Banky W shares touching story on how he rose to fame#(must read)#

In a birthday tribute to his friend and fellow EME label executive,
Segun Demuren, Banky W revealed how he struggled to make it as
a successful artist with the help of Segun.
He shows that his journey to success was not an easy one at all.
Banky W wrote,
Quote
The morning of Jan 1st 2009 was one of the worst of my life.
I went to church the night before to pray in the new year.
There, I poured my heart out to God.
You see, i moved back to Lag on Feb 14th ’08. It was a tough
decision quitting my well-paid engineering job in NYC (New
York) and moving back, but I felt incomplete and unfulfilled.
That decision however, led to a tough year. I had gained some
small popularity in music, but fame comes way before fortune
in my line of work.
So yes there were videos on TV, but I was flat out broke. I’d
spent all my savings on my music business.. I was driving a
beat down car that broke down on every possible major road
in Lagos, and I had resorted to “borrowing” 5k from my
manager weekly to fuel my car and buy recharge cards. I’d
started second guessing my decision. Should I have moved
back at all? Should I have listened to folks and stayed in NYC?
It was hard. I wasn’t getting any show bookings. In fact Segun
and I used to show up to events way early just to make sure
we could get inside, and times without number we would beg
and plead to get 5 minutes to perform on shows only to get
turned down. I was frustrated. Why wasn’t my music working
here? Why couldn’t people see what we saw? Maybe I wasn’t
meant to be here?
And then after church that morning, I got accosted by armed
robbers. Driven around on the joy-ride-from-hell, roughed up,
and robbed of everything on me – phones, money, jewelry,
iPod, hat, shoes, you name it. They kept threatening to shoot
me, but I just kept praying Psalms 91 and somehow I made it
home to Segun’s house in one piece.
And while I was grateful to be alive, I sunk into further
depression. For a week plus I wouldn’t leave my room. I felt
like my whole world had come crashing down, and like I had
nothing to show for all my effort and prayers. And then Segun
walked into my room and said “Hey bro, I know it’s really bad
right now. But the good news is, this is rock bottom. You have
hit it, and you’re still alive. It can only get better from here, but
you can’t let it defeat you. You gotta get up, dust it off, and
channel all that nervous energy into making music again!!”
I was in shock. How did he expect me to just shake everything
off just like that? My mental state was a total mess. I didn’t
have a penny to even pay for the studio time, and even my car
had been bashed. I said, “Bro even if I want to record, how
would I pay for it?” He asked who I’d wanna work with and I
said Cobhams. He asked me to find out how much it would
cost. I did. The next day he walked into my room with the
entire amount in full that he had borrowed from someone.
Plus extra for cab fare.
I paid for the Cobhams sessions, and the very first song we
created was ‘Strong Ting’, till date one of my biggest hits in
Africa. The requests for performances started coming. I
started actually receiving airplay. People finally started
understanding me and my music, and better yet, they
ACTUALLY liked it! My life changed from that moment and so
did my finances.
God has used Segun to guide, direct, help, support and save
me on too many occasions. I want to wish my big brother and
role model a veryyyy happy birthday, and pray for him that he
and his family will never know lack in Jesus name. For the
seeds of kindness, love and support he has sown in my life
and many others, may God bless him and every generation
born of him. I love you forever, and I look up to you.
I shared this particular story because I also want to encourage
y’all. I know life can be hard and harsh, but don’t give up hope
after the darkest of nights, because your morning is right
around the corner.