The Story of a Platain Boy - Timaya

I'm a very rich boy'

Evidently, Enetimi Odom, the singer popularly known as Timaya has come a long way from the Toyota Camry 2.2-cruising artiste of 2007, one of the benefits of the commercial success that trailed his debut album, True Story. When this reporter got to his well-appointed 5-bedroom duplex in Marwa Gardens, Ikeja, Lagos, last Monday afternoon, he was greeted by a glittering Range Rover Sport 2010. Black and shimmering, the 'expensive machine' was parked in front of the duplex. Inside, a white Escalade truck valued at about N10m sits in stately grandeur.

“I love cars,” he quips. No doubt. Before he relocated from Port Harcourt, Rivers State where he had cultivated a cult-like following, Timaya was always an enviable sight in Lagos in his bullet-proof Jaguar and BMW X5, both of which, he says, he has given to his sisters. “I get tired easily of cars. When I bought the Escalade last January, I was awed by its sheer functionality and beauty and I thought I would drive it for a very long time. But a few months later, I got tired of it and bought the Range (Rover) which has been like my official car for some months now.”

Apparently, Timaya lives the roller coaster life he sings about. However, life has not always been this sweet for him. In Plantain Boy, the lead single off his current album, De-Rebirth, he talks about his humble beginnings, and how rich he is now which does not beggar much belief going by available indices. But, how rich is he really? Without as much as a twitch, he says, ”A few years ago, I could not afford three square meals; I had nowhere to stay; I was actually squatting with a girlfriend who would send me out of her house at the slightest offence. But now, my story has changed.

“For every man, three things are fundamental, clothes, food and shelter. Those are no longer my problems. So, I'm a very rich boy. I don't need to be as rich as (Mike) Adenuga to know that I am rich.” Timaya admits that sometimes he looks at himself and wonders whether his life is a fairy tale because “Whenever I look at my account, I get scared and ask myself, is all this money for me?”