“My Only Sin? Women”

Inetimi Odon a.k.a Timaya, top Nigerian musician

— Inetimi Odon a.k.a Timaya, top Nigerian musician
By Osamudiamen Ogbonmwan
Truth be told, Timaya needs little or no introduction. His name speaks volumes about who or rather what he represents in the Nigerian music industry. Other than the fact that he is one of the biggest acts in the country, Timaya probably also holds the record of being one of the most controversial musicians Nigeria has ever seen.
Please don’t get us wrong, Timaya is not pleased with this. Infact, at his Marwa Gardens, Lagos residence recently, where he played host to The Source, he lamented how much the image has hurt him. “They say Timaya is this and that but they don’t know me. They just want to run me down. It pains me,” he said with a sad expression.
Anyway, despite his displeasure over the numerous scandals, he confessed that he has now developed a thick skin to all the allegations, that he now knowingly does things to keep tongues wagging. An instance was at the just concluded Hip Hop Awards in Abuja. Timaya, after he received his Best Hip-Hop Artiste of the Year award, held it up in front of his manhood and said: “I dedicate this award to Empress Njamah,” to everyone’s surprise.
Before then (and even till now) the rumour mill has it that both (Empress and Timaya) are in a sizzling affair and are even planning to get married, but Timaya said the stories are all lies. Timaya refused to define the kind of relationship they really have but just said that they have known each other for long.
You only need to sit with Timaya for a few minutes to draw up your own conclusion about him. He was born as Inetimi Odon in a polygamous home. The last of 15 children, Timaya describes himself as the Joseph of his home. “I had a lovely childhood with big brothers who were always sending me here and there; but it was all fun living and schooling in Port Harcourt with my family,” he said.
The number of awards he has got over the short period in the industry speaks volumes about his talent. A mouthpiece for his Niger Delta brethren Timaya was given the title of The Eberepapa 1 of Bayelsa, meaning the Town Crier of the Bayelsa people.
You recently won the artiste of the year award at the Hip Hop Awards. How do you feel?
I feel good. This is the second time I am winning it and it makes me feel like I am set for so many awards. The Hip Hop award doesn’t freak me like that. I am looking forward to when I will win the Grammy. The paramount thing for me is speaking my mind about issues.
Issues like what?
Issues that touch my mind and the people generally.
In almost all of your songs, you tend to say or rather sing about yourself alone. Are you into praising yourself?
No, it’s not like that. I do it because I don’t gossip. I want people to look at what is going on in my life and work on themselves or just take it as an example.
But how would you just conclude that people gossip about you?
People gossip a lot and say things that are especially not true about me and I don’t like it. I just want to put the record straight.
You don’t need to wait for something to get to you before you know it exists.
I don’t just sing about myself. It just started in my Gift and the Grace album. The songs are about the gift of the talent which God gave me and the grace which is moving me forward. So I was just praising God and myself.
Don’t you think people will misconstrue your true intentions?
(Cuts in) I don’t really care what people think or feel. What I care about is passing a message. In my first album, I talked about other people, talked about general issues. I can’t displease myself and please anybody. The first album I spoke about people while the second one I spoke about me, myself and I. I try to talk about me and God.
Why mention God always?
He is my father and I am his son. I love Him, that is why I always call Him. Knowing Him has been of great help to me. Life without God is dead. No matter what I do, I remember God and even if I don’t go to church, He is in my heart.
I believe in him so much and in my family we are 15 children and I am the last child, and there are things in my life that His hand is evident. People say I talk about bad belle people and I say yes, I will continue talking about them because I want them to know that I know they are around and I am ready for them.
Have you had any kind of encounter with these “bad belle” people before?
I can’t see them but they are many. You can have bad belle people even in your family, living with you, working for you. So for the fact that you cannot see all of them, it’s only God that can help you chase them away.
A lot of people have said wrong things about me, they say Timaya is this and that but they don’t even know me, yet they talk about me like they know me and that makes them worse than the bad belle people.
They just want to run me down. People write lies about me and that can make my fans not to like my music, so it takes the grace of God to overcome all these. That is why I always call God.
I have not been caught as a militant before, but people say I am a militant just because I am from the Niger Delta region. But then I don’t argue about the name. I love it because controversy sells.
You seem to love the scandals that have built around you?
I think I am paramount. That is why they talk about me. I never actually wanted it this way, but then I never liked a situation where people just kept saying good things about me, it makes me scared. So writing or saying wrong things about me once in a while is in order.
I don’t like it when people praise me, but sometimes I do things so people can write and talk about it. It’s not as if I pay people to write about me.
Like what I did at the Hip Hop awards where I held up my award in front of my crotch and said I dedicate it to Empress Njamah. I just did it so that people will have something to write and they didn’t disappoint me because I saw the papers the next week.
