I Am Not Sleeping With Tonto Dikeh, Yvonne Nelson - Iyanya
Rave of the moment, Iyanya Mbuk, aka Iyanya, speaks 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.
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