Chibuzor Nelson Azubuike also known as Phyno is the undisputed ‘Man of The Year’. The talented Igbo rapper who started out as a producer has risen to become one of Nigeria’s biggest music acts today. He is popular for hit tracks including “Ghost Mode”, “Man of the Year”,”Alobam”, “Parcel” and “O Set”. A decade of hard work and passion has helped transform the “Ghost Mode and Obago” rapper/producer teleporting him from underground hype to a household name in Nigeria and beyond its shores.
EARLY DAYSPhyno, who hails from Anambra State was born on 9th October 1986 and bred in Enugu State. He is the fourth child out of 5 children. He got the name Phyno, which is actually short for phenomenal, from a high school friend by the name of Emeka.
Phyno started nursing his dream of doing music during his secondary school days. He initially wanted to become a pilot, but was later informed that he could be a doctor. While he was in high school, he got himself thoroughly acquainted with the drums and piano. He also learned to create his own version of every recording he heard.
For his tertiary education, Phyno attended the Institute of Management and Technology in Enugu where he studied Public Administration. During his second year, he started making a few bucks from music.
CAREER AS A RAPPER AND PRODUCER
Phyno has long been producing for the likes of Flavour, Timaya, Ruggedman, Bracket,2Shotz, J Martins and Mr. Raw, however, he only started rapping in 2010 after moving down to Lagos and taking the advice of Ill Bliss to get into the booth and try his hands at rapping.
In 2012, Phyno started recording songs for his debut studio album, No Guts No Glory, in 2012 which didn’t drop until early 2014. The album featured guest appearances from Stormrex, Omawumi, Olamide, Efa, P-Square, Timaya, Flavour N’abania, Mr. Raw, M.I, Ice Prince and Runtown. Most of the songs in the album were recorded in Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin. “Ghost Mode” which was released in September 2012 served as the album’s lead single. The song featured Yoruba rap superstar, Olamide and it went on to top numerous charts across the country. Other songs from the album including Man of the Year, Alobam and Parcel were also well received apart from the video for Man of the Year (Obago) which was banned from being aired in September 2013 by the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.
AWARDS AND BEING A GUINESS AMBASSADOR
Phyno won Best Collabo at both the 2012 The Headies Awards and 2013 Nigeria Entertainment Awards with his hit song, Ghost Mode. In total, he has earned 15 nominations and won 4 awards at several awards ceremonies he has been part of including Channel O Music Video Awards, City People Entertainment Awards, Nigeria Entertainment Awards, African Muzik Magazine Awards, Nigeria Music Video Awards (NMVA and The Headies.
In August 2014, a Thisday news story reported that Phyno had become an ambassador of Guinness Nigeria’s Made of Black campaign alongside Olamide and Eva Alordiah. The super star performed at the launch of the campaign and he was also present in the television commercial as well as online adverts.
MEDIA SCANDALS
Phyno was once rumoured to have impregnated a young lady by the name of Rita Edmond but he denied this in an interview with Punch newspapers in 2014. Another issue that got everyone talking about Phyno in 2014 was a photograph of him appearing to be kissing Limpopo crooner, Kcee. The picture trended on popular social media and people wondered whether Phyno was gay. He however debunked those claims and blamed the misleading picture on bad camera angling.
DISCOGRAPHY
No Guts No Glory (2014)
2 Kings [Collaboration album with Olamide] (2015)
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