Nigeria, Sept. 24 -- Nearly two years after publicly disclosing his battle with kidney failure, Nigerian music-video director ThankGod "TG" Omori has opened up about the full extent of the illness, including a failed transplant involving his younger brother and the moment he became unsure he would survive.

Omori made the revelations during a nearly two-hour interview on the Afropolitan Podcast, in which he recounted the medical ordeal that kept him away from the music video scene for an extended period.

The director, popularly known as Boy Director, said he kept much of the illness private while receiving treatment and watching people speculate that his career had declined.

Omori said his kidney problems began when protein was detected...