Competition is very healthy. My competition makes me grow. I watch my competitors and am like, so this is what you guys are doing and I try to reinforce, it’s just to learn from them, put something out, you listen to it, learn from my mistakes and it goes on and on
Jibola Toriola popularly known as JHYBO was in an interview conducted by Mr Ayo Alex Alao (CEO) Jetheights Services in Ibadan.
You are welcome to Jetheights services. Let me tell you about us. We are into I.T Solution Services, Advertising and H.R. We are a fast-growing organization that builds small and medium-sized companies; our focus is on Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa as the gateway to Africa. Jetheights Services Ltd is a web Service Company that operates in both the United Kingdom and Nigeria. Stars Connect network is a programme that brings together entrepreneurs, business owners, inspirational speakers, pastors, and leaders in the society, upcoming leaders, artistes, NGOs, people making an impact in the society and the world at large.
We conduct interview sessions in our studio to find out everything we can about their journey to stardom. In the future, we also hope to bring together stars who can be of benefit to one another or who can synergize with Jetheights in order to impact the community. By doing this we can reach out to everyone in the society especially the youths in order for them to make good use of their youthfulness and channel their energy towards positive and productive activity.
It’s great to have you today on stars connect. You are in fact the first celebrity we are interviewing on stars connect.
Wow. That’s wonderful.
Could you please introduce yourself to the stars connect community?
My name is Jibola Toriola. My stage name is JHYBO
Tell us a bit about who you are?
I am a musician as you well know. When you mentioned HR it caught my attention, because I worked in an H.R Firm before I took music professionally. I worked so well. I was suspended for about a year because the workload was too much and it was difficult to combine my music with my work. From then on I learnt how to be very conscious of my duty.
I think I watched one of your music videos a couple of years ago, you said something like “ejo lo fe ro oroki lo f eta” I think that was where you broke out?
Yes. Sure.
A lot of people will compare you to few other artists, can you tell us about that?
In music there will be comparison. Just like your company will be compared to other companies. I studied mass communication in school and under the life span of a product there’s the retentive stage which is the final stage, there’s the competitive stage, there’s also the first stage which am not going to talk about. The stage that I am interested is the competitive stage and the retentive stage.
Can you please tell us about the competitive stage? We would like to know your take on competition in the music industry.
The competitive stage is where you need to show how good you are. Coca- cola till tomorrow are still battling with Pepsi. I can tell you that because of Fanta they had to bring Mirinda, because of Coca-cola they had to bring Pepsi and it can go on and on. So competition is very healthy. My competition makes me grow. I watch my competitors and am like, so this is what you guys are doing and I try to reinforce, it’s just to learn from them, put something out, you listen to it, learn from my mistakes and it goes on and on.
That’s wonderful, you sound learned, nobody has ever talked about your academic career. So can you please tell us about it?
I don’t see myself as a bookworm.
But you are speaking like an “efico” right now.
I see myself as someone that is intelligent. There’s a difference between wisdom and knowledge. I went to school; as a matter of fact I went to the polytechnic. I attended Moshood Abiola Polytechnic. Music aside, if anyone comes to me to ask anything pertaining to my course of study or tries to tackle me, I know what I studied I will definitely represent well. My dad sent me to school, he paid my fees.
Did you graduate? It’s common to musicians, a lot of then drop out of school when they get into music.
I graduated 2009, went for service 2010. This is 2015 and I still remember so many things and I have been doing my hip-hop. To me it’s just life. I have quest for knowledge, I want to learn from you, I want to know how you guys (Jetheights Services) do your stuff, how you make money, how you make companies put their trust in you.
Apart from music what other things do you invest in? Because you are talking like you are keen on business.
If I have my way I want to go into business and when i get older, maybe ten years from now, I will go into politics, go back to my place where I come from. I just want to chill with my people; together we will participate in the government and try to make things good for us.
Looking at the kind of things you said, like my parents wanted me to go to school, they must be hardcore strict parents. Can you tell us a bit about them and your background?
My mom is a federal worker; she worked in the fire service. They both worked at the ministry. They wanted me to get an education. As the first male child of my family much attention was paid to my education.
How did your parents react to your music?
They don’t like my music, they hate my music.
Really?
They love it now because people call them “iya jhybo “and “baba jhybo”. They didn’t have a choice, they had to love it.
But before they consented, how was it?
My dad hates my hair; he did something to me one day. He called me one day, and said Jibola let me take you somewhere. He took me to the barber shop and told them to cut one part of my hair and he paid them and left me there. I had no choice than to cut the other parts.
I wish we could have the whole day, let me quickly ask this last question. I know you are based in Nigeria, are you looking to do music outside Nigeria/ have you done any music out of Nigeria?
I have been to different countries. I have worked with small artistes in different countries but I haven’t worked with major artist outside Nigeria.
Why I asked that question is because Jetheights is basically in four major countries, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
I love Ghana, I love South Africa. I chill in Ghana most. Especially if anyone annoys me I go to Ghana to cool off.
Apart from going to Ghana to chill, what else do you do there?
I keep going back there because they have very rich music culture. I love the music culture there. I like the afro pop culture there. I love the Rastafarian culture there it is very rich. I have friends there. They have been teaching me how to play the guitar. I can only play the leads and the cords. My sense of music is very high because I grew up in cherubim and seraphim.
It’s been really nice having you around, thanks for coming.
You are welcome. I really enjoyed the interview; I had a nice time here with you guys, I just wish I could stay longer. But you know duty calls.
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