Phyno has shared his response to MI’s “You Rappers Should Fix Up Your Lives” track, and it may come off as slightly condescending to many.
The Enugu-bred rapper said he believes that rappers should start to rethink the direction of their careers and start thinking more of how to make money rather than just rapping.
“Of course, I think he’s advising them the right way – ‘rappers’ should fix their lives. And fixing their lives might actually mean fixing their bank accounts, getting money, be all right.”
Phyno added that the only way for artists to earn respect in the music industry was for them to have financial clout.
He pointed out that the music industry was not set to favour artists who set their sights on rapping the right way, adding that expertise did not often matter in the end.
“You stay, you rap your life out and some new boy just come and sing the same thing over and over again… At the end of the day what do they count?”
“What makes people respect you at the end of the day? Let’s be honest. And we are talking about Nigeria, with the state of the country. So, rappers should fix their life.”
Phyno, who made his breakthrough in the industry as a rapper, revealed that he does not like being referred to as a rapper. He told HIPTV that he would rather be called “a musician” because that is exactly the category he considered his best fit.
Phyno also said that, having spent ten years as a producer, his extensive understanding of music makes him fight any attempt to constrain his craft by narrowing it to a single scope.