Celebrity on Check: Iyanya! From Project Fame to London

From winning the Project fame, Iyanya who came out with Kukere his latest single has been going places. The single which dropped after his first album has been a blessing to the Artiste who currently has been in London for a couple of days now, performed at the prestigious and biggest Africans Abroad' show : Africans Unplugged, MFB blog caught up with the talented "LL Cool J" looking,  fly artiste and this is what he has to say about his career so far, upcoming projects and yes: TWITTER!

How is the 2012 Iyanya, different from the 2008 Iyanya?

2008, I was fresh, being young in the industry, a new comer. 2012 is a lot of time to change, improve. Have learnt from then till now and making use of all have learnt and winning the Project Fame (West Africa).

Iyanya

Did it propel your career?


Not entirely, but I would say it was a platform that placed me on the map and i had to find my way around from there, which have done by God's grace.


Tell us about some of your unhappy situations in life…

Well its loosing my family, basically. Every other thing, I thank the Lord for.

When do we expect to see a new album?

1st quarter of 2013

Sky of My Funky Birthday TV and Iyanya

Apart from Dbanj who is on the remix of Kukere, who are the others on the new album?

We still working and by God's grace, we already have Tuface, MayD, Cabo Snoop, Flavour, Sarkordie. Still working basically, but as we move/meet we do things.

Genre of music

Brovs, am a soul singer, even in my dance songs, i still try to put some soul, some harmony. Even from the first Album it was all about soul but to make money ehn...you gotta switch, as we doing now which is taking the tempo a bit higher.

Iyanya

How do you feel about the current state of Nigerian R&B?

Sad! Really sad that in a country of over a 150million people, we've never had an RnB show, like oh yeah in the states, where you have grown n sexy, blah blah blah... with Trey Songz and all that cos its like in Nigeria, if you have a voice, that is the beginning of your failure cos you get on stage and people would start saying this guy's not serious, you know, its really sad.

Give props to one or two Nigerian artiste that bad as e bad, they're still keeping things up for the RnB genre. 

I would say Tuface, say Wande Coal, and Chuddy K.

Ubi Franklin: Iyanya's Manager.

How was you experience at the African Unplugged - UK?

Massive, it was a blessing, like the biggest crowd have ever performed especially outside Nigeria and was a bigger crowd Like Africans generally. Been getting tweets from everywhere, Ethiopia, Congo and other countries as they were there and its been a blessing.

One significant thing that happened at Wembley:

Me facing that crowd and taking my glasses off to see that they were about 12 000 people there and as the beat dropped, they knew my song. A blessing that everyone prays for, to leave your motherland and go to another place and people still identify with you and your brand.

Are you surprised by the success of the single (Kukere) so far? Given your tweet lately bout you not having fuel in your car or so and having only 2k totally when you were going to record the hit song?

Am just thankful, like have always prayed for this moment but i didn't know it was going to come that soon.

Do you read the YouTube comments? They can be pretty nasty you know.

I don't read any comments.

Besides your upcoming album, what else are you working on?

A Reality TV Show and am just pushing the brand, making sure it gets bigger everyday, dropping a video for "Your Waist" when I get back to Nigeria, dropping another single before the end of the years runs out and the album first quarter. 

Briefly, what's your perception about awards in Nigeria, there are a lot questions about lack of fairness, Nepotism, lack of full support from Corporate bodies (sponsorship).

Brovs for me the biggest awards is when people recognise you and your brand and not the plague. Always good to know your music inspires others. Big Ups to all the organisers and all in Nigeria but i dont really see myself going to someone's office to say brovs i feel like i deserve this and that, please put me up and all, I don't really care cos if i get it that way, I would break it cos its not mine. 

Who do you think should win the Hip Hop Awards "Next Rated" 2012 and why?
Anyone, basically may the best man/woman win. 

Compare your last show in Nigeria and your perfomance at the African Unplugged, which had the most reception from the fans?

Wouldnt say one his bigger cos my fans have been quite nice and hospitable so i wont really say one was better off cos have been to bigger shows, seen bigger artiste been boo'd off, so its been cool to have people cheer at you.


One last question, does twitter annoy you?

Sometimes. Its when people take things too personal, when people see artiste and entertainers like aliens and not human. We've got blood, we the same people like everyone else and we eat the same food, do the same laundry, do everything like everyone, and its just that we on TV. So when people feel like you shouldnt make 
mistakes and then you make a small one and then booooom! You are trending, not because of something positive but because people are dissing you. Its just sad but at the same time its what we signed for, but for someone like me, i dont care, my manager reads them and tells me and how be like: "nice nice nice" because i know that the same people that say oh that's nice are the same people that say oh that's crap. Its their phones, let em tweet whatever they desire!