{"id":273228,"date":"2011-01-08T18:18:35","date_gmt":"2011-01-08T18:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/?p=45705"},"modified":"2011-01-08T18:18:35","modified_gmt":"2011-01-08T18:18:35","slug":"i-never-knew-i-would-be-this-big-nigga-raw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/08\/i-never-knew-i-would-be-this-big-nigga-raw\/","title":{"rendered":"I never knew I would be this big \u2014Nigga Raw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_45706\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-45706\" style=\"width: 469px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><em><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-45706\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/01\/08\/i-never-knew-i-would-be-this-big-%e2%80%94nigga-raw\/nigga-raw\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-45706\" title=\"Nigga-Raw\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Nigga-Raw.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"469\" height=\"696\" \/><\/a><\/em><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-45706\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nigga Raw <\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nOkechukwu Edward  Ukeje also known as Nigga raw is popular for his unique style of rap.  He raps in his mother tongue of Igbo. Despite this, he has fans all over  the country. He got married earlier in the year, and recently dropped a  song that is hitting the airwaves at the moment, \u2018Spiritual Kongi\u2019. He  spoke with Hazeez Balogun at an event recently.<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>What<\/strong><strong>\u2019s the meaning of <\/strong><em><strong>Spiritual Kongi<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nIf  you listen to the song very well, you will understand that the song is  an advice to both young men and women to abstain from sex. You see some  men who chase women up and down. You also see some girls who will not be  happy until they have slept with just anybody. In such a case, it is  easy to tell that it is more than the ordinary. It is spiritual. So I  warn them to desist.<br \/>\n<strong>Now that you are married, is it that you are talking out of your past experience<\/strong><br \/>\n(Laughs)  No. Please o. I was not a player, neither did I keep more than one  woman. But when I look around and see young men and women indulging  themselves, and they don\u2019t know when to draw the line. I find out that  it is the devil at play. I am a married man, so I don\u2019 have to fear.    <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<strong>We all know you are from the East, where exactly are you from there?<\/strong><br \/>\nI  am a native of Okoko Item in Bende L.G.A of Abia State. I am the third  born in a family of eight . I graduated from the Institute of Management  and Technology Enugu, where I studied Business Administration and  Management.<br \/>\n<strong>What was growing up like?<\/strong><br \/>\nGrowing  up was fun and my parents were actually very supportive. My dad would  always advise me on my moves and even when I won my first keyboard, they  were happy and we even celebrated it. So, every night I would be on the  keyboard, turn it down and try to write songs. My mum was always  praying for me and I had this support from them, as they knew I was  working hard and supported me and their prayers have actually helped me.  So, growing up was fun and I heard I was very stubborn, I said I heard  because then I was very small and I didn\u2019t know. This was all in Enugu  where I was born and bred.<br \/>\n<strong>Who were your influence?<\/strong><br \/>\nI  started by listening to foreign acts like Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap,  BDP, Nice MC, Eric B &amp; Rakim, Chubb Rock, Heavy D and the Boyz, K  Solo, Def Squad, ED OG &amp; the Bulldogs, Nice &amp; Smooth, Kid &amp;  Play, 2 Pac, Special Ed, Ice MC, Grand Puba, Poor Righteous Teachers,  Public Enemies\u2026. The list is endless. Then I began writing my own lyrics  in 1992, and since then till date I\u2019ve always believed I can do better  than I have done already. That has really helped me a lot. My break was  when in 2002 I participated in a music competition organised by Benson  &amp; Hedges tagged \u201cGrab The Mic\u201d Competition. I eventually won it  after battling with different artistes from other parts of the country.  The grand finale took place in Abuja at the Old Parade Ground where I  was crowned the winner.<br \/>\n<strong>Why the name <\/strong><em><strong>Nigga Raw?