Iyanya Onoyom Mbuk, Iyanya has revealed that he once had a shot and made an attempt at featuring Trinidadian-American rapper Nicki Minaj.
The popular Nigerian singer in a tweet made it public that he lost several millions of Naira in an attempt to feature the Starships rapper on the remix of his hit song “Ur waistâ€
Iyanya told his fans that the venture cost him and his manager, Ubi Franklin at least $23,000 (N10,683,500.00). However, their journey to Atlanta for the collaboration was fruitless.
On a recent twitter thread by the singer, he wrote:
“So Kukere was so massive we did all we could to get it out there and then came the pressure of the next single. We had “Flavour†already produced and recorded but for some reason, we felt it wasn’t the next single after Kukere. On one beautiful morning, we decided to remake “Kukere†and turn it into a new song that became “Ur waistâ€. Big-ups to @Therealdtunes who changed everything and we recorded “Ur waist†and we were clear that was the next single.
“Ur waist was so massive we decided it should go international and we needed the right artiste to help with that journey. @ubifranklin1suggested Nicki Minaj and I asked how we’re gonna pay for that, he laughed and said, ‘if your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough’’
He revealed that they began making calls and searching and were able to meet someone in the industry who claimed to know the sensational femcee. Iyanya further wrote that the contact told them to fly out to Atlanta, US, as ssoon as possible.
The Kukere singer stated, “We started making contacts to who will get us Nicki Minaj and we found someone Who had direct contacts and he asked that we fly to Atlanta for a meeting with him and then he will take us to meet Nicki Minaj for the collaboration. @ubifranklin1 and I flew straight to Atlanta and we started meetings that will lead to the reason when we were in Atlanta. Omo na so them start to carry us go club yo light bottles to show say money Dey… omo no be person tell us to wise o.â€
He revealed that the contacts demanded $200,000 to have Nicki on a verse and recounted how they tried hard to raise the money at the time but couldn’t.
Shedding light on the pain of disappointment they felt as well as the money and time lost, he continued, “Now here is the painful part, our tickets, Hotel for at least 10 days already, food and car hire service was already around $23,000 and then @ubifranklin1 started calculating that we for just stay Nigeria and added that money to our $70k. We beg tire and nothing.â€