Growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, Yema (YTP) is the last of four children born to a father who served in the Nigerian Civil Service as a driver and a mother who earned a living as a petty trader.
From an early age, music became a medium for YTP to escape from the terrible conditions he grew up in. He began by miming songs from his favourite musicians to transfiguring into an artist, telling his own story with his compositions.
YTP is passionate and committed to impacting the world positively with his music.
Away from music, he is also a political science graduate from the University of Benin, Edo State. He loves travelling and experiencing different cultures.
We at Porch Music Box had a chat with this amazing talent, follow the conversation below;
PMB: Whats your full name?
My name is Emmanuel Onyema Okafor.
PMB: What is the full meaning of YTP?
Yema: YTP means Yema The Predator, Yema was gotten from my name ‘Onyema’ while I was nicknamed “The predator” by my friends way back when I started music because they said I always kill every beat I was given to freestyle.
PMB: Tell us about your music background and how your music journey began?
Yema: I was exposed to music at a very early age by my parents who were music lovers…they would regularly play records from Bob Marley, Fela, king Sunny Ade, Oliver de Coque and the likes in the house…that aroused my curiosity in music. My interest however grew over the years as I started to buy and listen to music from various parts of the world but I picked particular interest in music from Africa, America and England, with pop and and RnB becoming my favorite music genres.
PMB: What genre of music do you do and why?
Yema: As an African, my music is first of all “Afro” because there are elements of the African sound and culture in my music. There is also a blend of pop as well because of the danceable tempo augmenting my simple lyrics which I try to make easy-to-remember. So you can call my genre of music Afropop…however I can be versatile with my music and I hope to explore other genres of music in the future.
PMB: What attracts you in people and what are your put offs?
Yema: Well… I get easily attracted to humility and honesty while I get put off by pride, arrogance and lies which are pretty much the direct opposite of traits that attract me
PMB: Your first single choose you is dope … what inspired you to write that song?
Yema: Thank you so much, well It’s a long story, but I will cut it short so I don’t bore you…lol. I wrote the song to express my unconditional love for a girl I was dating at the time.
PMB: What life values/principles do you live by?
Yema: My first and most important life principle is from proverbs 3:5, it says trust the lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding. I do my best for these words to guide my everyday actions and inactions.
PMB: Who are your biggest influence in the music industry?
Yema: Well, I can’t start calling all the names for the sake of time..lol but I will pick a few names…Faze , Tuface , P-square, Wizkid, Davido, Burna and every other young legend who is working hard to put Nigeria and Africa on the map of global music.
PMB: How do you intend to impact the society with your music?
Yema: I do music for 3 major reasons .. which is to inspire, uplift and lastly to entertain people from all works of life regardless of their social circle.
PMB: What should your fans expect from you in 2022?
Yema: I would have said good music…lol, but I know you probably want a more precise answer. My fans should expect an Ep from me before the end of the year but in the meantime, the official video “Choose You” will be out soon… So guys watch out!
That’s whats’up guys…Its a wrap!
Yema recently released his first single titled “Choose You“. Listen, enjoy and leave your thoughts on his song in the comment section!
Follow @yemathepredator on Instagram.
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