Nigerian veteran dancehall star John Asiemo, popularly known as Daddy Showkey, has recounted a harrowing near-death experience.
Daddy Showkey, alongside his contemporaries, African China, Danfo Drivers, Baba Fryo, and Marvelous Benjy, were Ajengunle’s most prominent music exports from the 1990s until the early 2000s.
The 53-year-old revealed in an interview on the latest episode of the Honest Bunch podcast that he was once a notorious gang member.
Daddy Showkey, the ‘Galala’ hitmaker, noted that he and his gang members had access to guns, which they used to terrorise residents of Ikorodu in Lagos.
He said: “I was in a gang back in the day. I won’t lie. Some of us found a gun that we used to pick valuables from a refuse dump in Ikorodu. We started using guns to terrorise the area. Showing them we now have guns.
“One day, when we were out in our usual style, one of the boys saw us and started screaming, ‘Thieves, thieves, thieves’ and we ran. They caught me and my friend, and they tied us up, and they were going to burn us.”
He stated that one of his friends, whom he identified as 91A, was caught and burned alive on a road in Ajegunle.
Living Testimony
The singer said he is proof to every young man that they could become somebody.
“I am a living testimony for every young man because If I, John, can be alive today to become Daddy Showkey, nobody can’t become someone.
We were saved miraculously, but unfortunately, they caught 91A and burnt him alive on the new road in Ajegunle. I was mimicking snakes and all sorts of animals,” he said.
Daddy Showkey noted that the incident, however, made him popular.
He said, “It was that day I became famous. I have always told them in Ajegunle that they see me on the television. People are usually ashamed to talk about their past because it’ll be used to mock them, but I’m not. I don’t care. I was a lion in a garage. Someone told me to use my voice to shout in the garage for singing.”
READ ALSO: FLASHBACK: Remembering late Sam Loco, his music career
In 2020, he narrated how a ghastly accident almost ended his music career and left him bedridden for three years.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that he was involved in an accident in 2007 while returning from the birthday party of fellow singer Olu Maintain.
His music career suffered a setback following the accident that adversely affected his spine.
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