Omoniyi Temidayo Raphael (born on 19th December 1994) is the full name of Nigerian professional rapper, singer and dancer Zlatan. He is also known by the stage name Zlatan Ibile, with the last part of his stage name being a homage to the street he claims to represent.
Zlatan has always been passionate about music and was a well-known campus singer during his Mashood Abiola Polytechnic days. He received a career boost in 2014 after emerging the winner of Airtel’s One Mic Campus Tour competition in Ogun State.
Temidayo first burst into the Nigerian music scene with his street rapping style but despite it being an already owned section of music, Zlatan used his unique dancing skills to edge out the competition. He dropped the famous Zanku song accompanied by the dance routine of the same name in 2018. Zanku is, so far, one of the major achievements of his career. Read the full biography of Zlatan to learn more about this talented street rapper but first, let us take note of some important facts about him below.
10 facts you should know about Zlatan biography
- Omoniyi Temidayo Raphael is the real name of Zlatan and he is a native of Ekiti State.
- Zlatan was born in Lagos on 19th December 1994 and he will be 26 years old in 2020.
- At the age of 19, in 2014, Omoniyi won the Airtel One Mic Campus Tour competition and got a recording deal with ID Cabasa’s label.
- Zlatan’s first love was football, which he stills plays for leisure as an attacker.
- The phrase “Kopaichumarimarichopaco” popularly associated with Zlatan has no meaning according to him.
- Temidayo Raphael also pioneered the trendy dance step Zanku (aka Leg Work) and it means: Zlatan Abeg No Kill Us.
- He was arrested by the EFCC along with Naira Marley in May 2019 and he spent five days in detention before being released on bail.
- Zlatan won Best Collaboration Awards, Best new act and Song of the year at the 2019 All Africa Music Awards (Afrima).
- He also won Best Collabo at the 2019 Headies award and City People Music Awards for Street Music of the Year in 2019.
- Omoniyi got a National Diploma in Business Administration from Mashood Abiola Polytechnic.
Read also: Rachael Okonkwo (Nkoli Nwa Nsukka): Biography, facts, filmography, net worth, new movies and awards
Zlatan Biography: Early life
Zlatan’s real name is Omoniyi Temidayo Raphael and he was born in Lagos on 19th December 1994. His stage name was coined after the popular Swedish football Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The singer adds ‘Ibile’ to his performance name to show his street background.
Although Temidayo grew up in Ikordu, Lagos, he is originally from Ekiti state as that is where his parents are from. He had wanted to be a professional footballer and plays in an attacking position. That was why he adopted the name of Zlatan after the famous Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has played for Manchester United, Barcelona, PSG, and other top world football clubs. He s currently with AC Milan a club he had played for in the past. Zlatan Ibile revealed to Beats 99.9 FM that he still plays football but we assume for leisure and maybe fitness purposes.
At the completion of his secondary education, Zlatan obtained a National Diploma (ND) in Business Administration from Mashood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State. His venture into music was happenchance following his friends’ encouragement, which was reinforced after he won Airtel One Mic Campus Tour in 2014. He would therefore forego going for a Higher National Diploma n favour of a music career.
Prior to 2014, Omoniyi Raphael (aka Zlatan) was relatively unknown except perhaps around his Lagos neighbourhood, where he likely performed at some small shows. However, his first taste of fame came after he emerged the winner of the Airtel One Mic Campus Tour competition in 2014.
He had beaten five other finalists during the contest’s grand finale held at the OK Centre, Ibara GRA, Abeokuta.
Zlatan Ibile (the name he had entered the contest with) went away with star prizes that included a brand new Kia Picanto, a full artiste makeover and a recording deal with ID Cabasa’s Coded Tunes.
The lyrical competition had taken over two hours and sitting on the judging panel that day were ID Cabasa, versatile street rapper and singer-Reminisce and DJ Jamalot.
After this first major feat, Temidayo seemed to have gone back to the drawing board and the music world heard nothing from him again until three years later, in 2017.
Zlatan Ibile’s music career beginning 2017
Zlatan Ibile released the track Zlatan, named after himself, in the middle of 2017. The rap song was a full rap track that is daunting and fearless. It immediately caught the attention of rap music enthusiasts as it reminded them of Olamide’s breakout track, Eni Duro. Also, the track brought something that has been missing among music lovers at that time: a proper Street rap from an upcoming artist.
You may like: Zlatan launches new record label – Zanku Records
The song became a hit the moment it dropped with its fiery lyrics and passionate delivery.
