Stanley Omah Didia was raised in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt. He was born on May 19 1997, He hails from Egbeda, Emohua, Rivers Local Government Area in Rivers State.
He attended Comprehensive High School in Rivers State before proceeding to the University of Port Harcourt.He comes from a musical family and his grandfather played instruments for the singer Celestine Ukwu before he died in 1977, Lay’s father also played the drums.
1. Musical Entry
Omah Lay started out in a rap group under the stage name “Lil King.” He later moved on to songwriting and music producing, which went largely uncredited, and as a result of that, he released “Do Not Disturb” in April 2019. “Hello Brother” was released a month after.
He signed to a record label named KeyQaad in June 2019, and took a seven month break.During the break, he worked on his debut EP, Get Layd. He told OkayAfrica, “I started working on it in August [of 2019]. At some point I had to go off social media, stay away from a lot of things and keep my head straight to get the project right. The first song I’d recorded on Get Layd was ‘Bad Influence.’ I’d done that way before the songs we had to put on the project.” Following the break, he released “Bad Influence,” which became the most streamed Nigerian song on Apple Music at the end of 2020.
On 14 February 2020, Lay released “You,” his first official single. He released his five-track debut EP, Get Layd on 22 May 2020.The EP peaked at number one on the Nigerian Apple Music charts. All five songs from the EP reached the top 15 of the Apple Music charts for Nigeria, with “You” peaking at number one.
In October, Lay appeared on Olamide’s album Carpe Diem, on the track “Infinity”, which topped the Apple Music charts for Nigeria.
On 20 November, Lay released his second five-track EP, What Have We Done. All five tracks reached the top 12 of the Apple Music charts for Nigeria, with “Godly” reaching number one.
On 3 July 2020, Lay was the first artist highlighted for Apple’s Africa Rising Campaign to spotlight African talent. In December 2020, he was included in BBC Radio 1Xtra’s annual “Hot for 2021” list. He was the first African artist featured on Audiomack’s #Up Now program for emerging artists; was included in Montreux Jazz Festival’s “20 artists to watch in 2021” and was named BET’s Amplified International Artist of the Month for November 2020. He was nominated in four categories at the 2020 Headies Awards, winning the Next Rated award.
On 25 June 2021, Lay was featured alongside fellow Nigerian singer Alpha P on Nigerian producer Masterkraft’s official remix of Canadian singer Justin Bieber’s single, “Peaches”. On 8 July 2021, Lay released a new single, “Understand”. On 3 March 2022, he released a collaboration with Bieber, “Attention”, which serves as the second collaboration between the two artists.
2. Controversial Arrest
On 14 December 2020, Lay was arrested alongside Tems after they performed in a show in Uganda. The Ugandan Police authority identified violation of COVID-19 lockdown protocols as the reason for their arrests. The artists felt they were set up.[22][23] Two days later, the Ugandan government released the two, apologized for the arrests and cleared them of wrongdoing.
3. His Interviews
Omah Lay’s strength lies in his ability to thrive in his carefully curated world, delivering a fusion of sounds he has termed ‘Omah Lay Music’. His second EP “What Have We Done?” featured black on a remix to the single “Damn” in an effortless synergy that displayed the global potential of “Omah Lay Music.”
On several occasions, he mentions that he doesn’t like being put in a box. And like many other artists that is very understandable. In his interview with Teen Vogue, he mentioned that
“There’s no fun when you can’t express yourself, there’s no fun with not having fun with my music. It’s really important that I express my story, say what is mine regardless of what the listener feels. I can’t tell a story that’s different from mine. I always try my best to be me.
When asked about his achievements and musical stardom by Teen Vogue, he was fairly humble.
“First of all, it’s a blessing to be where I am today. Sometimes I feel like I won’t be here if not for Wizkid, Tuface, Davido, Burna Boy, and a lot of others I didn’t mention. These guys made Nigerian Afrobeats what it is today, and I have to give credit to them because they made it possible for us to be here. It’s amazing to be here and be one of the select artists selling African music to the world. There’s nothing I can say to quantify how big of a blessing it was. I was just a normal guy some months ago and then my EP ‘Get Layd’ changed everything.”
Conclusively, Omaha Lay is interesting & talented, with a unique style to his music which makes him stand out; we could address him as a dark humorist who makes light of the situations of humanity. We should expect more bangers and developments from him in the future & we’ll keep you updated. Check out his music on Spotify below for his latest track titled ‘Holy Ghost’ and other tracks of his.
