It’s not news that the nightlife business in Lagos has carved out a niche for itself as a major intertwiner with the entertainment Industry, and this relationship seems to be booming heavily. At the forefront of this movement is Secrets’ Palace; an exotic, luxurious strip club located in the heart of Lekki.
For the first rollout of our Lagos Nightlife Interview Series, Luka and Dominic from The 49th Street Team caught up with Famous Bobson, the self-proclaimed ‘Face of Secrets Palace’. It was a chilled Sunday afternoon at an Eko Pearl apartment, with a bottle of Casamigos emptied into 3 cups with ice. Famous talked to us about his personal life, what nightlife means to him, his music career, some harsh self-reflection, and how he’s juggling being a nightlife connoisseur with his career ambitions.
Q: For people who aren’t very familiar with Famous Bobson, can you introduce yourself?
FAMOUS BOBSON: Hi guys, I’m Famous Bobson, a musician, entertainer, and at the moment I’d say I’m also a nightlife connoisseur.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your childhood and how and where Famous Bobson was moulded?
FAMOUS BOBSON: I grew up in Warri, recently moved to Lagos in 2016. I had a very good family background, went to church and I heavily believe in God. I was very involved in the choir and activities that involved entertainment. I recorded my first song in 2013, I was in ss3 at the time just about to enter year 1. So I have been doing this for about a decade now, andI have been able to build my character and sound.
Q: In your own words, how would you describe the Lagos nightlife scene?
FAMOUS BOBSON: It entails a lot of things, there is the funny part, the broke part, the luxury part, the good part, the expensive part, the networking part. So there are a lot of parts about nightlife that you can’t really box it into one answer, but I would just say, Nightlife in Lagos right now is booming and if you are currently behind the scenes or in the business of it, then you are eating good because there are so many popping clubs right now.
Q: How would you describe your role at Secrets’ Palace? What exactly would you say is the work of a club PR (or a club connoisseur)?
FAMOUS BOBSON: Funny enough, I hate the word ‘PR’ because it’s like a box, and it limits what I do. PR is more like people that send broadcast messages, generally public relations and all, and I am bigger than that; hence why I can’t accept to be addressed as such. For Secrets’ Palace, I was their first ever onboard person, even before they had their chauffeurs, and I can proudly say that I am the face of Secrets’ Palace.
The thing about being a PR is that you always have to do a lot of work, in terms of constantly broadcasting, reaching out to people etc, but based on FAMOUS BOBSON you just need to come to my page and you would know what’s up. That was even how I got the gig to work with Secrets’ Palace. They saw my Instagram and that says what my brand was about, and we aligned. I met Sheyman at Davido’s room in Abuja and I just told him that ‘Boss I heard you want to open a club’. At that point, I didn’t know what nightlife was about though.
Q: Why Secrets’ Palace, a strip club and not a regular club?
FAMOUS BOBSON: At that time, I wasn’t releasing any music and based on my brand, Secrets’ Palace made sense. They hadn’t even opened at that time but I had already seen the vision and based on the fact that I wasn’t putting out any music, that was a platform my spirit felt I needed. I didn’t even know what I was doing but I just kept plugging myself in. Normal clubs are cool, I didn’t plan to do anything with clubs but Secrets’ Palace just aligned with how my branding was already. Based on my branding, it was something I could sell.
Q: What prompted you into nightlife?
FAMOUS BOBSON: I first saw the outside of Secrets’ Palace one day, they were doing this Folixx anniversary. I followed Raybekah there because she was performing, and I saw the building. That was when I found out the plan was for a strip club. So by chance I met Sheyman at Davido’s room on a Sunday in Abuja, and I just told him that ‘Boss I heard you want to open a club, and I can be of help o’. At that point, I didn’t know what nightlife was about. I gave him my Instagram, he saw it and he said he would set up a meeting when he gets back to Lagos on Tuesday, and boom! That was it. Secret Palace opened a month after that and Bobson was at the forefront. That was why I said I am more of the face of Secrets’ Palace rather than a PR person.
Q: What does the nightlife business mean to you personally?
FAMOUS BOBSON: It means money. It has been an escape, because I have not been putting out music. It’s been good for my branding. It means comfort, being able to afford certain things, and taking care of my mom.
Q: Is there a reason behind you not putting out music?
FAMOUS BOBSON: For the longest time, I have been trying to get a deal, I wanted to be signed because I have been indie since I started. Had to do a lot of stuff on my own. It’s not been so easy building my brand on my own from scratch. Being my own promoter, being my own manager and I still had to be the brand myself as an artiste. It’s crazy. My album is ready, but I just want to be signed first.
Q: How do you balance nightlife and your music career?
FAMOUS BOBSON: Music hasn’t been so heavy for me for at least 2 to 3 years. I would describe what happened to my music as ‘I fell off’. It’s a harsh reality but it’s something I needed to accept and say.
I see nightlife as a 9-5, to be honest. The way some people have day jobs and night jobs, Nightlife is my night job.
