Yes, Cynthia Morgan and I are in a relationship - Jhybo

Jhybo

So, how’s the business?

We thank God for the business just that dollar is up and it has being like that for a long time. 

Does that affect your music; events, recordings and all?


It’s affecting everybody. You know we depend on dollars a lot not only in this country but the rest of the world as it is the major currency. It might not affect the shows but things we buy are on the high side.

You talk more like a business man than an entertainer, how come? 

Yeah, I’ve got to. Yorubas will say, “Ishiro loko dido”, so I’ve got to do some calculations and plan. That’s the kind of person I am.

Let’s move away from business a bit and talk about music. 

How long have you being doing music? I can’t really mention the year. I have being doing music for quite some time now. I started very early in the church like every other church boy, very small. Since then, I have being doing it big time at my schools, got signed, finished the contract and now with LIMA. 

You started like a church boy! But you don’t look like one right now. What informed your new look? 

I think my new look is just a confused look. I just dey confused. I was just in a mood that allows anything go and the new dreads idea came up. I’m just a natural person. But I don’t’ subscribe to the whole ideology that, this is how church people should look or eight to five person or an artiste or a street guy. Who says I cannot be a church boy even with my dreads? There is a saying that God lives in everybody even a mad man. 

You have been in the industry for a while and many pundits expected you to have taken your art beyond this present level. What can you identify as the hindrance that has been denying you getting to the peak of your career? 

I have been hearing that a lot. Everybody wan get to the peak, no be milk. My journey is my journey. Everybody got their struggles, I’m facing mine. This is me Jibola Toriola aka Jhybo. I’m not in competition with anyone. This is my life. People expect too much but I have my own problems and let downs too that I have been facing and are unknown to the people. Because I’m an artist, people focus on my life and tend to plan it for me thereby making some unimaginable postulations. I have had accusations like: “Why did you give some people the chance to blow more than you?”, countless times but I said it on one of my raps. Let me put this to you, if 2Pac were alive, won’t there be Lil Wayne? So let everyone enjoy his or her time, please. 



You did Ejo Le Fe Ro with Cynthia Morgan in 2010, a track to sell her to us. You two acted so intimate in the video that it raised speculations that you were dating. What do you have to say about that? 

Yes, we are in a relationship, but it is friendship. We are good friends till today. In fact, we spoke yesterday. We are cool. She is just the type of friend that can call me funny names like ‘stupid’ and all. We are very free and close. 

Ejo Le Fe Ro was big. Did you envisage how big it would be? 

I never thought the song would go far. There is a story behind it. I was going for my youth service and I and Cynthia had known each other for a long time. Someone just said, she does patois and you do Yoruba rap, why don’t you guys do something together before you leave? And we came up with the beat and the chorus. We produced it in somebody’s living room. I touched the beat because I used to produce then. I recorded it and traveled to Taraba before I got a call that my song was rocking Lagos. I was shocked. Me, that was living on NYSC’s (allowance) then. So I started getting offers for interviews and shows a lot of people were looking out for me.

Has your move from one label to another affected your growth in the industry? 

Point of correction, I never moved from one label to another, I have only being at one label all my life, something like Bay Productions. I spent four years with them. To be honest, label was part of my problem. It was a big thing for me because for two years I was not able to do anything. I couldn’t release new songs because my case was still in court; lawyers involvement , no materials, no show. So just imagine you being blank for two years, no activities. If I collect any money for show, they can come and disrupt and mess everything up. The contract was just hell. I was advised to just let the contract run and I did. No ill feelings now. We’ve gone our separate ways now. If I have the chance to come to the world again, I will definitely be an artist. This is what I love doing. The new platform is LIMA, it’s a movement and not a label – Living In Movement Always. It’s for the streets. 

There was this controversy around you in 2014, that your dad threatened Bayo Ogundimu of Bay Productions on the grounds that you walked out on their contract. Can you clear the air on this?

I don’t like going back. Everyone has that one thing that if he/she remembers in the next 20 years, it would still be very painful. My dad never threatened anybody. Come to think of it, is it not gullible (sic) to say my father threaten you and you go to the media to report? Are they the police who you should report to? I did not walk out on the contract. I was asked to leave.

Your last two tracks, Adura Elijah and For The Local, are entirely different message-wise. One was like gospel, with you praising God, while you used some vulgar words on the other. How were you able to sound razz and at the same time godly? 

Adura Elijah is not a religious song, it’s a conscious song. Everybody has got to pray. That was just a prayer to Jah. It was not fiction. I was talking to God for real. I’m passionate about it and people identified with it. Check online the track has many covers. Everybody talks to God, even herbalists. As for For The Local, I don’t glorify indecency but if I need to speak it in my music I will definitely do because I’m a lyricist. I say it the way it is. If I devalue my words or remove some, I won’t be able to convey the message I want to pass across. I prefer to say it the way it is. If you don’t want to play it, you can use radio edit. 

If you are not doing music, what will you be doing? 

Haa, I love music more than anything o! But maybe football. I could as well play basketball but I’m short. I do spin sometimes but music any day anytime. 

Are you in a relationship?

On Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram, Baddo or which? Because I’ve got a lot of admirers on different platforms. One girl might just be talking to me for about six months on Whatsapp. I just have to connect with my fans. But in real life, I’m not in a relationship. It’s just funny how a lot of girls will be dating me and I won’t even know. Let me use this opportunity to make a public outcry, if you are dating me and I don’t’ know, please, let’s see one on one and sort it out. 

What is your most embarrassing moment with a fan? 

I’ve got plenty of them. I hail the ladies. I’ve got some hardcore female fans. That fateful day I went to perform in Abeokuta. I was doing my thing on stage, freestlying with a lot of people giggling (sic) to my rhymes. Two girls were just coming from the cheering crowd, approaching me. One of the girls held my John Thomas. My reaction to that was crazy, I had to drop the mic and leave the stage. To check first, if it was there and secondly, if it was functional and effective. I figured the girls dared each other to pull that stunt. It was crazy.

How did you test the effectiveness? 

Don’t worry it’s a family issue.