Dekunle Fuji now a Nurse, what in God's name?

My name's DMSquared. I'm Nigerian. I am a Gospel Hip hop Artist. This is my first blog.

Yesterday while I was on the set of my 'Caterpillar Remix' video shoot, someone happened to mention Dekunle Fuji was now a registered nurse in the US.  Apparently I happened to be in Maryland, US myself last month and someone mentioned that he was into IT.  Naturally the conflicting info left me quite confused so  I decided to click on a couple of links. Dekunle Fuji is a Nurse. Nursing is a dignified profession, but why would a Nigerian Gospel Star swich careers so surreptitiously?  taken aback, my thoughts meandered down a hazy maze and eventually I came to a conclusion. It was probably the lesser of two evils.

Let me explain. The Nigerian Gospel music industry is a weird place. Your supporters expect great music, top class videos and advancement in your career yet they do not want to pay for the music, shows or anything whatsoever. Most Gospel Artistes are dependent on invitations by Pastors to minister (sing a couple of your songs on their stage/platform as part of the service) where they get honorariums ( usually cash gifts; the amount  is at the discretion of the Pastor) to survive. Needless to say this kind of lifestyle is not sustainable. The Churches have projects they are working on which need funding so the chances they give the Artiste a generous honorarium are few and far between.

Some Churches are an exception and huge events like 'The Experience' et al are the precipice of alot of Nigerian Gospel Artistes dreams.In reality, there is a limit to the number of  Artistes they can accommodate. Most of these events are yearly anyway.

The Gospel Artist has his song screened on radio and usually have to contend with  3hrs of airplay on Sunday morning. The Churches also throw a monkey wrench into the situation when they castigate any traces of 'wordliness' in Gospel Acts but invite secular Acts as headliners at Gospel events and the congregations go wild! To butress my point here's Dbanj at Faith Terbanacle giving a testimony   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX8qmcZprHU maybe I should go release a video like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtJ8GjtJYa8 and come give a testimony about my awards.

The average Nigerian Gospel Act's life is not sustainable. Why should Artistes who write the Gospel songs Christian billionaires worship to not be able to own a car?! At so many Gospel events I attend, I see how alot of popular Gospel artistes take okadas or have to take the bus home. I'm talking about known names in the industry. Who is to blame? the churches? the supporters who  have corporate or private events and choose to patronize secular artistes?
 who pay 30k for VIP tickets for a secular show and expect Gospel events to be free?

A couple of years ago, Dekunle had a disastrous outing at 'The Experience', this might have affected demand from the already notoriously difficult Gospel industry. He probably saw his trip to the US as an olive leaf and was advised that Nursing is a highly sought after skill in the US and jumped at the oppurtunity. What was the oppurtunity cost of Dekunle's decision? A Gospel Minstry in Nigeria where he probably would have to lobby to get into major events and played 'I wonder how much my honorarium will be?' a kind of Holy Russian Roluette Gospel Artistes go through. Hopefully once he's a bit settled we'll hear new material from him. DM d Boss.