“Maga don pay shout hallelujah, Mugu don pay shout hallelujah”

If you are a Nigerian reading this post and you don’t know the lyrics above, then we would like to know where you were in 2008 when these lyrics blasted out of speakers on every street corner.

Titled Maga don pay, the song came at a time when the trend of internet fraudsters known as ‘Yahoo Boyz’ was rampant and became an anthem for this un-orthodox daredevil filthy-rich hoodlums.

Sang by Orji Kelechi aka Kelly Hansome, Maga Don Pay suddenly knocked out a song with a similar content; Yahooze by Olu Maintain which had dominated charts the previous year.

Kelly Handsome, signed to one of the biggest record labels at the time, Kennis Music, became one of the most sought after performers in the Nigerian music industry.

He went on to release his debut album Too Much Money which generated other hits such as ‘Like Play, Like Play’ and ‘Free Me’.

The album was a commercial success and it made Kelly Hansome a house hold name in the Nigerian music scene.

Between late 2009 and mid 2010, Kelly handsome’s flourishing artiste career encountered a major road-bump after getting embroiled in a couple of beefs with some of his colleagues such as The Mo’hits crew, Terry G and M.I alongside his bosses at Kennis Music – Kenny Ogungbe and Dayo Adeneye after leaving the label in a messy affair.

His controversial diss tracks such as Catch Me If You Can and Who Born The Maga (La La Low) directed at M.I and Igwe Kom Kom  – a cynical version of D’banj’s hit song at the time aimed at The Mo’hits crew and Terry G; made him more enemies than friends especially in the industry.

Following his messy split from Kennis Music, he went ahead to release music under his own label called Maga Music.

In 2012, he released a mixtape titled We Built America and also created the official theme song for the Golden Icons Academy Award (GIAMA) titled Will.

Although he went on to drop other singles and even signed a reported N50 million management deal with Now Muizik led by 2Baba’s manager, Efe Omoregbe, Kelly Hansome has unfortunately not been able to replicate the level success he achieved in 2008.

These days he works behind the scenes as a producer and his latest work was on 2Baba‘s new song – Senator.