My Music, My Words, My Fists
Geoffy G is born on October 2nd 1984 in Akwete, Nigeria. His birth name is Theophilus Onyenaturuchi George. The rapper/singer used the name friends and family called him to be his artist name, Geoffy G. The G stands for his sour name, George.
Geoffy grew up in a family with his mom Catherine George, his grandma Constance George and his 4 brothers. Charles, Emanuell, Daniel and Emos George. Back then he went to school, a luxury not reserved for everyone: ‘I can remember walking everyday to school with my dear friend and other school boys and girls. We had to walk a few miles before reaching school, but we never complained. We knew we were very lucky to have the possibility to go to school’.
Geoffy’s mother decides to move to Holland when her mother Constance had past away. She wanted to be near her junior sister Rita George. Since grandma past away Rita is the one keeping the family together. In Holland Rita is married with Bart en her son is also living there, Ngozi. The two sisters are close and are the only children from Constance: ‘I can remember my mother calling me and my brothers so she could talk with us. She asked us if we would like to live in Holland. I can recall wanting this very much and my brothers too. Maybe it was because we thought that Holland would bring us less pain. Because Nigeria is where we lost grandma’. The journey by airplane to Holland felt endless, but finally family George arrived in Schiphol airport. There Rita, Bart and Ngozi await them dressing like people just coming back from a sunny holiday. ‘We had tick clothes and even a jacket on and still felt cold. But the moment my mother and her sister hugged each other, is priceless. After hugging my mother, my auntie came to hug me and my brothers – what a moment!’
The Dutch government decides that family George will resident in a house for refugees, based in Eindhoven. There Geoffy meets a girl, his neighbor. Her name is Ria and the friendship with her would turn out to be very special for him. Ria is the one who showed Geoffy around the neighborhood and school. They played a lot together and hang around. The first year in Holland Geoffy didn’t speak the Dutch language. He wasn’t enthusiastic to learn either, therefore he was an easy prey for bullies. They would call him names in Dutch, but he couldn’t understand them. Ria was the one who always stood up for him. Geoffy’s mom Nane wasn’t happy in Eindhoven and she decided to pack in by her sister in Katwijk aan zee. But also in this village Geoffy is picked on by bullies. They called him names about his dark skin, but now Geoffy could understand them. He often took it up with the bullies and learned how to defend his self with words. In this period the relationship with his nephew Ngozi grew stronger. Nane met a Dutch man Sip from Bergen NH en she decides to pack in with him. Sip has two children of his own, Sipke and Jessica. Both children of Nane and Sip could get along with each other. ‘I went to the elementary school in Bergen, the Lucebertschool. I told myself that I would defend myself from the beginning at my new school, instead of waiting for bullies to come to me. So I did. When bullies where picking on me, I would defend myself with words. I did quite well, but wasn’t a match for the older children. They were stronger than me both physical as mentally. I was no match for them’.
At the age of eight the Dutch government sends Geoffy, his mother and brothers back to Nigeria. Saying goodbye was very hard and sad for family George. Holland became their new home with family and friends and now they had to leave. In Nigeria Geoffy keeps speaking the Dutch language. He doesn’t want to forget the vocabulary. His friends are very curious about the Dutch language and Geoffy teaches them a few words.
Geoffy’s senior brother Emanuel dies in Nigeria. This left a deep mark and made a big impression on Geoffy: ‘In my hart Emanuel was and is my beloved brother. He was a roll model for me, because I never knew my father. He loved music and used to sing. He enjoyed life and always took care of me. I wanted to be just like him! One of the reasons I rolled into the music bizz, is because of him and Charles. I cherish the warm thoughts I have about my brother. It inspires me until this day on.
After 6 months Geoffy and his family return to Holland. Nane and Sip got married and the two families are reunited ones again.
‘Puberty came in this stage of my life. I had all kinds of questions nobody could answer. Besides that, children were still picking on me. I can recall coming back after a day of school, filled with tears. I told my mom that children discriminated me and called me ape. From that day my mom was fed up with these discriminating activities. She already went to school several times to talk with the teachers about it, but they didn’t took action. From that they on momma told me that if words couldn’t stop children from discriminating and picking on me. I could use my fists to teach them the hard way. She took me to school and repeated every word she told me in front of the teachers. A new period in life was born for me. Verbal fights turned into fighting with my fists. I kept on winning these fights, this was a great motivation for me. I had a new solution for the bullies when words didn’t help me: my fists! Other children found me very tuff, which even motivated me more to continue. I’m not proud of what I did, but they didn’t leave any choice. And of course momma said knock them out.’
At the age of ten music came in Geoffy’s life. He begins to listen to reggae and rap music. Bob Marley and Tupac Shakur are his big heroes. Inspired by his mom, who sang in a church quire in Nigeria and his brother Charles, Geoffy decides to make music as well. He taped video clips he saw on MTV and TMF, later on came The Box. He imitated the artists and got their lyrics from internet. He really took this serious and began to perform at school parties, School Festivals and even Fashion Shows when he grew older. Everybody loved him performing, even the teachers at the Bergen School community, where he was schooling at the moment. ‘I came with aggressive lyrics from Tupac. I unleashed them at boys who were discriminating me and even at the teachers whom I didn’t like. Ha-ha! The best part of it was, that the people I was dissen, even loved the performance most.’
