Admiral C4C. ABOUT his Music Career in Cyprus

To be very frank, when I left Nigeria (in 2007), I knew nothing about the social media or networking. I was just working in internet cafes. We had the CyberCafe where we paid for time to check and send emails. I would just send my emails, and then I'd leave.

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When I left Nigeria, I knew nothing about the Web.

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So I had been living in Cyprus for three months and one day; I was doing Computer Reservations Class as a course in Travel and Tourism (at the American College in Cyprus… learning about Internet and Cookies - the professor kept talking about Cookies (the software program, that whatever you put in the computer, it stores the information, regardless of the sites you browse… and I was very interested about this subject. 

And I asked him: - So, whatever I put on the computer, it saves? 

He said, Yes! OK, so do you have anything in mind? We can go to Google and I'll show you what it is - 

…and I said, please look for: Admiral C4C, 

so he said, OK, Admiral C4C

… and POW! 

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There were loads of sites on the topic, and I was like: WOW. 

He looked at the pictures, then he looked at me and he said: This is YOU! 

Oh, we have a star in the class. I mean the whole class started clapping and I was surprised. A part of the work I had done in the past was there, on the internet. It was like a diary, there on the internet - and then after that he invited me to come to the Office. He introduced me to members of the staff there: "…we have a musician in our school". 

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The next day I was called in and told that there would be a summer party for new intakes, "do you mind if you could sing something for us?" - Why not?

"Sir, but we won't be able to pay you." 

- Forget about the payment; I'm just going to do it.  (I was like… Woah!) 

Just being able to have the opportunity again to do what I like doing… and then came the summer party and after the party it was all really nice for me.

On Monday they called me to the Office again, and there was a man there that looked different, I mean wealthy, well clothed… and I was told he is the owner of the club where the party was held on Friday. 

"He came here this morning and he wants you to be a resident in his club." 

That is when we started researching immigration laws for students in Cyprus. There are so many immigration laws they have to sort out and the owner said, "I don't care what you have to do, I just want this to be done, because he is the craziest man the school has ever had in it's history". 

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I was grateful; I finally got a job… and as resident. 

SO I started there. 

I was very glad that job came - I was doing two nights and also being the best in my class… so I had this kind of favor from the lecturers. You know how it is when you are very good in class, they just have the respect and the love from them; the Dean of Study in charge of Tourism, Kaka, she called me and she asked if I've ever heard about a place called Ayia Napa? 

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My school is in Nicosia, the capital city of Cyprus. Ayia Napa is a tourist city, like how you have Mamaia in Romania; there is Ayia Napa in Cyprus. I mean I will give it the second largest in Europe, when it comes to tourism. I had heard of this place; I mean, Miss Kaka came to the club one night before and said, "I think that is where you belong; you don't belong in the capital city. Your talent shouldn't be wasted". 

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In Cyprus, two hours is kind of FAR; I mean, Cyprus is a small island; Ayia Napa is a 1h 45min drive from Nicosia, if you do a regular speed. How are we going to do it? Studying in Nicosia and putting the music in Ayia Napa, with the fact that you cannot miss more than two classes in a week according to deportation laws. Considering that I was a very good student and that the school was concerned about my well-being, which I am very grateful for. 

I can't forget Miss Kaka; that is where the turn around came; she was like, "we can help you: try as hard as you can to come to classes as much as you can and we'll take care of the rest". 

I struggled through that and I came out the tenth best again! 

It was really difficult for me but I didn't care. 

A Russian friend of mine came to me one day while I was studying; and he said, take a break and let's go to Ayia Napa. 

I heard that name before from the Dean, so I jumped in the car and was curious to see this place; when I got there, It felt like I was in Vegas. I was like: WOW. I had become very interested now because it was a whole new world to me. 

Now that I had been there, I went back to the Dean and I asked her if we can work it out. 

That was how I left. 

