M.I.A….Afrobeats Queen of Hype 

It’s very difficult to ignore Melody Ifeanyi Adigo’s unwavering energy on stage. The renowned on-air personality, event host and party hype woman, better known as M.I.A, is one of the people redefining the showbiz experience in Nigeria with her cheerful smile and adrenaline-packed performances. 

After honing her craft hyping at every stage that cared enough in neighbouring Ibadan, M.I.A moved to Lagos, where her talent sprung into limelight. She’s performed on some of the country’s biggest stages, including the Block Party Radio stages, as well as signature concerts by leading alcoholic beverage brands such as Guinness, Smirnoff, among others. And while the scene continues to be male-dominated, M.I.A is at the forefront of female voices pushing the recent hype culture within Afrobeats’ mainstream showbiz scene. 

Despite being a queen of the stage, Melody Ifeanyi Adigo is also a household voice on radio where she hosts a daily programme on Soundcity 98.5 FM. In this week’s Guardian Music, she lets us into her world where she’s never missing in action, from recording studios to major music festivals; as well as detailing her come-up journey; challenges faced as a woman in hype; and also her enduring vision of living a life that positively impacts upon others. 
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Let’s look into your life as a hype person. First of all, how did you get into the scene and what drew you to it?
I got into the scene in 2018. Yes, 2018 and I didn’t start off as a hype person. I started off as an event host. Then the year 2018 was when I went to the National Broadcast Academy to improve my skills in broadcasting. And it happened that every time they were throwing parties, they would call me to ginger the crowd. And, you know, I think hype was already becoming a big thing then, and they knew, but I did not know. I possibly had it in me. So, they were always calling me to ginger the crowd, and all of a sudden I found myself gingering crowds.

How did you navigate the scene then?
So, same 2018, after my training at the Academy, I went for my NYSC and since I’d already started gingering the crowd there, I continued during camp. When I got back, because I served in Ibadan, my mom, who lives in Ibadan, told my uncle that I was into this event hosting and things like that. My uncle said I should come through to the club he was working at as a DJ. He introduced me to a lady called MC Lagbaja who happened to be the host at the place every Friday night, I just happened to find myself there, and also every other time I was not out looking for a job. I used to be just an event host. So every time I was looking for a job, I would look for a job both in hype and in event hosting. And that’s how it became commercial; because I was now looking for a job in both ways.

Then, the challenges I faced earlier was to get a stage that would put me on and also pay me. It’s kind of hard when you’re starting to get people to pay you, even if it’s the smallest money. And I was new to Ibadan so nobody knew me; getting people to recognize me and want to pay me for my services was quite hard.

How did you eventually hack it? And where was your radio career in all of this?
I remember when I got to Ibadan and I just met one person in the entertainment industry from Instagram called Paul Alasere. I went to see him at the radio station he worked and. One of his colleagues at work told me when we were being introduced that in Ibadan you can either be the person that does favours for everybody and when you’re doing your thing people will come through for you, or you can be the person who makes sure that she gets paid no matter what.
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And I told myself I was going to become the latter. So, every time Paul brought a job to me, I asked for their budget. I told myself then that even if it is as low as N5,000 I would do it, because that way I’m putting myself out there. If it’s no money at all, I’m not going to do it, except if the stage makes sense.

But no matter how low the pay was, I just kept doing it so that people could know about the new girl in town. And as I grew, I would get more money, and that’s how I hacked it. And then I got on the Premier Block Party stage, and that was my coming into Lagos and everywhere just scattered, because people had started paying me. In all of this, remember I said I met my friend Paul at his radio station. I was still pursuing radio side by side. I was doing my NYSC and every Friday night I would go to the club to hype. I wasn’t going to radio yet, but I had a podcast then and I also was airing on Lokal FM. It was an internet radio station. I was doing a segment on their morning show for them. That’s what I was doing. In December of that 2018, I did Inspiration next radio superstar competition. I came in the top five. The next year, every Friday I would go to the club, and every Saturday, I would go to Jamz FM to have their Saturday night show. I became an intern, and I got employed.

So was it draining? Yes, it was. But I’m not going to use draining as the exact word, because draining is when you don’t like it. It was just because they were not bringing in as much money as they were supposed to. I really feel like when you put your back into something, it should generate funds. So, it wasn’t generating as much funds as it should at the beginning. I was always having low moments about it.
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Sometimes, I cried myself to sleep; because why am I working two jobs and yet I do not have any money? How I dealt with it was, I started my career living in my parents’ place. I didn’t move out immediately. I was still with my parents.

So I’m just going to say a big shout out to my parents, because, you know, having them around, both emotionally, financially, helped me pursue my dream as long as I can, till I started making my own money.

And my friends feel like music is something that helps you no matter where you find yourself in life. And my friends were always there to pick me up when I was really down. And yeah, that’s how I dealt with that. And God. I am not going to forget that because by 2017 I became closer to God a lot more.

So how do you prepare for a show? 
Preparing for my show is a lot of mental work, whether it’s radio or events. So, with radio, you cannot just come on air and just say anything. Even if it’s four hours that you have on air, three hours go into show prep, which has to do with a lot of research. So, you’re online, you’re finding out what is happening. You’re getting data for your show on your show elements; you’re researching on them, what is current in your show elements.

Whether it’s tech you’re talking about or it’s fashion, you have to do your research to bring this out and put them in a paperwork, which you have to submit to your head of programmes before you go on air. So it’s four hours on air, but planning a radio show could take you as long as five or six hours.