When Geoffy almost turned 17 his mother and Sip divorce. Another obstacle in his life and they had to move again. Happily they stayed in Bergen, but his life turned more grim: he begins to fight more often with his peers. He often wins these fights, but that wasn’t the reason why he did it: ‘I fought for my honor and my name. The ones against me used discrimination as their weapon. I had my Music, my words and my fists to defend myself. If one of them wasn’t effective. I used the other. But it really got out of control. I turned from a lovely, gentle and quite boy into an aggressive boy. People were afraid of me, that’s why I made a lot of ‘friends’. It depends on what you call friends, because fear isn’t a good basis for a friendship if you ask me’. At this stage of his life Geoffy begins to smoke marihuana to ease the pain. Whenever he’s stoned, the world looks peaceful and he can communicate with his brother Emanuel.
But a long side grief, Geoffy finds happiness in the new friends he made in his home town Bergen. These friends became very close to him in a short time: Joost, Omar en Laurens. His best friend in this period is Willy. They share the same emotions they’ve hidden deep inside and the passion for music. They perform together and Willy introduces him to Twan a.k.a. Big 2. Twan is the one who makes the beats and Willy is the one who writes lyrics. Together they form a duo that later one would become the famous formation The Opposites. Geoffy, Willy and Twan often come together to make music. But they rarely perform together. Twan surely makes beats for Geoffy, but performing together is not a common thing. Geoffy uses the beats from Twan for his own repertoire and made an album with his own music productions mixed with Twan’s productions. This album is one of his first and he spreads them amongst friends and family. In that same year he meets Pablo Penton. They can get a long very well and decide to work together making Music. Geoffy signs up for Holland’s Great Price, a contest for artists to win a record deal and major exposure. He competed two times for the contest and shared the stage with D-Menn Entertainment, who later on became the famous duo Lange Frans en Baas B. But he wasn’t ready at the moment musically to be compared with the ‘big boys’. He didn’t make it to the final, but what an experience it was!
Despite the happiness music brings to Geoffy. He developed his self as a street fighter. Even at home he became more aggressive. He and his mother more often fight about little things. When his mother is fed up with him, she sends him to Rita Geoffy’s aunty. She lives in Katwijk near to the sea: ‘In the beginning I didn’t like it there, because my aunty was very severe. Mom was more easy going in some situations. But I didn’t have any choice, I had to go and live with Rita’. Geoffy goes to school in Leiden and finishes high school with ease. That year is important. His fellow students don’t know his history and they take him like the person he is. In their company he can be who he is: himself. The situation calms him down and gives him the opportunity to think about life. It takes time and effort, but he succeeds in getting the anger and aggression out of his system and mind. Even when the aggression came back. He found a way to control it with words, writing it down for his lyrics. He now on changed his name from Theo – the name people gave him in Bergen- into Geoffy.
After high school graduation Geoffy moved back to Bergen. There he attempts a Study Rights for 6 months, but quitted because it wasn’t interesting enough. He now again moved out of Bergen, but now he went to Nijmegen to follow a Social Work study. He feels at home very quick in Nijmegen. The Social Work study is just his thing and he follows it with ease. He even got spare time to spend on his music. In Nijmegen he meets the band Mosqio. They play a mixture of rock, funk, reggae and hip hop.
In a short time Geoffy became a member of Mosqio and front man of the band. They play gigs true several stages with highlights in 013 Tilburg and Doornroosje in Nijmegen. In the same year Geoffy meets African rappers from Angola and Sera Leon, Firewoodz. He also keeps in touch with his close friends from rap group The Opposites: he joined them on the remix version of the hit track ‘Oew Oew’: ‘I’m almost done with my Social Work study and like to warm up Holland for Geoffy G. After my study I would like to concentrate ones more on my music. Maintain Yourself is only the beginning.’
Maintain Yourself is the official debut mini album from Geoffy G. He uses hip hop and reggae to tell his story about a boy who came from Nigeria to Holland, having difficulties to maintain his self from the physical and verbal aggression of peers, who uses his fists as his best friends, but eventually got the insight that his strength lays in words, in music: ‘I found myself in time.’ The voices of Geoffy’s music idols can be heard in his music: The influence of Tupac can be heard in his aggressive hip hop tracks. The influence of Bob Marley can be heard in the contemplative reggae tracks. The music is there for diverse: ‘I call it African Influenced Music from Holland. I am and always will be an African, but I live 17 years now in Holland. Maintain Yourself tells people who I was, who I am. It gives you an insight of the journey I followed in life and what I’ve learned during that journey. Maintain yourself also tells people the path I’m following now in life. That is the path of ONE LOVE.’
Written by Sjoerd Kuijper.
Translated by Geoffy George.
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