Obesere Reveals Secret Behind His Name

Obesere, whose real name is Abass Akande has revealed the secret behind his name.

News Rain gathered that the popular Fuji musician and the self-acclaimed paramount king of music who was recently installed  Bobagunwa of Yorubaland, while featuring on a radio magazine program in Ibadan on Tuesday said Obesere, was the nickname given to Adeleke Adesanya, one of his band boys, who always got angry whenever people referred to him as such.

Obesere Said More About His Name

He said: “I can say a little about the origin of the name Obesere. It is the name of one of my band boys who handled the beaded calabash (Sekere).

“His name is Adeleke Adesanya. We grew up together at Ebute Metta. People called him Obesere whenever they see him. This used to make him angry.

“When he was on stage, he would signal that he would deal with them later. He was popular than me.

“When I saw that he rejected this name, I took it up and everything changed for the better.

“With the Obesere sobriquet, some people later said I was using the name to ridicule women, but I hate people abusing women because my mother was also a woman.

“So, I dropped the name for a while, but when my band boys who went to East Ebute Meta said that another person claimed that he was the original Obesere, I had to take up the name again.”

Asked about why he is no longer singing only lewd songs, Obesere, who released an album, titled: “Standout.” and had in the past, high selling albums like Diplomacy, Oodua, OBTK, Mr. Teacher, Overthrow, Oba Idan among others to his credit, said as a professional one must be able to adapt to every situation and audience.

Abass Akande Obesere, also known as Omo Rapala, is a native of Ibadan.

He forced his way into the limelight through his “vulgar” songs, which openly touch on issues that are considered taboo in the conservative Yoruba community.

Following the paths of other successful musicians such as Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Obesere also has taken his own brand of Fuji Music all over the world. He was initially signed with Sony Music but moved onto other labels after payment disputes. He is currently signed with Mayors Ville Entertainment an artist management firm, a subsidiary of Maxgolan Entertainment Group, a record company located in Lagos, Nigeria.