Ifunaya Grant popularly called ‘Baddest Lawyer’ by her fans or Mamí wátà as she fondly calls herself is a Lawyer and budding rapper who even under the limelight and surge of attention has audaciously chosen to still be herself.
Sharing about her path through life, it is almost certain that beneath all that people imagine she is or could be, one thing is for sure, she is rising from the ashes of the fire she has been burnt with like a Phoenix.
Ifunaya arrives to the Delatinos sit out where we are shooting the cover story for Reen in a gray jacket and green crop top. Her hair is neatly styled and adorned with a scarf. Her low waisted denim trouser accentuates her figure giving her a laid-back casual look.
Her aura is warm and inviting and she starts the conversation with a smile. She had suggested we use the sit out upstairs as she felt it would be much comfortable and she would be more open to share her true feelings, away from people. Just us.
“I did not expect us to dive in immediately,” She laughs low and heartily as she recalls her childhood, “Well, the truth is my childhood makes me sad, I won’t say that I had a good childhood so yeah it was not bad but it wasn’t also good.”
I ask further and she says, “I would say that I grew up mostly neglected not physically but emotionally. My childhood had a lot of trauma and I also grew up fast like my body started growing. At age seven, I had started developing breasts, saw my period at nine so all those things I feel like they robbed me of being a child because I started growing very tall and when I play, people are like, ‘Are you not too old to be playing?’ not knowing that I’m still a child. My childhood was when I was my aunthentic self but I don’t think I would say I was forced to be someone I wasn’t.”
“I don’t even know like till now I still have a bit of denial towards the whole thing, ” she speaks on handling the fame when it started, “Cause sometimes I’m surprised that people even know me,” She laughs, “Everything started on Instagram. The very first time I ever experienced any kind of fame was back in 2020 during the lockdown, a picture I had posted had gone viral and I was surprised.”
Blowing up on social media had come with it’s draw backs, the parody accounts made in her name and the viral photos being shared across all platforms had reached people close to her. “It’s not even about being worried, it has already reached people that I know,” She says. “And there’s nothing that I can do.”
Even in her dating life she seems to be a bit more careful considering the attention she has received both online and in real life, “I have realized that the fact that people know me to some extent, many people now have so many weird intentions for coming close to me maybe just to tarnish or humiliate me, but so far, it has also not been good.”
Her family isn’t left out either when it comes to processing the changes in her life so far. “My family well first of all I would not say we’re in very good terms,” she sighs fatiguely. “My Mum especially thinks that I do the things that I do to spite her. I grew up in a very controlling home till the point that I had to take my freedom back from them. I had to start doing things cause I was tired of being controlled by them. They still are but it’s just that now, they can’t control me again. When you grow up in that abuse and you take your freedom by force they no longer have a say in your life. They can’t change anything.”
She wasn’t met with any obstacles in her adulthood by her parents as she had gotten her freedom back from them. “The only time they had tried to stop me was when I was young before I took my independence back. As a child, there were so many things I wasn’t allowed to do, I couldn’t go out, couldn’t have friends. My own independence started when I ran away from home back in 2017. But before then, I had ran away once, I was fourteen the first time I ever ran away from home, I had slept on the streets for like two days. I was young, I didn’t know anything. Someone found me and brought me back home then the second time I ran was in 2017 when I was in third year, that was when I knew exactly what it meant to stand for myself,” says Grant. “I spent almost a year outside my home. It was a miracle that I didn’t die but when I came back, I was stronger.”
Being of an African descent and also raised in an African home could have it’s challenges on the life of a child attempting to break free but for Grant, she had experienced it all when she was much younger. “My biggest challenge I would say was that most of the things I suffered, I suffered them young and as I grew up, many of the things people expect me to face, I no longer face them. My parents are no longer hard on me but one of the most challenges African parents have is that most of them are not loving and they expect you to do everything exactly the way they want it to be.”