<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nMy  name is Okechukwu Edward Ukeje, also known as Dat NIG.G.A Raw. I got  the stage name \u201cDat NIG.G.A Raw\u201d years back when I was still in the  secondary school. I used to be very vulgar and blunt (though I\u2019m not  anymore, then I was acting my age). So my friends started calling me  \u201cRaw\u201d. NIG.G.A. My stage name is an acronym for Nigerian guy Anakpo.  \u201cAnakpo\u201d means \u201ccalled\u201d.<br \/>\n<strong>Rapping in Igbo is unique, why did you decide to go that way?<\/strong><br \/>\nWell,  like I said, I started like any other person in English rap because I  was listening to some American rap artistes and my songs were also in  English. Later, I started adding pidgin but there was one person we  called Mr Goodnoise, he was a DJ, and one day while we were at a show he  grabbed the mic and started doing freestyle in Igbo. It was so much fun  and I was really moved because it gave me a kind of new feel about  music and I am being very sincere with you. You know it was the pidgin  era popularised by Junior and Pretty but the Igbo thing was unique,  although he did not write it down, it was just a freestyle session. I  later started improving it and people were feeling it so much; as I was  actually using their dialects to tell stories of happenings in school.  It was so much fun and I decided that if people here like this so much  then I can stick to it and that is what I have done. Initially, though,  it was like impressing my Igbo brothers and sisters. I won\u2019t tell you  that I had plans to make it a big time and all that. I kept doing it and  actually did series of competitions and I excelled because I was using  Igbo to rap but it was really while I was doing my youth service in  Owerri that a couple of people started telling me \u201cbros, how can you  just leave it after all these achievements?\u201d And I decided I would go  into music after the youth service.But I did not know I was going to  make it this big; I won\u2019t lie to you, God just did it for me.<br \/>\n<strong>Are you on any label?<\/strong><br \/>\nMy  album \u201cEverything Remains Raw\u201d was released under Eastside Records, but  I have a record label called Rawdeal Records, where we\u2019re working  towards releasing and promoting some upcoming acts including my younger  brother, Hype MC.<br \/>\n<strong>Is music all rosy?<\/strong><br \/>\nMusically,  one major business challenge we all face in the industry is piracy. But  one day, we\u2019ll get there. I\u2019m also trying to learn new things and  invest, because I\u2019m aware that I won\u2019t do hip-hop the rest of my life.<br \/>\n<strong>Were your parents supportive of your music<\/strong><br \/>\nMy  parents are understanding and supportive. I had already won awards from  talent hunts so they knew what I was capable of. After I won those  contests, I got invited to perform at shows . The money I was making  from these shows was more than I was getting paid at Asonet  Technologies. So it wasn\u2019t a hard decision to make.<br \/>\n<strong>Tell us about your marriage<\/strong><br \/>\nI  got married on 21 October, 2009 and have you not seen the answer  already? Marriage is good and I am enjoying it and living up to the  challenges. You know a lot has changed and for instance, I can\u2019t just  travel like I owe nobody any explanation because I am not alone anymore  and all such issues. I love it.<br \/>\n<strong>A  lot of people have got the talent and drive but things do not just seem  to be working for them, what have you got to say to them?<\/strong><br \/>\nThey  should just put God first and not give up; they have got to keep  pushing because like people say, some people don\u2019t know how close they  are to succeeding when they give up. Everybody cannot make it at the  same hour or minute but rely on your inside determination and remember  everybody has got his own way and period of the time, so be positive and  work hard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Okechukwu Edward Ukeje also known as Nigga raw is popular for his unique style of rap. He raps in his mother tongue of Igbo. Despite this, he has fans all over the country. He got married earlier in the year, and recently dropped a song that is hitting the airwaves at the moment, \u2018Spiritual Kongi\u2019. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I never knew I would be this big \u2014Nigga Raw - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/08\/i-never-knew-i-would-be-this-big-nigga-raw\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"I never knew I would be this big \u2014Nigga Raw - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Okechukwu Edward Ukeje also known as Nigga raw is popular for his unique style of rap. 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