How Timaya sheltered me when I was homeless

Nigerian music star, John Njeng-Njeng, popularly known as Skales, has revealed how his senior colleague, Timaya, put a roof over his head at a point in his life when he was homeless.

Skales stated that shortly after his contract ended with Banky W’s Empire Mates Entertainment, where had dished out some hit tracks, he became homeless. In a chat with media personality, Chude Jideonwo, he noted that at that point of his life he has to turn his car into his ‘residence’

Skales said, “I was homeless when I left EME. I did not release any album when I was with EME. I worked on an album which is the EME album but I did not release it. When I was with EME, it was not like we were making ‘crazy money’. As at that time, I was making money, I would not lie, but it was majorly Banky and Wiz. I was making money but it was not plenty. I was also a young chap still trying to figure out life.

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“I did not have guidance so I was just in the street by myself. Even though I hate to blame whatever mistakes on that I did not have any guidance, I did not have much money. The house I was staying they rented it so when the deal was off I had to leave, so, I did not know what to do.

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“I hit the street and I am not the type of person that would go to anybody to beg for anything so I had to believe that I had to keep going. I had this Ford Explorer, my studio is my baby so I had my studio inside there, I had my clothes and shoes in the booth.

“I did not have much because everything I had in the house was theirs. I will drive to anybody’s house who is my friend and I always made sure I leave late in the night. It was mostly Timaya. I will just go to my car and pass out till the next morning. Then I will go to the house and say I want to use your rest room. I already had my toothpaste and brush.”

The singer further said that the day Timaya knew he was homeless he cried and offered him his penthouse to live in.

“I was ‘good vibes’ so everybody wanted to be around me. I and another friend were the only ones that knew what I was going through. One day, Timaya found out and he actually cried. He felt bad because I was always with him, we were always chilling but he did not know what was going on. He had this penthouse he does not use for anything so he told me to move in there. I asked him about my studio and he said, ‘this is a music house we have three studios’. I was there for some time.”

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Also speaking about another artiste that helped him during his down moment in life, Skales stated that Olamide sent him money to shoot a video for his song, Shake Body, a gesture that changed his life.

He said, “Olamide called me and said there is this song he is hearing everywhere. I asked somebody and they told me you sang it. I said, ‘shake body’? He said yes and asked about the video that I should shoot the video. I told him that as I was talking to him I was homeless. I had nowhere to stay not to talk of video. He said he would give me some money to shoot the video then asked for my account number. I sent it to him and before you know it, he sent me the money.

“I was shocked because he was not even my friend or some I talk to. We did the video and when we released it, God turned my life around.”