Tiri Leather: Untold Story Of Pasuma & Taye Currency Face-Off

Taye Currency, the fuji musician who rose to stardom as a copycat of Pasuma, has apologized.

The musician, whose birth name is Taye Akande Adebisi, says he did not intentionally disrespect his mentor, Pasuma.

Currency reaffirmed his loyalty to the senior fuji musician, whose real name is Wasiu Alabi Odetola.

Before he rose to the point of telling the unwanted history of his mentor, Currency — prior to picking his current stage name — was famous as Taye Paso or Paso Ibadan. He is based in Ibadan, Oyo State, where he reigns supreme, fuji music-wise.

He drew the ire of Pasuma’s fans, other protégés of his mentor, and their army of followers when he declared during a live performance that Pasuma leveraged Obesere’s brand of fuji music to gain recognition.

Abass Akande, the fuji musician widely known as Obesere, and Pasuma have been enmeshed in a now-low-profile supremacy tussle.

Although Taye Currency is right to a large extent, he stirred the hornet’s nest because of the ongoing tension between Obesere and Pasuma — and another context given to what he said.

On December 17, 2024, Currency will turn 52, while Pasuma will be 57 on November 27.

There are claims that Pasuma is actually younger and that he added to his age as part of cultivating respect as a senior figure in the protracted leadership battle within the fuji music world.

Taye Currency’s 30-year-old son, Yusuf Oladeni Adebisi, is a second-term member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, a position credited to his father’s all-out support for Governor Seyi Makinde in his first and second terms.

Backed by political clout and improved social status, Currency is believed to be staking his claim as an elder — outside the shadow of Pasuma — in the fuji kingdom by narrating a history that suggests his mentor also borrowed another musician’s style to achieve stardom.

However, checks revealed that the development has been a long time coming.

“What Currency did has roots in the time Pasuma came to Ibadan and raised up Tiri Leather’s hand as the star to watch,” a source stated.

Alamu Agbolagade, the Ibadan-based fuji musician known by the stage name Tiri Leather, is also a Pasuma sound-alike.

He was struggling for recognition in a scene completely dominated by Taye Currency until Pasuma arrived in Ibadan and gave him a fighting chance by identifying him as the star to watch.

“Taye Currency did not like that because it was like Pasuma came to create needless competition for him in his base. And that’s exactly what happened,” according to a source.

Tiri Leather became more visible, and Taye Currency, who had upstaged older and more formidable musicians like Rasheed Ayinde (Merenge), Wasiu Ayinla (Karashy), and even his trainer, Sulaimon Ademola (Commy Jackson), saw himself battling an emerging threat — a threat he faces to this day.

Insiders assert that although they maintained a certain closeness, Taye Currency never forgave Pasuma for what he did.

The present unraveling, which is attracting widespread reactions across various divides, is described as the result of this silent grudge.

Tiri Leather, who backs Pasuma, is at the forefront of the insults against Taye Currency for daring to speak against “their mentor.”