My 1st performance fee was N300 (1%) "Before I Write A Book' - By Basketmouth ,written by olagideon

Comedian Basketmouth will share short
stories about his experience with people
while growing in the Nigerian entertainment
industry in a series called 'Before I Write a
Book.' He plans to write a book eventually so
this is a pre-entry to that project, thus, the
title. Below is the first story he shares
Back stage at the Rothmans Groove tour
which held @ TBS in 1998, there I was
seated with the likes of The Plantashun
Boiz,Dr. Fresh,Remedies and more...I was
just a young boy trying to weigh his
options on what direction to go with his
career as drumming,rapping,producing and
comedy were few of my options.
That night was the 1st time I met Tony
Tetuila, one of those humble guys you
come by,he was warm and accommodating
considering the obvious fact that I was
nobody in the industry.
Fast forward a few months later, Comedy
had won me over and in the course of my
hustle and journey to where I'm yet to get
to, I bumped into Tetuila in Festac, just
about the time his single 'you don hit my car'
came out.
We reconnected while playing catch up. We
had common friends so 'bumping' into each
other became a tradition. The 1st time he
saw me perform @ a concert was at a gig The
Plantashun Boiz used to host @ the Den in
Ikeja.
I must have impressed him because not long
after that night, I got a call from him asking
that we meet up. We did and he took me for
a meeting in Lagos Island (Shell Office). A
director at Shell was retiring and a send-
forth party was being held in his honour. My
performance fee then was N10,000, Tony
pushed it up and convinced the client to pay
N30,000 which they paid cash. Prior to this,
they had never heard of me and only used me
because Tony believed in me and stood up for
me, convincing them to buy in.
I was paid in full a week to the show.
After picking up the cash I went straight
home. Now here I was, a young comic with his
1st major pay-out of N30,000. Considering
the fact that my 1st performance fee was
N300 (1%) of what I had in my pocket,I
couldn't help but to thank God.
I got home,gave my mum N25,000 and kept
N5,000 from which I bought a shirt,pants
and shoes from Tejuosho market to wear for
the event. Ready for my first big show..