By Oluwapelumi Oluwayemi
Nigerian music star Timaya has opened up about his struggle before fame, revealing how a chance encounter with a roadside CD vendor in Port Harcourt changed the course of his music career.
In a recent interview on the Afrobeats Intelligence podcast, the 44-year-old “Dem Mama” hitmaker recounted how he tirelessly shuttled between Lagos and Port Harcourt in 2007, desperately searching for a marketer to promote his debut album True Story.
Timaya said his breakthrough came unexpectedly when a CD vendor in Port Harcourt listened to his demo and connected him with a marketer in Alaba, Lagos.
“He said, ‘Go and look for my brother now, he is in Alaba.’ I called the guy and told him I was Timaya. He said I should bring the demo to his shop the next morning,” the singer recalled.
Though the marketer wasn’t yet a major player in the industry, he had previously worked with artistes like Sky B and was focused on promoting music in Nigeria’s eastern region.
Timaya narrated how the marketer played the demo CD while cleaning his shop. One of the songs, Ogologoma, immediately attracted attention from walk-in customers who wanted to buy it—despite it not being released yet.
Impressed by the growing interest, the marketer offered Timaya ₦500,000 for the album—far below the ₦3.5 million Timaya had initially hoped for but a massive jump from the ₦45,000 offers he had been getting.
“He looked at me and smiled, saying no one is going to give me that amount. He said the last offer he would give me was ₦500,000, and if I didn’t come back by Monday, I shouldn’t call him again,” Timaya said.
“I called him immediately I got down from the bus and said I was ready. He told me to come to the market on Monday and take my money—and that was it.”
The deal marked a turning point in Timaya’s career, leading to the release of True Story, which introduced him to the Nigerian music industry.
