measured by a hoard of coveted honours like MTV (Europe &Africa), MOBO, KORA, Channel O, BET, and a slew of headies awards, then Tuface Idibia (now rebranded Tubaba) is the real McCoy.
His talent was the most apparent when his Plantashun Boiz group released Body and Soul (2000). In the hip hop vortex of the early 2000s, he cut a niche for himself as an inimitable hit maker with the release of his solo debut Face 2 Face (2004) album, which spawned the colossal hit, African Queen, a love anthem for all seasons, that swept Africa off its feet and swept across the Atlantic to Jamaica where it became almost a folk tune and to America where it was adopted as soundtrack for the 2006 comedy Phat Girlz.
Tuface’s impressive collection of singles––including True Love, Implication, See Me So, 4 Instance, and Enter The Place––is a testament to the fact he is not a one-hit wonder.
Since his move away from Kennis Music after the release of his second album Grass 2 Grace (2006), he’s transformed from a mere songwriter and vocalist to a record producer, releasing four more studio albums ( The Unstoppable, 2008; The Unstoppable International Edition, 2010; Away &Beyond 2012; The Ascension 2014) under his music label, Hypertek Entertainment. In a decade, he matured from afro pop poster boy to the genre’s godfather as the music stage became congested with wunderkinds and wannabes. He broadened the business side of him by owning hotels and clubs in Lagos. His non-profit, 2Face Idibia Reach-Out Foundation, also takes part of his time. Once brand ambassador of Guinness and Nigerian Breweries, Idibia was also in 2009 appointed face of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC.
If you discount the minor blight of the ban of his Enter The Place video by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, his only serious stigma was his indiscretion with women––a character flaw that made him the butt of jokes of some Nigerian smart-mouthed comedians. His bachelor years were well invested in well-publicised romance with three different women that ended in children out of wedlock. Now a father of seven children by three women, he eventually settled down to marriage with Annie Macaulay, his longtime sweetheart. Since the Dubai White Wedding in 2013, there has been neither whiff nor whisper of a Tuface scandal.
For the most part of his career, he has lived wholesomely, quietly; neither one for needless beefing, nor disposed to the so-called celebrity blings or binge, and his songs, simple, clean, pidginised and down-to-earth. He remains one of Nigeria’s best selling pop artistes and a cult figure.
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