It did not take long before YBNL boss, Olamide, jumped on a track with him and they released the single, My Body, in October 2017. With the already established prominence of the YBNL’s boss, Zlatan became a name to be reckoned with for the first time. People started to take notice of the dark-skinned Yoruba singer with the brightly dyed hair and colourful outfits like the Power Rangers.
His next project with other YBNL singers will outdo these initial successes. In fact, many will forget that they already knew of Zlatan Ibile before it, but they cannot be blamed. Big successes have a way of suppressing smaller ones.
It’s instructive to note that Zlatan has credited Olamide as being instrumental to his career finally taking off.
Zlatan ‘blows’ in 2018
So it happens that in 2018, Chinko Ekun teamed up with Lil Kesh and Zlatan to deliver one of the biggest songs Nigeria saw the whole year, Able God. The song was a masterfully engineered double-meaning piece of art. It could be interpreted to mean a song appealing to God to bless legal hustles as well as illegal ones. Either way, the lyrics and sound were enjoyed by most ears that heard them. But that was only one part of the song’s success. The next part was witnessed with the launch of the video for Able God.
In the video of Able God, Zlatan led the other duo in executing a never-before-seen dance routine that majorly had to do with tasking the legs. Back then, the dance routine was first called Leg Work but the rapper would later rename it into something more personal – Zanku.
ZANKU: Zlatan Abeg No Kill Us
There was no going back to the cloak of obscurity for Omoniyi Raphael after the success of Able God and the popularity of its dance routine. It became a signature dance move both offline and online. The songwriter then dropped a single titled: Zanku.
Zanku immediately became the name that goes with the dance despite some people still refer to it as Leg Work. Zanku is an acronym for Zlatan Abeg No Kill Us – a bridge he used all through the track.
While the track was making waves, Zlatan Ibile began to be featured on more songs. It was as if other artistes just woke to the fact that he was the current hot cake and they wanted to tap into his shine, which cemented his status as a music star.
We will briefly look at his notable features with other artists following the release of Zanku to elaborate on this point.
Selected Zlatan Ibile’s music features
Davido and Zlatan
The boss of DMW, David Adeleke, and Zlatan Ibile have developed a close bond. Both have appeared on many tracks together and the first time was on the song Osanle on which Zlatan featured Davido. They were also on Super Power with Yonda as well as on Bum Bum in January 2019. Their most recent appearance together was on Sweet in the Middle on which they were joined by Wurld and Naira Marley as well.
Besides featuring on tracks together, Davido also stood for Zlatan when thugs roughed him up over Segun Wire. Omoniyi had been accused of diverting funds that Olamide and Davido allegedly gave to the young Segun. David Adeleke had supported him vocally online.
The official story about Segun Wire was that in 2017, the nine-year old’s video surfaced on Instagram. The video, which trended at the time showed the boy telling the world that he wanted to become an internet fraudster. It caused a ruckus online as the public started complaining that the constant show off of ill-gotten wealth was causing moral rot, especially among impressional young people.
See also: Davido reacts in anger after his $30,000 watch is stolen in Ghana
Zlatan took the boy under his wing and created an Instagram account for Segun and started touting him as the next big thing in the comedy world. Then he went farther, he financed the boy’s schooling in a private school and also took care of his upkeep.
But things took an ugly turn in 2018 when the family of Segun Wire turned on the singer and accused him of stealing from Segun Wire.
Naira Marley and Zlatan
The controversial Soapy crooner, Azeez Fashola (aka Naira Marley), and Zlatan have both been close, making appearances on many tracks. This makes Azeez Fashola important to Omoniyi Temidayo’s (Zlatan Ibile) biography. The two artists collaborated on the hit Am I A Yahoo Boy in 2019. This track raised more than its fair share of dust that culminated in the arrest of Naira Marley, Zlatan as well as three others by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, EFCC.
Zlatan and the three others were released after a while Naira Maira was held for several weeks. He was subsequently released on bail but the case is still pending before a Federal High Court in Lagos State. However, since Naira Marley’s release, he and Zlatan have collaborated on many songs together.
Zlatan appeared on Soapy’s video and both of artists were also on Illuminati track. They have also worked together with Davido as stated in the previous section.
Burna Boy and Zlatan
Grammy nominee Damini Ogulu aka Burna Boy and Raphael have worked together on two major tracks. The two singers collaborated on Killin Dem in December 2018 and also gave us Gbeku in 2019. Killin Dem turned out to be one of the biggest tracks of 2019.
It was awarded the Best Collabo at The Headies 2019 and Song of the Year at the 2019 African Muzik Magazine Awards. The inclusion of the track in Burna Boy’s African Giant project also helped push the album’s fame farther.
