‘I was the worst rapper ever’ — Jim Iyke talks music stint

Jim Iyke, the Nollywood actor, has spoken on his stint as a musician, describing himself as “the worst rapper ever”.

The 44-year-old movie star was speaking recently on HipTV ahead of the August 27 release of his film ‘Bad Comments‘.

Iyke had run Untamed Records, his own music label, and then produced his first album titled ‘Who Am I?’ featuring some of Nigeria’s top musicians including Innocent ‘2baba’ Idibia, and the now-late Sound Sultan.

Commenting on why he pulled back from music, the actor said while “coming of age at that time,” he discovered he wasn’t as good with singing as he was with acting.

He added that his experience in the music industry was “humbling” while also describing his album as the “worst of the decade.”

“I think it was a coming of age situation that time. I woke up day; I just started this business then and it was doing well. I was working back to back. I just work up one day and decided I can do everything with my life,” he said.

“You know what, that was a humbling experience because I discovered I was probably the worst rapper ever. But I enjoyed the experience because I don’t take myself too seriously. People shouldn’t.

“People who take themselves too seriously never get ahead. I like to do stuff on feel. In failure is a success; I understand my boundaries and know where I shouldn’t go. But I also understand there’s big business in there.

“I didn’t go to hire people to do it. I was in that studio and distributing my stuff. I probably caught a bigger cheque than big musicians then. The business was done. I made money, even if it was the worst album of the decade.”

Iyke also said he would, however, love to revisit the music label with his much more honed business mindset.

“Untamed is something I’ll love to revisit as a businessman. I’m a far better-evolved businessman than then. What I was doing then was by passion and self-gratification. What I’m going to do now is strictly commercial,” he added.

“Obviously, as a better capitalist and businessman, so I’m most, likely to succeed using people that are truly gifted in this, not doing the PDD thing trying to put myself in front of everyone and messing it all up.

“So there’s no bad experience in everything you do in life, not at all, there’s always a lesson to be learned.”

Earlier, Iyke said he backtracked on his political ambition when he was required to compromise on his values.