I was chased from stage because of P-Square – Flavour

Nigerian singer Chinedu Okoli, popularly known as Flavour, has recalled an early-career experience in which he was asked to leave a stage to make way for the then-popular music duo P-Square.

Speaking during a recent podcast interview, Flavour said he was performing at a club when the venue’s manager instructed him to end his performance after P-Square arrived.

Flavour said he complied, switched off his microphone and sat down while Paul Okoye began performing. He recalled noticing a significantly louder reaction from the audience when P-Square took the stage.

“I was performing one time when P-Square came in, and the manager of the place told me to leave the stage immediately. I switched off my mic and went and sat down somewhere,” he said.

According to Flavour, the experience made him question why the audience responded differently to P-Square despite both acts performing music in the same environment.

“Ladies were screaming and cheering wildly the moment Paul of P-Square took the mic and began singing ‘Temptation.’ I was wondering whether it is not the same music we are all doing because I have been performing there and the crowd had never cheered me that way,” he added.

Rather than allowing the incident to discourage him, Flavour said he used it as motivation to develop his career further.

“I didn’t let the experience discourage me. Instead, I took it as a motivation to work harder and now we are here,” he stated.

P-Square, comprising twin brothers Peter and Paul Okoye, became one of Nigeria’s most prominent music groups during the 2000s and 2010s, while Flavour went on to establish a career spanning highlife, Afrobeats and contemporary Nigerian pop music.