“I am a giver first and foremost” Hypa Cee reflects on his journey in the entertainment industry in Nigeria. His talent is first utilized in sharing his music to the world. His music is a message of change and love and laughter.
Hypa Cee hasn’t done it all. But you get the distinct feeling he’s on the right path. Like Lil Wayne once said, “I tried to pay attention, but attention paid me.” The music industry will pay Hypa Cee for his attention to lyrical planning, rhythmic detail and to good music.
Hypa Cee is like that rare Award-winning Singer, songwriter, producer, and philanthropist who is the archetype of the Renaissance Man. Everything Hypa Cee touches seems to turn to gold — or platinum. And in Hypa Cee’s latest incarnation, as the tech guru looking to create an emergent technology model for household names in Canada, he is taking on the biggest challenge of his life.
The Kogi-born, Canada-based Nigerian artist has found enormous success in his musical career, selling more than 10,000 records worldwide, with over 20 million streams across different apps. The smash single “Amarachi,” released in 2018 on his debut title, has made a comeback during the current global lockdown experience. It refers to the grace that accompanied the beautiful soul. The soul that loves and reciprocates affection.
Hypa Cee has collaborated with many of the biggest names in the history of Nigeria’s music, including icons like Duncan Mighty, Magnito and many others. His phenomenal success in the music industry has acted as a springboard to other ventures, expanding his influence to philanthropy, social action, and techno-entrepreneurship on a grand scale.
We are givers, first and foremost
Hypa Cee reflects on his family’s influence in helping him find his calling, describing his upbringing as the main factor in the development of his character. Many times he recalls the influence of his only sister who happens to be a lecturer in Canada, a rare gem who carried every alone in her quest to see that her siblings become the best God called them to be. Hypa Cee recalls that “my sister’s generosity has brought me so much positive vibes about the importance of giving to others.”
Hypa Cee said that his “parents were always very generous givers who cared for people genuinely.” Giving, he says, “is something that people do every week automatically.”
“Even in our everyday normal lives, we’re just givers. We just don’t know how to not give.”
Hypa Cee also claims that his childhood was rough and turbulent. He says his generosity stems back to the common struggle of growing up in an impoverished environment.
“When you mature and develop under a specific type of struggle and you know what that feels like, you just don’t want others to feel that same experience. You want better for them. You don’t want others to go through that process.” Hypa Cee explained.
This has motivated Hypa Cee to respond proactively. “If you’re in a position where you can dilute a lot of the struggle from people, I think it’s just something you naturally take on; a responsibility for them.”
Hypa Cee credits his spirituality as the greatest driving force in the roles he has chosen in life. “My beloved mummy always made sure we kept God first in everything that we did.” His grandparents instilled this priority in the family, he says. “Living in Okene , a very spiritual town, we’re surrounded by our spirituality every single day.” God’s blessing, he explains, has allowed him to be in a position to have a great impact. “I always try to put God first in everything that I’m doing.”
Hypa Cee is optimistic about how he can change the future for the better, but he wasn’t always so confident. “Early in my life, this is something I thought could never be possible. I never thought that big.” When he became an artist and traveled to Canada, he explains that he began to see the impact he could have on people with his talent. Hypa Cee was struck with a feeling of empowerment.
“Now I aim to own the stars. If I reach the sky, I’m happy. I will endeavor to travel around Kogi and support the flood victims.”
Like America’s former president, Barack Obama, Hypa Cee believes that, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Hypa Cee once shared something that he was told by a rabbi about the eight degrees of giving in Judaism. The seventh degree is giving anonymously, so you don’t know who you’re giving to, and the person on the receiving end doesn’t know who gave. The value of that is that the person receiving doesn’t have to feel some kind of obligation to the giver and the person giving isn’t doing it with an ulterior motive. It’s a way of putting the giver and receiver on the same level. It’s a tough ideal to reach out for, but it does take away some of the patronizing and showboating that can go on with philanthropy in a capitalist system.
The highest level of giving, the eight, is giving in a way that makes the receiver self-sufficient. This has been Hypa Cee’s way of giving over the years. This stands Hypa Cee out as socially responsible celebrity.
