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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