Although her life had blown up in what felt like a second, she has also received hate and cajole admist the admirations. She recalls having had people tell her parents negative things about her but she still thrives through it all.
“What really made it possible for me to even stand was when I had started taking care of myself financially because they could only control me with money. After I ran away back in 2017 and had returned, I had made money so they couldn’t stop me again. Now they can’t threaten to disown me, ” she says. “My Mum had complained that I was spoiling her reputation so it had prompted me to write an official letter to them, I had told her that if she feels so bad that she should sign the letter disowning me but she had refused to sign it so I guess she’s still my mother,” she chuckles.
“I don’t know if my Mum and I will ever get to that point. She’s strongheaded and fixated on her opinion,” she talks about patching things up, “And so am I, we barely agree so I guess we’re better off loving each other from afar.”
She’s disheartened once the NBA is mentioned. On August, the Nigerian Bar Association had sued her to court filing for her to get disbarred, “It affects me of course it’s my degree and I don’t want to be disbarred. With no disrespect to anyone, if I died today, no one would use the degree. My parents are lawyers so of course they were worried, my dad had also said thesame thing that if I died, no one would use my degree.”
“My family wants what every other family wants and that is to grow, come out of school, get a job, get married.”
“They don’t really believe in my dream but they know that I’ve always wanted to do music since I was in secondary school but they were more interested in me getting a degree first then I could go ahead to do music if I wanted to. The only professional course in Arts as I was an Arts student was Law so I went on with it. Right now, I’m not interested in furthering my degree in Law but I want to do a degree in Science that’s where my interest is right now. I just feel like Science has answers to the many questions that I have and I regret not having done that instead.”
Ifunaya shares a love for the unseen world and tends to look at paranormal things from a spiritual point of view even sometimes inculcating a few theories of her own.
She refuses to please anyone not even the Instagram aesthetic. As we all know, influencers always try to inculcate a certain feel of wealth and poise to attract followers but she prefers being herself and sticking to her true nature irrespective of what the algorithm might think or want. “Photo backgrounds don’t matter, it’s just a picture, you just do your thing.”
“I have always wanted to be seen for myself, I feel like it’s a chore having to be like someone else or pretend to be who I’m not. I’m happy that people can see the real me and appreciate it.” She clears her throat, “Honestly, I’m a bit insecure when it comes to my music because I feel like my taste and style is not the typical Nigerian’s style to be expected. I always wonder If I release a song, would it make sense and would people relate to it seeing that I’m into rap and knowing that rap is not widely accepted in Nigeria. I have some doubts and right now, I’m working on my EP and also working on trying to build my confidence when it comes to my music abilities.” She shrugs, “I’m just trying my best.”
Despite sharing snippets of her songs on her Instagram page, Grant has also been vocal about modeling, acting and even finding a new joy in painting. During an Umuahia ‘Paint and Sip’ event organised by Moullywood studios, she had gone live few times on her Instagram while present at the event. “Painting is something I’ve always loved,” She explains humorously, “I don’t know if I can do it but I love doing it. I remember the last one we did in Umuahia although I had arrived late and was a bit sad, I began to feel better once I started painting. It’s actually very good for the soul.”
“I feel like everything that has happened so far in my life was meant to happen. If it hadn’t happened this way, it would have another way but all will still lead me back to this moment. I can’t change anything, it’s all part of my story both the good and the bad.”
The budding singer does plan to have a family—but of cats and as she phrased it, ‘A lot of pets’. There are no plans to have any children of her own at least at the moment although she’s in a relationship.
“I believe I’m spiritually attuned, all the changes that are happening right now, first happen in the spirit. It’s as though I can sense them. So many things are coming which I feel and I’m excited. I actually would love to act and I hope for relatable roles that are easy to do so that it comes from a place of truth. I was born for entertainment, right from childhood, I was into choir, acting, in church and in school.” A smile tugs on her lips, “It has always been a part of me and I plan to take everything, this whole journey of life as I see it.”
The Editors