P-Square is a Nigerian Music duo, consisting of the twin brothers Peter Okoye and Paul Okoye, who co-write and co-produce much of their records. After the disbandment of the dancing and singing group they formed in the late 1990s, Peter and Paul subsequently founded ‘P-Square’. In 2001, they won a talent show and signed a record deal with Timbuk2 Label where they released their debut album in 2003. They later founded their own label and released the following albums: Get Squared, Gameover, Danger, Invasion and Double Trouble.[4] “Gameover” Album which explored multiple societal themes such as Love, Regret, Assurance and Political Criticism, sold over 8 Million copies worldwide.[14][15] It is the only 2000s project from Nigeria to have surpassed 30M streams on Spotify, and has been considered a timeless body of work by music critics.[16][17] Some of P-Square songs include “Personally,” “Chop My Money,” “Beautiful Onyinye,” “Alingo,” “E no easy“ “Shekini,” “Do Me,” “Temptation,” “Bring it On,” “Testimony,” “Bizzy Body,” and “Gimme Dat.” In 2011, they signed a record deal with Akon’s Konvict Music. P-Square has sold more than 40M Album records as of 2011.[14][18] The duo was nominated for BET Awards, Soul Train Awards, MTV Europe Music Award, MOBO Awards and they have won KORA Awards, MTV Africa Music Awards, and Channel O Music Video Awards . They were also the first Nigerian to peak at top 5 on SNEP – French official chart and top 10 on Ultratop – Belgium official chart in 2012 with the French Version of “E no easy” featuring Matt Houston. The song was the First Afrobeats Summer hit in France. They have been referred to as the “Best African Group” by Forbes Africa consecutively. They have appeared on the Forbes Lists of the 40 most powerful celebrities in Africa.[19] In 2021, the duo reunited after their disbandment in 2017. They returned with the single ‘Jaiye’ and have announced their Reunion Tour and their forthcoming album. The twins Peter Okoye and Paul Okoye, though originally from Anambra, were born on 18 November 1981 in Jos, to Josephine Okoye – a pastor, and Pa Moses Okoye – a businessman. Peter and Paul, together with their siblings: Jude, Mary, Tony, Lilian and Ifeanyi Okoye, were raised Catholics, with Christian values. They became interested in performing arts while attending St. Murumba College, a Catholic School in Jos. They were involved in the school music and drama club and began singing and dancing, while drawing inspiration from artists like Bobby Brown, Michael Jackson, and MC Hammer.[21][22] Also while in school, they formed an A cappella quartet that eventually morphed into a more pop-oriented dance crew in which they developed choreographed routines. Their artistic talent and precise dance routine soon made them household names in the city of Jos, where they performed at school functions and other occasions. Inspired by the success of Nigeria’s team at the 1996 Summer Olympic in Atlanta, they dabbled in an unsuccessful footballing career at ‘Pepsi Football academy,’ in Jos. They played alongside Mikel John Obi at the academy, who was in the junior team then.[23][24] They would later form a music and dancing group called ‘smooth criminal’ in 1997. By 1999, they had added keyboards, bass, drum, and guitar to their skills. Their works include the soundtracks for a number of films like Tobi, Mama Sunday, Moment of Bitterness and Evas River. Despite their parents hope for them to aim for a career in academics, Peter and Paul remained committed to their musical journey. They later went to do their diploma programs at the University of Jos. After which they proceeded to University of Abuja for their degree program in 1999 to study Business Administration. P-Square possesses Tenor and Contra-alto voice type, with a range spanning from G#2 – D5. “Beautiful Onyinye,” “No one like you,” “I Love you,” “Forever,” “Omoge Mi,” and “Bring it on”, e.t.c, are some of the songs P-Square have demonstrated their vocal dexterity. P-Square has cited Bobby brown, Michael Jackson, and MC Hammer as musical inspirations. Peter stated, “…We were like a group; Paul, my elder brother Tony and I, we found ourselves miming the songs of MC Hammer, Bobby Brown and others but the main singer to push us a lot was Michael Jackson.” P-Square music is a fusion of R&B, Hip Hop, Afropop & Dance Pop. Their musical style is generalily characterized by big budget videos, love focused lyrics, relaxed rhythms, evocative and dance-floor ready music. In an interview with Wendy Williams, Paul stated, “ P-Square’s most dance and club songs come from Peter, and I am into mid tempo and love songs. While the concept for our Video directions comes from Jude.” In August 2010, P-Square signed a multi-million naira endorsement deal with Glo as the Ambassadors for the telecom company. P-Square would later collaborate with the Nigerian Veteran Musician, Lagbaja in 2013 to create a theme song titled ‘Unlimited’ for the Telecommunication giant. P-Square attracted headlines because they reportedly turned irate when they were notified by organisers in the middle of their performance at the Guinness Show about some change in plans which would affect the length of their performance, and that of the next act, Sean Paul. DJ Jimmy Jatt explained that – “According to the production plan, the live broadcast was plannned to have Sean Paul perform at the same time of Psquare’s performance. They needed to show the reggae star to the waiting viewers across the globe so as to balance the simultaneous transmission of the concert across specified countries” They were said to have immediately left the premises of the show, but after intervention of the show organisers, they returned with 2face to perform “possibility”, but later on received apology. Even though the history and evolution of Nigerian Hip hop has its influence from the fusion of American hip hop and Afrobeat, the P-Square group has been faced with controversies for their slight sampling of western songs in their records. In an interview with the host of the ‘truth show’ Olisa Adibua, they maintained that as a record producer and songwriter, one can build on any record using an existing or non-existing artistic techniques. The duo had a difference in opinion regarding what Peter perceived as a lopsidedness in individual input of songs which was getting featured on their joint albums with Paul getting a lion share of his songs selected. This led to Peter refusing to do anything associated with the name “P-Square” for weeks. He later relocated with his wife and kids from the mansion they shared. A lawyer was involved to help split their fortune as they were both involved in joint ventures over the prior years. The brothers ultimately reconciled publicly on 17 November 2021, when they both hugged and shook hands at Peter Okoye’s home in Lagos. Peter’s wife and the duo’s older brother, Jude Okoye were also present and hugged each other as well. After dating for seven years, Peter Okoye got engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Titilola Loretta Omotayo.[112] Omotayo is a marketing representative. The couple are already parents to son Cameron and daughter Aliona.[113][114][115] On 17 November 2013, the two held their traditional wedding at The Ark in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria. Public figures who attended the wedding include Aliko Dangote, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kate Henshaw, Genevieve Nnaji, Rukky Sanda, Folorunsho Alakija, May D, Toke Makinwa, Dr SID, Don Jazzy, and Karen Igho among others. Paul Okoye met Anita Isama in 2004 while attending the University of Abuja.[118][119] Their son Andre was born 11 April 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.[120][121][122] The couple married on Saturday, 22 March 2014 at the Aztech Arcum Events Centre in Port Harcourt. In January 2014, the Okoye brothers bought mansions next door to one another in Atlanta. On 27 June 2020, Peter Okoye opened up in a video on his Instagram page how he and his wife contracted COVID-19. He then urged people to adhere to safety precautions highlighted by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, to be safe from the COVID-19 pandemic.
