In a bid to justify his inclination for churning out commercial music, Phyno, an indigenous artiste, says no rapper has ever won the Headies song of the year award.
Phyno said the shunning of rappers was one of the primary reasons he had to commercialise his sound.
His decision to make the switch, Phyno said, yielded in his song of the year victory at the 2016 Headies.
Phyno, who started his career as a rapper, bagged the top award for ‘Fada Fada’, his collaboration with Olamide which enjoyed nationwide commercial success.
According to Phyno, without commercialisation, the feat would have been impossible.
“In the history of Nigeria, has a rap artiste ever won Headies song of the year? Is it possible? Never. It has never happened. That’s where rap is. I did pop and ‘Fada Fada’ won song of the year. Let’s call facts facts,” the artiste said.
“You rap but you remain the smaller artiste. You need to be where the other artistes are so at the end of the day, if you think you have what it takes to actually do both then you’re actually more versatile and that’s what the industry is about.
“I’m making an album this year and I have a lot of rap songs in it and a lot of commercial songs in it. It’s just for the vast market.
“I’m not betraying the art. I love rap and that’s why I started rapping. But being in the business right now, you have to understand where you are, and where you want to be.”
CLAIM: No rapper has ever won Headies song of the year
A look at a list of past nominations and winners since the award’s inception in 2007 shows that Phyno’s statement is not accurate.
In 2011, Ice Prince, a rapper formerly signed to Chocolate City, won the Headies song of the year award for ‘Oleku’, a collaboration with Brymo.
Other nominees for the award that year were 2baba with ‘Only Me’, D’Prince with ‘Give It To Me’ (ft. D’banj), Dr SID with ‘Pop Something’ (ft. D’banj), and Kas with ‘Fimile’.
On ‘Oleku’, Ice Prince, aided by Brymo’s catchy and evergreen hook, delivered some of his most memorable bars, which cemented his position in the music industry.
In conclusion, Phyno’s claim that no Nigerian rapper has ever won song of the year at the Headies is false.
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