“I am too young for all that” – Iyanya speaks on Tonto, Yvonne Nelson and Desire

When I recorded that song, I had a grand in my pocket and I was screaming ‘I get money oooh’. So it’s just a blessing.

Iyanya has come a long way since the release of his hit single; ‘Kukere.’

It was probably one of the biggest records of this year.

In this interview with Hiphop World Magazine, he talks about the success of the record, his upcoming album and clarifies issues on a certain love triangle. Enjoy



HHW: You recently broke a record. Was it an African record, world record? Tell us about it

Iyanya: The caller tunes record was for Africa. First artist to reach 3million caller tunes downloads. I’m thankful to God, to the fans. You know you can do a whole lot with N50, even if it’s to buy pure water, it’s something. But 3million people downloaded my song and I really appreciate it, I’m thankful.

HHW: When you recorded the song did you see all this coming?

Iyanya: I didn’t see it man. I didn’t see close to 5million YouTube hits. There’s a whole lot of things that people don’t know yet that they will know about ‘Kukere’. It’s unfolding by the day. I didn’t see it. When I recorded that song, I had a grand in my pocket and I was screaming ‘I get money oooh’. So it’s just a blessing.

HHW: And we heard Mtech brought a cheque to you. Do you want to share?

Iyanya: No I can’t do that. I got a cheque though. Big ups to M-tech.
”I am a single guy married to my music and my hustle”

HHW: So the whole issue of Yvone Nelson, Iyanya, Tonto Dikeh and probably a Tiwa Savage in the mix

Iyanya: Whaaat!

HHW: You heard, you saw the tweets?

Iyanya: Yeah I saw the tweets. First of all I need people to understand that blogs will write they have to write so they can get hits. There’s a price to pay for fame. People have access to you, they can say anything about you. But I just want people to know, before they say a word, do not forget that I have not said anything. I have not told you that I’m dating A or dating B. On this interview, I repeat that I am a single guy married to my music and my hustle. I’m too young for all that, I’m just young and getting it right now.

I remember very well that I made it clear that I’m friends with these mentioned people. I am not dating anybody, and I am not dating anybody as we speak. If you check my tweets, my TL, you’ll see that I refused to say anything about it o reply. I appreciate all the love that I get, but I just want to say something, most of the things that you see on Twitter, Facebook, that you check on blogs and all that. Sometimes, it’s just buzz.

HHW: Iyanya Versus Desire. We’ve gotten four singles already. ‘Flavour’ the latest one.

Iyanya: And I’m dropping one more, by January. Flavour video is out next week. It was shot and directed by Moe Musa in London, and then IVD drops February

HHW: Why that title? Iyanya Versus Desire

Iyanya: You know how it all started. When I was in Calabar back then, I started as Desire. Even till now, they don’t say Iyanya, they say Desire. Desire was the soul, love truly, inlove guy and I realised that till now, people still love that guy, they still love Desire. So my album is a combination of the old me which is like the real me and the Iyanya, the ‘Kukere’ guy that you guys have made me, because ‘Kukere’ was not me.

Everybody knows I am a soul singer but because of the fact that as an artiste you have to be versatile, you have to read your environment, study it. Which by God’s grace myself, my team and a few people around me were able to study for about four years and I just tried ‘Kukere’.

IVD is just Iyanya, Desire. R&B, Pop. Iyanya is a musician that’s a hustler. Desire is the guy that says how he feels. That’s the whole idea. So when you get my album you don’t say, this guy should have just sang now or this guy should have just been giving us dancing. You can say I wanna listen to R&B and I wanna listen to pop.

HHW: Do you have any other thing you’d like to share

Iyanya: Nothing else man. Just to say, i love my fans. Without my fans, this would not be possible. I remember about two years ago when I had just about 5, 000 followers on twitter. Among those 5, 000 some were telling me, Iyanya why don’t you just change something, people love you as a singer, why don’t you try something else.

Among that 5, 000 I had followers telling me Iyanya, I believe in you. I know you can be a bigger brand. And those people that when I said I wanna be on your show, they were like, what you gonna sing. People don’t wanna sleep. Those people made me today and I just wanna say bigups up to you, thank you.