Then, for events, my preparation starts a whole week before the event itself. So, because my voice is my main tool, whether it’s on the radio or on the stage, I have to protect it at all times.
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I drink water a lot, and rest more. I regulate my exercise by removing cardio from my routines and just making them normal fitness, because I’m going to do a lot of cardio jumping on stage. I’m taking more fruit so that my immune system is okay when I start jumping. Also, I even prefer my outfit at least two weeks before the show.

I ensure it goes with the theme of the event. I have to make sure it goes with the colour of the event as well. Also, I reduce going out a week before my event, because I don’t want to burn the energy I’m going to use outside.

Sometimes, I limit talking to people. Now, if I’m having a back to back, like during the December period, or if I’m on a tour around the country, I do not need to talk to anybody. I don’t like talking to people too much because I would just rather save my voice. Then I also have this hot water solution. I do hot water, lemon, ginger and honey. This is my own solution. I’m not telling any other person to use it too because, but yeah. I do not want air conditioning around me. I don’t have AC anywhere. I try to make sure my voice doesn’t get cracked, and I try my best.

Tell us about your most memorable experiences as a hype person 
This is tough because I make memories almost everywhere. I will say the Premier Block Party. It is a stage with a difference. Light control there is incredible. Why I say most of my shows are memorable is because, sometimes, I find myself in a place where people are not ready to dance or party; and I have to make them party. When I start, and I’m able to grow with the crowd, and even have sound issues, I still work to make people party. We’ve had that in so I’m just going to mention a couple of events that hold these kinds of memories for me. We’ve had Block Party Radio. We’ve also had Smirnoff. We’ve had some other block parties, both in Abuja or mainland or Island. Tiger last year was so lit. It was so memorable. I still get people who love me just because of that gig. Then, yes, Spotify, because of how nice it was. Those are the good ones. Then there were bad ones. But these ones are not exactly bad, but they are unconventional. They were the times where I found myself having my monthly flow on stage. I can remember almost every stage that I had my monthly flow on, because at the end of it I always ask myself how I was able to do it on stage.

Thriving as a woman in a male dominated space might have brought its challenges. What is your experience like? 
Maybe it is because of how I came into the industry, but I think it has just been really nice for me. I’ve had people who have worked with me earlier in my career want to protect me. I’ve not had so many challenges as a woman in the industry, because I was introduced to another woman that I was working with at the club. And she had already told me a lot about people to be careful of. This is because the only challenge I had back then was going back home because I would close by 12 midnight and it wasn’t safe to go back home all the way from where the club was. The club was quite far from my house, so, I had to get a friend who was living close by, and was kind enough to let me use his space for that period. That was the challenge I faced at that time. When I graduated from that stage of life to another, I had people also who were always pampering me, from my manager to the block party team whom I used to work with a lot when I started, and the only challenge I faced back then was my monthly flow. So, I think it’s just a thing with a lot of women. A lot of women do not want a situation whereby they would be judged as handicapped because of their monthly flow. So we kind of put extra effort into the work. Styling is not a problem for me, because, yeah, I got the style on lock. But the problem is styling in a way that would be acceptable unto the Lord and onto the stage. Basically, the stage, because I’m very energetic. I find myself jumping. As a top heavy woman, even if I want to dress the way I love to dress, I have to be very careful that I do not have a wardrobe malfunction on stage.
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Women are now given more opportunities as hype people. Women are now being seen as people that can do this, people that can deliver when it comes to the hype industry. Also, because our job is at night it’s kind of hard to keep relationships. Uh, I’ve spoken to one or two hype girls who have spoken to me about how being a hype girl is weighing on their relationship in a negative way. So being in the night life is kind of something that comes with its challenges. From the security part of it as a woman being outside at night, down to dating; because if you have to be in a relationship with somebody who understands the way the industry works.  You would hear people say they cannot be in a relationship with somebody who is always going out at night, because how will they take care of children? You know, these kinds of silly talks exist.

And I feel like it’s a career path that was chosen for some people, and even if they chose it, women should be extended that grace to be able to gracefully succeed in the career without having somebody discriminate against them.
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How lucrative is the hype business and do you see a sustainable industry moving forward, especially, with women participation as well? 
Hype business is very lucrative. I’m not going to lie. Hype has it bigger than most other professions in the scene. Hype is almost a new school concept, a new generation trend. And yes, the higher you grow in the ladder, the more you get paid, and the more hype hype is featured as a phenomenon in parties the more the demand. The hype industry is going to last for a very long time. Yes, because Nigerians had to let things die. As far as parties are happening and Nigerians love partying, hype is something that will stay forever. But one thing about hype, and just like music, also, you just need to look for how to sustain it yourself and how to diversify. That’s why we see it’s not everybody that gets paid 100 percent through music. Some people have to spread their wings. Some people have to do other things. Some people who are still in the music business are now also selling merchandise, you know, just to make sure that the money is coming from different places. And once you’re a hype person, you have influence. You can use your influence to run businesses. So even with women participation, I just feel like as a woman, you would have to be extremely dogged to last in the industry. We already have the African challenges to women, and we have the general challenges to women. So, as a woman in the hype industry, you have to be extremely dogged and then you have to be good.

Tell us some fun facts about yourself?
I am very playful. I love to write. I love music so much. I also do calligraphy. I love to design things.

Finally, what is your vision long-term for your career? 
My long term vision in this industry is to be able to give a lot of people a party experience. I feel like sometimes when people go out, they do not have the full experience when it comes to parties. I’m hoping that as long as it could take and as long as I would be doing it I would be able to touch a lot of lives that they would have said that they experienced with me, and I would never forget it. I want them to be able to have a touch of MIA in their memories.
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