Obviously, when he was thinking of the album sometime between 1999 and the turn of the century into year 2000, he could not have seen the kind of success awaiting his creative thought coming. One experience, as you would soon find out, must just have inspired him though, but he deserved all the credit for taking full advantage of it.
The first hint of the novel concept used in the musical production anyone would have back then was its promo on a very popular Yoruba mystique programme titled:" Nkan Nbe" (Mysteries of Life) and presented by a charismatic and consummate broadcaster who is now late, Kolawole Olawuyi. Do you remember him? The man who was fond of describing himself as "eniti okuru, ti ko'ga, ti ko dudu ti ko pupa… amo ti ofi irunmu se fensi ete" (the one who is neither short nor tall, not dark nor fair… but has moustache as a fence between his nose and lips).How funny that was.
Meanwhile, when for the first time the song was played on the radio, OGBC 2 90.5 F.M., Abeokuta, Ogun State, between 8 and 10 pm on a Friday, the day of the week that the programme used to hit the airwaves and it began with the line: "Iku lo n meja kakooo, Iku lo n meja kakooo, mo nsere ju Pasuma lo, mo nsere ju Obesere e, irin ise lo n dami laamu uuu, irinse lo dami laamu ooo,irin ise lo n dami laamu uuu, kama puro kama ma jale, mo ya Pasuma l'ohun... "Hmmmnnn...
Expectedly,listeners to the promo of the song were stunned by the sheer confidence of a rather unknown artiste boasting against relatively established ones of not just being better than them but also claiming he lent them the tone of voice they were singing with. In case you don't understand the import of the line of music above, it goes thus by English translation:" if not for death, it would not have been easy to roll a fish in preparation for roasting it, I'm a better artiste than Pasuma and Obesere, but the only problem I have is lack of musical instruments. Let me even disclose a top secret that I am the one who lent Pasuma the tone of voice he sings with!"
What effrontery, you say. That was the same feeling those who were old enough back then to understand the “grave” allegation the artiste was leveling against the Fuji artistes. But immediately he dropped that line, it was quite amusing to hear the voices of the challenged artistes viz: Pasuma, Obesere and Shefiu Alao, repectively, coming into the song to defend themselves. And they did not only defend themselves, they took their challenger to the cleaners with their individual defensive compositions.
And who is this challenger being talked about since? Delaying his identity is deliberate because he requires full introduction. Gbenga Allinson nick-named Shoshogirisho obviously due to his height did not start off as an artiste. He was and still is, a freelance broadcaster and one of the few talents who had the rear privilege of tapping from the wealth of knowledge, experience and ingenuity of three of the best there were, at that time.
According to findings by Saheed Ojubanire Online, Shoshogirisho had his training in the broadcasting world from late Toba Opaleye, late Gbenga Adeboye (Jengbetiele) and later had a stint with Kolawole Olawuyi under whom he released the ground-breaking collaborative album titled:"Knock-Out."
Reports even have it that the initial title given by Shoshogirisho to the album was "Challenge" but it was Kola Olawuyi who changed it to "Knock-Out," and it sold so well that Kola Olawuyi also had to buy Shoshogirisho a car after giving him good money when the album was released in the year 2000.
And talking about where Shoshogirisho must have gotten the inspiration, it cannot be too far from the case of an eccentric man claiming to be an artiste and had to feature on one of Gbenga Adeboye's entertaining programmes on radio where the man claimed that Pasuma stole his voice before being able to hit the limelight as a Fuji artiste. It was a matter many listeners took as another joke from Funwontan as Gbenga Adeboye was also known until the man frankly insisted it was true while being interviewed. The man did not give up until he was ridiculed on the programme by not being able to sing when asked to sing one of his own songs. And it was around that period "Knock-Out" came out. Hence, Shoshogirisho’s inspiration could easily be traced to that by those who listened to the eccentric man’s apparent false claims.
So for those who are doing joint or collaborative albums here and there today, especially, the Islamic artistes, they should always give kudos to Shoshogirisho who is today the Public Relations Officer to Shefiu Alao, for setting the pace.
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