For the music aspect, I see it as a situation whereby I fell off. Certain distractions, plus I was in some toxic situations at that time. So I would describe that moment of me not putting out music for the past 2-3 years as me falling off. Obviously I know everybody knows Famous Bobson. I keep thinking about how in 2019, my uni-tour had Fireboy, Joeboy, Oxlade, Blaqbonez; all of them supporting me. I got a tour bus and was carrying them from point A to point B. So I definitely know I was that guy. Then I got the feature with Peruzzi in 2019. After all that was the moment of me just falling off. I knew, I realised it and I didn’t want to put out anything. My music got better, I finished my album during the lockdown, I found myself, I even started writing better. Right now, I am just happy that I am getting better, and it now makes sense for me to put that energy to myself rather than just waiting for someone to come and sign me.
Q: How would you describe how you feel when you are in the club?
FAMOUS BOBSON: I feel like I am working, like I am on the job. Before Secrets’ Palace, I just used to enjoy being outside because I enjoyed the pros of being Famous Bobson, and I didn’t need to stress on the expenses. I didn’t even know how expensive things were. There was a time I was on a table with Zlatan and Rahman Jago and they ordered only Azul. At that time, because of our relationship with Zlatan we were at his table and we were just sipping and chilling. It was that day I found out Azul is about half a million. I was shocked.
So I didn’t really know how it was, because I can’t imagine having to always spend that.
I feel like as a man, if you are going to go out you have to have some facilitation.
There are two sides to it. People go to clubs to have fun and we curate entertainment and shows, so we can see your reaction and know where to improve. So, we never get to “see finish” level, everyday feels like something new.
Q: For anyone visiting Secrets’ Palace for the first time, what user experience would you like them to feel when they arrive?
FAMOUS BOBSON: From the branding, we don’t see people as customers, we see them as Royals coming to party, kings and queens coming to be entertained. So that’s how we want them to feel.
Q: For people that have money and are willing to enjoy nightlife but don’t go to the club because they don’t know what to expect. How much would you say is a good budget for a one night spend with your date?
FAMOUS BOBSON: Maybe like 300-350k. If you are with a girl she might want to drink champagne. The silver one is about 200k at Secrets’ Palace. You buy that one and maybe you want to change money for her to spray strippers, about 150k or 100k, depending on how you are feeling. So roughly 300-350k. But you might want to buy shisha, mixers, and stuff. So let’s just say 400k. If you want to buy Azul, that’s like 530k. Hennessy is about 180k.
Q: Can you explain why club drinks are sold at a higher price compared to the market price?
FAMOUS BOBSON: That’s just how it is. It is just based on the user experience. Most times, we might bring celebrities, Davido, Burna, Wizkid just based on the drinks you bought. It’s not like you are buying tickets or anything, and you get to make videos with them.
It’s worldwide actually, In London they even pay a service charge per head. I was in London and they don’t even have a VSOP culture there, just VS and it’s about £400, that’s about 400k in naira. Then there’s club maintenance too for the owner. So it’s not like they are making over 300% profit because they still have to buy certain equipment and stuff regularly, pay Djs, a lot of expenses are incurred in taking care of your club business. Being a business owner you can’t even call it 300% profit.
There’s still the dollar rate going up, fluctuating goods and services. So it’s fair.
Q: How important will you say the nightlife is to the music and entertainment industry as a whole?
FAMOUS BOBSON: It is quite significant because once your music as an artist is in circulation and people come into the club and they are hearing your music, even without you being there, it gives you confidence, it gives relevance. Most of the songs that blow, blow either from the streets or from the club. So it’s one of the places that give your music energy.
Q: Would you say you have achieved your goals for the year for Secrets’ Palace?
FAMOUS BOBSON: Funny enough, I didn’t have a target. I am just hungry to not go back to where I was. Right now, the goal is to get my music out and invest in myself.
Q: Do you have any long term vision or goal for Secrets’ Palace expansion?
FAMOUS BOBSON: Yes, actually. There are some thoughts for a new branch in VI, Lagos, and another in Abuja.
Q: Talking about your competition; Is there any relationship between you guys? Is the nightlife industry united as one or are they seen strictly as competition?
FAMOUS BOBSON: Not really. In the beginning maybe they might have been, but we don’t see it as competition because there are certain things we just have like the building, the kind of people we have. So at the end of the day it’s like over time, the name just stands for itself. It’s more like motivation and it keeps everybody on their toes.
Q: What are we to be expecting from Famous Bobson, Album or EP? Collaborations?
FAMOUS BOBSON: My album is ready. I dropped the first single – Feelings with Odumodublvck, we did that last year. I have one with Ycee, and another single with Odunsi the Engine. We want to shoot the video in October, it was supposed to be a lead single but it might just be for the album. I have one called ‘Ghana’ and people love that song. If you check my story you would see a lot of my unreleased songs. I just can’t wait to start dropping, from October/November hopefully.
Q: Really great talking to you Famous. Thank you for the insight and thank you for your time.
FAMOUS BOBSON: It’s really a pleasure 49th. Shoutout to you guys heavily because y’all supported me big time. I appreciate the love. Bless.
