Over summer ‘16 Iyanya announced his departure from Made Men Music Group (Triple MG), an empire he helped build from the ground up with his business partner and long term friend Ubi Franklin which really came as a surprise to industry watchers, music enthusiasts and fans alike.
One fact you can’t deny is Iyanya has been struggling to replicate the musical joy he enjoyed between 2012 and 2013 when “Kukere” was arguably the biggest song in Africa with an infectious dance move to follow.“Kukere” was followed up with back to back hits like “Ur Waist”, “Sexy Mama” featuring Wizkid all produced by his then musical soulmate – D’tunes before the fallout that ultimately saw D’tunes float his own label and unearth Sean Tizzle.
One can argue Iyanya’s struggle to find another crossover smash single stems from his divorce from his musical soulmate, and you can also blame it on being complacent after enjoying so much success. After all, he has since released a few singles that did do decent airplay rounds like Mr Oreo and the Don Jazzy-assisted single – “Gift”. One reality that can’t be argued by Iyanya himself is the fact that he has seen better days as an artiste; sold out concerts, numerous endorsement deals, so it’s only right for him to want to do things differently.
We all expected Iyanya to float his own record label after his departure from Triple MG but instead, he signed a management deal with Temple Management, the same outfit that manages Don Jazzy. In what came as an October surprise on Monday, 31 October 2016, Don Jazzy took to his social media pages to announce the arrival of heavy hitter Iyanya to Mavin Records along with Iyanya’s first single under the imprint featuring new label mates Don Jazzy and Dr SID aptly titled “Up To Something”. They sure have been up to something for them to keep news this huge under wraps until the time was right to announce it. The news was greeted with mixed reviews, making Iyanya a trending topic for several hours after the announcement. What the chatters were really concerned about was if the move was right for Iyanya.
Nobody has the answers to the question yet, but one thing for sure is Mavin Records already has a working structure and Iyanya can ride on that structure instead of the excruciating task of having to build his own team all over again. Critics of the deal see it as a desperate move from Iyanya, considering the number of artistes already under the Mavin umbrella looking to be top of the pecking order when it comes to who to invest the next few millions on.
Will signing to Mavin Records be the rejuvenating spark Iyanya’s career needs? With the production prowess and marketing genius of Don Jazzy behind him, only time will tell.
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