The Making Of A Music Empire

By reputation and first encounter, Ubi Franklin comes off as arrogant and somewhat stand-offish. But beneath this brash exterior is an innate care and desire for those around him to succeed.

"I don't have a father like Davido" the Madonna University Law graduate explains."If music doesn't work for him he can always go back to his father but I don't have a father, I only have a mother and siblings that I'm taking care of. So in a way, I am like a Davido's father because just like he has children that look up to him, I can't fail because I have my signees and siblings that look up to me."

As a young undergraduate at Madonna University, Ubi was bunkmates with music artiste, Kelly Handsome and it was there the first seeds of entertainment were planted for him. After losing his High Court judge father in 2003, Ubi came to Lagos in December 2004 to work as a Personal Assistant to his brother, who at the time was trying to put the television show 'The Intern' together. From there Ubi pitched his tent with 2face for a while trying to manage his social media accounts. This was quickly followed by a 2-year stint with Julius Agwu as his Personal Assitant.

A tip from his elder brother's friend would later lead Ubi to meeting Iyanya in 2010 after almost a year of tracking him down. But it would take another year and some subtle trickery from Ubi before the pair would later strike gold with the hit track 'Kukere'.

"At some point Iyanya travelled to Calabar and when he came back, he said he had an inspiration to do a song but he wasn't sure if people would accept it because he's a proper R&B artiste. So he recorded it but didn't finish and everyday I would listen to the song. One day I called him to come and finish it but he said that wasn't the song he wanted to drop because he preferred to do R&B and he kept delaying. Eventually I said there's someone that wants to pay us N500,000 for a show so he should come and the song because the show would be a party type show which woud fit the song. Now back in 2010, that was huge money in terms of what you could achieve with it. So when he finished it, he said ok let's take it to them and I said there's no show, I just wanted you to complete the song. So we took it to MTN and they liked it, we strategised, dropped it somehow and it peaked and started entering the charts. We shot the first video and didn't like it and shot the second one with Patrick Ellis"

From that point, its been full speed ahead for the duo as they would later go on to co-found Triple MG which currently has 5 acts including Iyanya signed. But managing the careers of music artistes does not come without its fair share of challenges and misunderstanding, however Ubi is undeterred by this.

"Artistes are very laidback people. They believe if they put out a song, it will blow. They don't understand that there are other things that need to be done. You need to beg them to do interviews, wake them up to do plug-ins and appearances because the more you're trending as an artiste, the more money you're making. The bigger your brand is, you can stay 2/3 years without releasing a song. Just like the stock market, once you're hot, you make money but when you crash everything is gone. So I just try to make everyone make the most of their moment and understand that music and their careers are as important as a bank job or something with job security. I'm just a pusher and a go-getter"

So has there been a moment when you've thought 'yes Ubi, I've done well'?

"Not yet. I want Iyanya to be the biggest artiste to come out of Africa. Have you seen when Seun Kuti performs? When Seun Kuti performs outside the country, he does proper international shows with white people everywhere, you'll go for the show and there's no black peson. I want to cut into that audience not just with Nigeria and Africa. I need to be able to go to the United States and do a stadium tour where people will be coming to see Iyanya, Tekno or any other Triple MG act. When I do that then I know I've recorded some measure of success."

With several signees under the Triple MG label, we want to know if there's any artiste Ubi would love to have on his label.

"Ice Prince" he responds without missing a beat.

"I've known him for years and he's kept that level head. We don't have a rapper on Triple MG and if you ask me what rapper I'd want it would be him. Also MI and Bridge from LOS."

And who's on your play list at the moment?

"I listen to alot of Ghanaian music and music from East Africa. I don't really listen to a lot of Nigerian music. The one song I'm feeling right now though is 'Baby Hello' by Wande Coal. In the past I could tell you every song that has been released but now I'm not really interested in the Nigerian music scene in terms of listening to the songs, I just want to push the music. If I go to the club and I hear what is being played I come back and tell my people to switch things up, either increase or reduce the tempo. But I don't just sit down and play Nigerian music instead I play music from all African countries because I want to know what the sound is like."

Ubi who wants to get married next year, possibly to someone in the industry describes his ideal woman as an understanding and supportive one who needs to be a driving force to his business. On this note he names Rihanna and Osas Ighodaro as his celebrity crushes.

"Genevieve Nnaji is very beautiful" he continues

"But I don't feel anything from a man's point of view. I see her as a role model, so maybe its because of the kind of respect I have for her that I don't really see myself crushing on her."

Driven, ambitious and a serious go-getter, Ubi is not one to care about what people think of him."If you buy my dreams and aspirations and you want to grow, you'd describe me differently but if not then you'll say I'm rude and arrogant. Triple MG is like a family and I want everyone to succeed" he concludes.