One of the most successful musicians to come out of the South South area of Nigeria is still Timaya, a singer from Nigeria who is known for being the Egberi Papa 1 of Bayelsa.
In a recent interview, Timaya discussed his reasons for leaving Port Harcourt, the place where he was born and bred, and he counseled other musicians to do the same.
Timaya supported the adage that a prophet is not welcome in his homeland by sharing the story of how, after becoming well-known, he nearly died there.
Giving further details about how he left and his instructions to Burna Boy and others to leave as well, Timaya said:
“I’m born in Port Harcourt but from Bayelsa. I was born and raised in Port Harcourt. Funny enough, I never lived in Bayelsa. I grew up in Port Harcourt all my whole life.
When I left Port Harcourt, I told a lot of people, even Burna Boy, I told him bro, you have to leave here.
Because, it’s not like it’s — at some point, I think when you grow up and blow up from a place, you’ve gotta get out of that place. Because the dream is to get to Hollywood, not to buy back the block.
And that’s why the people, the rappers, like see Nipsey Hussle, he died in the block. You can help people from afar. There’s a lot of envy, and all that.
I was almost killed in Port Harcourt after I blew up. So I’m like there’s too much envy. I know my childhood friends that were my guys and they see me doing fine, they’ll just think you’re posing. You feel me?
So it’s better to just dey hail from far. Like, I love you but I can love you from afar. Na him be dey your dey [laughs]. Do you understand? So at some point, you’ve got to understand that not everybody got to go to that next level with you.”