I was just so calm and people kept writing and saying things about me. It pains me when I didn’t do anything. So let me do something so that they can write about it because even if I don’t do anything people will still write.
A lot of stories have been going around about you and actress Empress Njamah.
(Cuts in) Imagine in January, they wrote that I had gone and done a secret marriage introduction with Empress Njamah and that she was four months pregnant. That is a big lie, mega lie. I’m serious. If she was four months pregnant then she should be giving birth by now, but she has not.
Many people see you as being arrogant. Tell me, are you?
They even say much more, but believe me I am not arrogant. I only do all these to give this section of the press things to write.
By doing all these don’t you think you are misleading people expecially your fans?
I was not like this and they said I was and they made my fans see me that way, so let me do those things. Some people don’t just want to see you grow. But they expect you to do something and even when you don’t do it they will write. It’s bad. Sometimes I look at myself and wonder why this is happening to me.
Is the bad boy image helping your music sales?
I was nominated for artiste of the year at one award and I dedicated it to one of the magazines that has written much about me because they made me popular. As such if anybody asks me about my life, love life, I tell them to ask that magazine because they know my life history, but it’s all a lie.
Ok, now tell me about the real Timaya people don’t know about.
I am not trying to boast but I am a nice guy. I get tired of things easily. I love doing something new. I am focused and very positive minded. I am a friendly person though a lot of people have judged me by what they hear. So when they finally meet me they ask if it is really me, because they had heard I was arrogant.
They say I am not educated but I am schooled, at least I go primary school and others.
How did music start for you?
I started 14 to 15 years ago in Port Harcourt where I was based. I’m still based in Port Harcourt but I just bought this place in Lagos because I don’t like hotels I love my privacy.
I had the music thing in me. I was a choir boy in Assemblies of God then. From there I moved on to Living Gospel Mission in Port Harcourt, after there I stopped being a choir boy.
You know when you have bad friends they will laugh at you because you are in the choir. I was shy of the fact that I was serving God because I didn’t know what I wanted.
Lagos market in Nigeria is the biggest and breaking into it was not easy because I was not respected since I was from the Niger Delta. But I owe it all to God.
What are the challenges you’ve faced so far in the indstry?
Initially, the challenge was getting my song played on air and being played by DJs as I was dependent on word of mouth because I didn’t have the money to pay but that is a thing of the past because every DJ is my brother.
You often speak about the Niger Delta region. Do you think your continuous clamour for a better Niger Delta would do the magic?
Right now, whatever I say about the region cannot help. The only thing that can help is when people do the right thing. The situation in the region is like me as an artiste collecting so much money from the federal government, I have a group working with me like my Dem Mama crew, yet they don’t see the money, my manager doesn’t see the money, they won’t be happy and can react in different ways, like fighting.
That is what is going on, they know the right thing and as such they should do it. I can only speak through my music about these issues. That is why I am called the Eberepapa 1 of Bayelsa.
What’s the meaning?
It means the Town Crier of the People.
What kind of music do you really play?
I sing conscience music - Dem Mama music. I am a preacher. I know one day I will end up in church where it all started. I am a child of God, the only thing I do is just that I follow women. I don’t tell lies, I don’t steal. Following women is my only sin.
You’ve still not told me anything about you and Njamah?
I am in a relationship with Empress like I am in a relationship with any other person. We are not enemies. We have dates and go out for drinks. People just say what they want to say because they see both of us at places together, shows, clubs et cetera.
You seem to have a lot of female fans?
I just take them as they are. I don’t go out and don’t hang out. They get my numbers and call me but I am very strict when it comes to women. So when they call me, saying they want to see me, I let them know that if it’s anything other than business I should be counted out.
What is the craziest thing a fan has asked you to do?
A female fan asked me to give her one lock of my hair, but I didn’t give it to her because it is my hair and it is precious to me.
When did you start growing dreadlock?
I started growing it three years ago when I was working with actress Hilda Dokubo’s husband, Mrakpor. I like him so much, we look alike so I used to like doing the kind of things he does, so I started keeping dread.
You don’t seem to enjoy going on stage with female dancers. Why?
People that carry dancers are those that can’t perform on stage. People want to see you, not some girls shaking their booty on stage. It thrills people when they see you the artiste dancing. The dancers crowd the stage.
I feel so happy when I see my fans and because I don’t get to see them all the time, whenever I see them I want to perform for them no matter how long it takes. The energy to dance on stage comes from God.
Tell me a bit about your family?
My real name is Inetimi Odon. I am the last of 15 children. I’m from a polygamous home. Being the last child was not that interesting. I grew up in Agip Estate in Port Harcourt.
Growing up was good, my father was a banker so he used to buy things in cartons for the house, but as I grew up, he retired from the bank. He was duped by some fraudsters and we got broke, so I had to make way for myself. As for education, I’m schooled.