P-Square: The End of an Era

Undisputedly one of Africa’s greatest musical exports to the world, the now defunct Nigerian R&B duo of identical twin brothers Peter and Paul Okoye have rocked our worlds over the past two decades with a series of mega smash hits.

P-Square began their musical journey way back in St. Murumba secondary school (a small Catholic school in Jos, Nigeria). The talented brothers joined their school music and drama club where they began singing, dancing, and mimicking songs by legends such as MC Hammer, Bobby Brown and Michael Jackson.

In 1999, after forming a music crew and attending music school to hone their skills on the keyboard, drums, bass and rhythm guitars, Peter and Paul applied to the University of Abuja to study Business Administration.

After other members of their previously formed crew all left to pursue new dreams, the twins formed their own group which they called “Double P”, “P&P”, and “Da Pees”, until they eventually stuck with “P-Square”.

In 2001, the twin brothers won the “Grab Da Mic” competition, and had the release of their debut album “Last Nite” sponsored by Benson & Hedges under the Timbuk2 Music label.

Three months after the release of the album, P-Square was nominated as “Most Promising African Group” at the prestigious Kora Awards. A coupe of years later, they took home the 2003 Amen Award for “Best R&B Group”.

P-Square commissioned their second studio album “Get Squared” under their own label, Square Records in 2005. The album contained hits such as “Bizzy Body”, “Omoge Mi”, “Temptation” and “Oga Police”.

Two years later in 2007, the duo who had already become one of the biggest artistes on the Nigerian music radar released their best selling album so far, “Game Over” which reportedly sold 8 million copies worldwide.

2009 saw the duo drop their critically-acclaimed fourth studio album, “Danger” which notably featured collaborations with 2Baba and J Martins. The very next year, P-Square took home the highly coveted “Artist of the Year” award at the 2010 Kora Awards in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Up until 2014 when P-Square released their sixth studio album titled “Double Trouble” and beyond, the sensational superstars continued to practically dominate the African music scene with their unprecedented string of super scorchers, multiple continental sold out concerts and mega international collaborations with the likes of Akon, Rick Ross and T.I.

Much to their ardent fans’ utter dismay, after over two years of trying without success to keep the public from getting wind of the major strain which their ostensibly harmonious relationship was suffering, Peter and Paul finally cut their ties after a highly publicized and surprisingly messy split.

Peter and Paul who now go by the stage names Mr. P and Rudeboy have continued to make considerably great music since their split, just no longer together as indomitable P-Square.

Paul has stuck to the traditional P-Square vibe which ardent fans of the duo easy identify with and have come to love, and has continued to thrill lovers of his music with scorchers such as “Nkeji Keke”, “Fire Fire” and “Somebody Baby”.

Peter on the other hand is clearly on a path that’s more or less a complete departure from the erstwhile status quo, as he now does music that’s much more inclined to the acclaimed style of dance he has become well known for. This is evident on his offerings such as “Cool It Down”, “My Way” and “Look Into My Eyes”.

Presently, there seems to be next to no chance of a P-Square reunion anytime soon, meaning that this just might be the end of one the best eras in Nigerian music history as know it.

However, even though some might argue that Peter is doing better on his own than his brother Paul while others vehemently disagree, claiming Paul is the better one instead, one thing virtually every fan of P-Square can agree with is that – just like Macaroni and Cheese – Peter and Paul go better together.