Rave of the moment, Iyanya Mbuk, aka Iyanya, speaks to Ademola Olonilua about his career and love life
About my transformation
It is all about giving
the people what they want at the right time. That is what makes a person
an artiste. It was hard for me because I had faithful fans and I still
have them. I still have fans that tell me everyday that if my album
comes out and I don’t sing, they would not follow me anymore.It is
really crazy; I just have to see how I can manage to satisfy both
parties. That’s the reason why I had to change the game. I had to step
it up a little. The whole idea was to change everything about me. A big
thanks to my team and my manager, Uby Franklin. He has really inspired
me. There were times when I wanted to give up but Uby kept pushing me to
go on. First, this working out that everybody is talking about, I used
to do it when I was bored. I did not do it because I thought it was
going to be part of my transformation. I was just working out and
keeping fit. Any time I’m bored, I work out. When I’m angry, I work out.
I just put everything in work out and I thank God things turned out
this way..............
Why I have lots of semi nude pictures online
That is really 20 per
cent of me because I do not even know how most of those pictures got
there on the internet. These days, it is very bad because when I
perform, the crowd would tell me to take off my shirt. I try not to show
off but they say it is my selling point and I have to do it. They paid
me so I have to do it. I think taking off my shirt is part of the
payment they make to me.
My issue with Opa Williams
Opa Williams is like a
father to me and till today I am still very sorry for everything that
happened. I do not handle negotiations. My manager tells me what show we
are doing. If they have paid, I go to do my thing. My manager told me
about Opa’s show and I agreed to do it because he is my boss. I told him
that we should do it to pay our dues because these guys are our
fathers. Unfortunately, we could not make the first show because we
missed the flight. It is just one of those unfortunate situations. It is
just one of those things that happen and you are sad because it keeps
happening. We were in Port Harcourt. There was traffic everywhere and
before we got to the venue, the show was over. Till today, I am sorry to
Opa and all of my fans that I did not make it. The next morning I was
sleeping, he (Uby) called me and told me the police had picked him up.
Immediately, I called Opa; I said boss, I am very sorry but this is what
happened. I pleaded with him and told him we could settle and he
agreed. He cut the call; my manager came back and said the Commissioner
of Police said we had to return Opa’s money. We went to the bank and
withdrew the money and paid him that same day. We still apologized to
Opa and said to ourselves that we had to make it up to Opa. He has shows
coming up this year. Any show he is doing in Lagos, we will just go
there; we will not even tell him. We do not even need his money, at
least let us just make it up to him. It is very painful. It is
unfortunate that it is already in the press. We actually thought it was
settled. All of a sudden people just started calling me and asking if my
manager was arrested. They said the police were looking for me and I
asked why. I did not kill anybody, I did not do anything. I did not
steal anything. It is just one of those things that happen;
unfortunately, it was just a coincidence. It isn’t like we planned to
mess Opa up. If we did we would not apologise to him. He gave us his
word and said it is fine. The next thing we saw it in the press.
My songs are not meant to corrupt youths
I do not know how bad I
have been but when I sang ‘Your Waist,’ it was not sexual. I was talking
about a beat playing and all you have to do is move your waist. If you
listen to the song, you will know I am talking about dance. We are
Africans, what do African women use to dance if not their waists? If I
was passing a wrong message I do not think that song would be a hit. If I
do not sing about the female body I would still sell. My album is
coming out and it is not all about the female body.
The story about Kukere
I never liked the song
‘Kukere.’ It took me three months to do my second verse. People were
begging me to do it. I said that when we release it I would not put my
name on the song so that people would not mock me. They still mocked me.
We played it for some girls in my car and they ran out. They said it
was trash. We did not tell them that I was the one who sang it. When
they heard it, they said it was a crappy song. When my manager told them
that it is Iyanya’s song, they said we should stop the car which we did
and they ran out because they were ashamed. But today, that song is big
all over the world. It is big in Italy, Portugal; I have fans from all
over the world.
Sustaining the momentum of Kukere
It is all about
consistency. The first cut is always the deepest. R Kelly can never have
a song that is going to be bigger that I believe I can fly because that
was the first cut. I believe what makes you last, what makes you a
legend is consistency. So, after that, you are still giving them
something nice so they would be like, this guy knows what he is doing.
My early days
I was extremely calm and
quiet. I hardly talked. Even now, I do not talk that much. The Iyanya
that people see in videos and on stage messes with them a lot because
they think that is how my life is. I jump a lot on stage, I remove my
shirt, and they think I am crazy but in real life I am quiet. In my
house I am always in my room. I come outside only when there is
something serious. Uby has to come into my room to talk to me. I am
always on the reserved side but when I get the microphone, I am a
different person. Growing up I played a lot. My white uniform was always
brownish from playing.
Why I wriggle my waist
I keep doing it because people like it.
About Yvonne Nelson and Tonto Dikeh
I am not doing anything
with them. People might say my preference is for actresses but I do not
know anything about that. Actresses, are they not human beings? I do not
know anything about who the next actress I would date would be. If
anybody I like comes my way I would probably date the person. If it is
meant to happen, she may be an actress, musician, banker, normal girl,
whoever. This is a mix up, it is because they are popular that is why
everybody is mentioning it. Before the Kukere song came out, I was
dating popular girls but nobody said anything about it.
Sleeping with them and dumping them
How do people know I
slept with them? In my song where I said Yvonne Nelson, I have your
medicine, what if I say I was just rhyming? It is the mind of people
that is working that way. It is not me, not that I slept with them.
Anything that everybody is thinking is what they are thinking; it is not
me. When I said Yvonne Nelson, I have your medicine, it was just a
rhyme; Nelson, medicine. I just rhymed. What if I say I was just making
music and rhyming? It is just people’s mindset. I did not have sex with
them and dump them. Who am I to do that? Am I Brad Pitt? How come
everybody is saying I broke up with Yvonne Nelson when we never
announced to them that we were dating, in the first place. How come
tweets surfaced when we never said we were dating? Funny enough, none of
us said that we were dating, it is the break up that everybody knows.
Have you ever heard that best friends break up? Best friends just go
their way. We did not even say we are best friends in the first place,
so I do not understand the whole break up story.
My forthcoming album
My fans should expect to get all of me. You would hear me sing reggae, R‘n’B, pop, everything. It is an 18 track album.
My recently acquired SUV and house in Lekki
Everything that I have today is from my sweat, love from the fans, and God’s blessing
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