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The entertainment and media industry in Nigeria is evolving and experiencing tremendous growth recently. Each creative in the industry have their own unique talent, job description, and style of delivery thus ensuring the success of the entertainment industry in Africa and beyond. One notable talent is M.I.A who, on weekdays, is a presenter in Ibadan and on weekends, tour the country as a Hypewoman. Hyping is an ever evolving art in the industry that has been coveted mostly by men, but one can easily spot the formidable Melody Ifeanyi Adigo, popularly known as M.I.A but absolutely never Missing In Action, who is a power house and a force to be reckoned with.
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Born on the 31st of July 1995, M.I.A is fast becoming a household name as she brings unrivaled vibes and energy to her daily radio shows on Beat 97.9FM Ibadan. The Imo state Vibe Queen, who was born and bred in Ibadan, is a wonder to behold and I couldn’t help but have a chat with the energetic Hypewoman on a Google meet.
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Starting the meeting and having her tune in in just 2 minutes, she looked relaxed and ready , with her beautiful blonde locs and the biggest smile while seating pretty in Beat 97.9 FM studio. We exchanged pleasantries and it was all natural and calm, Oh I just knew this was going to be an interesting one.
Started off with telling me her real name; Melody Ifeanyi Chinemerem Adigo, this gave a clear discovery about where the alias M.I.A popped from; interesting. Melody described herself as “Feisty”. Oh I had to run along to look up what that means; it describes someone who is spirited, lively, determined, courageous and she is right.
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Melody started as a radio presenter in 2018 and she mentioned what inspired being a broadcaster is to be the voice that impacts. Her radio show is one of the most popular ones in Beat 97.9 FM currently and what makes her show different is the fact that there is a lot of listener/presenter connection. “It’s the me factor. I mostly personalize my show around me, what I love, the urge to know… so you have my belt filled with feelings and inquisitiveness…”. Melody described working at the Beat FM Ibadan as a blessing. She also appreciates how much it has helped her grow in her art because they do not constrain. She says “There is literally no limit to what you can do”.
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Going forward with the interview, I picked a deep interest in the hyping part. Considering how it is majorly seen as a man’s job in this part of the world, it just made a lot of sense to have a woman doing it and being her best while at it. Even though I haven’t watched M.I.A perform live, I know she is phenomenal just by looking through videos on her Instagram, lit visuals and energy. “You just had to be there!” that was all I had in my head while I was surfing through the videos; she was on fire.
I asked if she identifies as a hypelady/hypewoman/hypeman or any other title, but Melody believes the distinction in the title is unnecessary as they all really put the same energy into the job regardless of the gender. “Making it hypeman or hyper generally could work perfectly. It’s similar to cases where you see people saying female DJs just because of the gender; I think it’s unnecessary too since the job description is clearly the same”. Talking about first reactions from people whenever she tells them she’s into hosting & hyping, she says they never believe ,mostly because of her stature as she looks fragile and calm. She made reference to her size a couple of times, in a very funny way. “Have you seen me?” “I just wan dey” “I look like I’m going to break”. So they say “Is she going to have the energy that we need?” “Ahan, is that not a man’s job?” but she always make them believers after each performance.
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We had a chat about how she became a hype woman and how the journey has been so far.
MIA started hyping in 2018 when she was a student at the National Broadcast Academy and was always in the party committee for events and shows. She mentioned how her anxiety and personality comes up as a problem sometimes and how it was hard to merge a balance between being the calm and shy Melody and also being the audacious Hypewoman bringing all the vibe and energy. For Melody, the best part of being a hype woman is being able to do what the guys can do and doing it in a very appealing way; “I get to be whatever I want to be on stage, even as society already limits it to a man’s job”. It’s like breaking all the rules and letting go, connecting to people”.
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Melody talks about the Premier Block Party (2021) and described it as powerful and remarkable. “You must experience an M.I.A performance in your lifetime to really get the understanding of it. You get a different experience from seeing me on stage compared to just watching my videos online”. She also stated that most people that reach out to her for bookings do that because they have seen what she can do and how good she performs. “It’s not pride, once you see me on stage you just get into it and know I can deliver for you” she said with a big rush of confidence and energy. I like it.
Moved on with the interview and I asked to know which performance was her favorite so far, M.I.A made reference to two shows that were remarkable for her; Smirnoff No Known Address & Vibe With The Trybe. She describes the events as extremely intriguing and noteworthy.
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“Do you have any particular routine or process you follow before a performance?” M.I.A briefly takes us through her routine a week before any performance. She talks about how she drink lots of water but stay off cold water because her voice is her most important asset. She also stays off alcohol and she takes more of fruits.
“Have you experienced a case where your audience gets bored or uninterested? What would you do if that happens?” “Oh yes, it happens!” She confirms. She also talks about some methods she adopts to revive the energy. You have to switch from being a hype person to being an MC sometimes and maybe organize competitions, make them sing along to old school rhymes, freestyle battles, dance competitions etc, to boost the morale and get people back into the moment.
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Melody talks about criticism and bad reviews and how they do not really bother her most times because most of them are really not about her craft and what she does. Talking about inspirations and people she’d love to work with in the hyping business, she mentioned Do2tun. “I’d like to work with Do2tun, because I just feel like he has energy and I have energy, yunno what’s gonna happen to the crowd”. She also mentioned other people she has worked with and enjoyed working with; she talked about working with Tolu Daniels, Live wire, Toby Shang, Shody and how much she appreciates their craft.
The journey has been an absolutely beautiful ride for M.I.A and another interesting factor is that she actually trained as a hype lady under a woman; MC Queen Lagbaja. She described Queen Lagbaja as fantastic, spontaneous and one of the best to ever do it. She also talks about other women in the hyping business that she knows are putting in the work and doing it right. She called them queens, HYPEQUEENS.
Took a short time to explore sides of MIA and she stated professionally, she does radio broadcasting, event host and hyping, then the other side of M.I.A is her being a writer, an actress and a calligrapher.
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I asked if she would describe herself as an energy god despite the M.I.A label and it’s conflicting meaning, the reply was a really interesting one, “No, I never describe myself as an energy god. I’d rather say I’m electric; you have to see me on stage to understand. I noticed the first thing peeps say whenever I call myself M.I.A was “missing in action?” then one day I replied to someone “but absolutely never missing in action” and boom! That was how my slogan line came about”.
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M.I.A talks about her ultimate career goals and how she dreams to be a touch down host; which according to her means, shut down in one country and the next minute she’s flying to another country to shut down shows.
“Okay, so what’s next for you?” I asked. With the biggest smile and glee of confidence, she goes, “Another show to conquer”
M.I.A concludes by dropping a short note for people that haven’t settled in and caught the M.I.A wave yet, she says “You should experience an MIA performance in your lifetime, I no fit convince you with mouth, just give am one day”.
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It’s pretty obvious that M.I.A is not one to be missing in action and she’s all about spreading good vibes and energy. She’s gradually walking through the path to cementing her place as one of the best hype woman to ever do it in this part of the world and we are totally here for it.
