Lyta (Born July 4, 1998) is a 25 year-old Nigerian singer and songwriter best known for putting out songs like “Time,” “Monalisa,” and “Hold me Down (Omo Gidi),” among others.
Lyta is one of the fastest-growing stars in the Nigerian music scene. He quickly rose to fame for his artistic abilities and has been on an inspiring meteoric rise ever since.
Summary of Lyta’s Biography
- Real Name: Opeyemi Babatunde Rahim
- Nickname: Lyta
- Gender: Male
- Date of Birth: July 4, 1998
- Lyta’s Age: 25 year old
- Place of Birth: Lagos State, Nigeria
- State of Origin: Kwara State, Nigeria
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
- Marital Status: Single
- Lyta’s Height in Inches: 5 feet 4 inches
- Instagram: official_lyta
As is common, a lot of people who reside in Lagos state only live in the state and can trace their origins back to other states in the country. For Lyta, this is particularly true as he is not a Lagosian in the sense of him originating for the state. Rather, he is from Kwara State, the state of Technology, Innovation, and Service.
While he is from Kwara State, Lyta was born in Lagos state as Opeyemi Babtuunde Rahim on the 4th of July, 2001. There is not a lot of information available on his parents and siblings, but it is known that his mother is blind and his parents are not well-to-do. It is also public knowledge that he grew up in one of the most popular slums in Lagos, Ajegunle. Based on this, it is clear that he did not have a rosy childhood. The artiste himself has come out to speak about how he grew in squalor, how his parents struggled to give him the life he had as a child.
Lyta is a practicing Muslim and the faith he practices is the same as his parents who raised him to be Muslim. Just as it is hard to deduce information about his parents there is also not a lot to be known about his early education or what schools he went to, in an interview he mentioned attending an Arabic school at Ile Kewu but he did not state which one he attended. The musician has however expressed a desire to go to the university to continue his education.
Lyta Began Pursuing a Career In Music When He Was 13
Lyta had always had an interest in music even as a child. He started off as one of the boys in his class who sat in the back seat writing songs. When he was 13, he made the decision to become very serious with his music and this decision was triggered by how well a fellow student in his class wrote his own songs. This was the cue for him to take his attempt at music a bit more seriously than he was at the time. It was Ile Kewu that he joined, a music group and they started to make their own music.
Things truly changed for him when he was at a YBNL show and Olamide, the head of that record label asked him to come on stage to perform a freestyle rap. Olamide who has a popular saying along the lines of, we rise by lifting others did not hesitate to ask Lyta to join the YBNL crew and by the end of January Lyta became a member of YBNL. His contract was announced on the 3rd of February 2018.
With YBNL he released two songs, the first featured Olamide, and was released two weeks after he joined the group on the 14th of February, 2018.
Why Did he Leave YBNL?
Regardless of the relationship he had with the record label, Lyta made the decision to leave YBNL a year after he joined the team. Reports state that the split was caused by contractual differences as well as personal issues he had with the label. The first sign of the split was when Olamide stopped following him on Instagram.
By May of 2019, Lyta confirmed that he no longer worked with YBNL. According to him, no contract was ever signed between him and the label, and he was only paid between 50,000 and 80,000 for the shows he performed at. Olamide on the other hand revealed that Lyta had not been willing to participate in the promotion calendar that YBNL offered him and as a result of this, they had to go their separate ways.
Which is Lyta’s Most Famous Song to Date?
When Lyta left YBNL he signed with another label, Doro Musik Gang, and released the song Monalisa on the 12th of July 2019 which is arguably his most popular song to date. A month after its release it had already raked over more than half a million views on YouTube. The video which was directed by Director K was praised for its visuals and how well he was able to balance the teenage realities of Lyta’s life and the subject matter of the song.
The song was such a big hit that Davido reached out to Lyta and asked that they record a remix of the song together to which he agreed. The duo went to Dakar to shoot the video for the song.
Lyta’s other popular songs are:
- Time
- Self Made
- Mama
- Everybody
- Worry
Where Are Lyta’s Family Members?
As already stated, information on the members of Lyta’s family is hard to come by. It is still a mystery how many children his parents have and what his position in his family is but it is clear that providing for his family is the major reason he decided to take up a career in music.
This is a fact he has revealed in a number of interviews where he has talked about how poor his family was and to lift them out of poverty, he decided to take music more seriously. When he had his kerfuffle with YBNL, his father was the person who was helping him sort out potential sponsors for his music.
The singer is very fond of his blind mother and the thought of caring for her and other members of his family has left him determined to attain financial freedom through music.