I got there, and the story changed. For you to be able to hold the microphone in Ayia Napa, you must be a sanctified Music God; you cannot hold the mike in Ayia Napa; you know how it is? Every room is full of tourists. If you mess up something for two minutes, everybody moves on to another room or another club; nobody has time to wait for one DJ, so they move on to the next club. There are hundreds of thousands of people on the streets. 

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Admiral C4C. ABOUT Racism in Cyprus

Sometimes people would be surrounding me instead of going into the club because if they went inside, sometimes they would get bored. My PR boss however was a real racist. I was saying, "hey I can do this" and he was telling me, "hey, shut your mouth! Just stay there and bring them in". 

OK. 

So people were going into the club and telling the manager: hey, why don't you put him on the microphone? So they're sitting down, having a drink, and they're calling to me, "hey, why don't you take the microphone from that idiot?"

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So, he got pissed. "I gave you a job, just to be Mavro, Mavro"… 

Mavro means Shit Black. 

"I gave you the job because I didn't want you to die of hunger and now instead of bringing people into my club you're keeping them outside my club. Get out!" 

And I left, like that. 

I mean, I didn't know what to do. 

That same day, I was struggling - but a black guy in one club there who knows me as Admiral (when I was working on the street), he told me, "hey, I saw you on the internet; you're from Nigeria?" I said: Yeah. 

He said, "I want to tell you something: I taught DJs, but nobody in this country will ever give a black man a chance". 

He was there before me. "In case we don't meet again, just remember me." 

That was like the story of Jesus who went up on the cross. 

So when they kicked me out of the club, my friend said, Hey Bros (Bros in Nigerian means "elder brother"). "Where are you going?" I said nothing.

Why don't we go to this other club. There's a black boy there. He's a PR outside there; we can have one or two drinks with him. 

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This PR was one of the best PRs in Ayia Napa (he was also Nigerian… and he's in Ireland now) …I always believed in one thing: all I need is one mike and one God. I already have God, all I need is the microphone, but nobody was giving me that chance, you know. 

That day when I got there, he says: sit down - and he gave us drinks. He said that he does his job of bringing people to the club, but the resident wasn't there. He was late. When the artist doesn't come, they put a CD on just to play music and people will get involved: but two hours have passed and people were getting restless: What is going on? When is the DJ coming? 

He said: "hey you, I thought you said you were a musician; what are you doing here? Go take the microphone and please, please, please, just save my job! and when he said this to me, it was just like a miracle. 

I'm an MC now - and I said to my friend, "hey, I thought you said you're a DJ". He said, "go straight to that deck and let's do it - and that was it; it didn't even take up to 10 minutes. I think this was divine mercy: POW". 

They locked out the place for four hours and after that we just left; before I got home, my boss texted me: what do you want? Whatever do you need to be my resident? Just mention your price. I said whatever you want to offer me, I'm cool with it. That was it.

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After three weeks I became the talk of the town, and the police started blasting: I mean, a black guy on the microphone. Like in Mamaia, the way our club is situated was at the end of the street. So how come a whole bunch of tourists leave all these clubs, and they're coming to our club? So the police was suspecting drugs. That was it. So my boss came to me after we had been working there for three weeks and he told me that they were now having the police there all the time, and that he would protect me, but he needs to know the truth. Whatever we're doing here, he needs to know and that we should stop. 

I told him it was just the music.

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I had a very rooted upbringing. I am the kind of guy that studies a lot.

When I wanted to leave for Europe to study, the first thing I did was to find out loads about Europe and I found out that drugs got people into trouble. For me and my personal orientation, Marijuana is not a drug - but according to the law, since they say this is a problem, then I stayed out of it. So from the day I left Africa I had this orientation: stay away from alcohol. I don't drink; I don't smoke - and I stayed off this. 

So, it was something very funny for me. I was being busted all the time now; even when I was going home, I would get busted by the police.

And within a year I was making very good money by myself and I got a very very good, modern car. So then the cops came to ask, "How did he get the car?"

Hey, I'm working!

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So that is when the change started. Before you knew it, I became a household name in Ayana Park, headlining shows with top acts from Jamaica, America and Europe. 

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That was going on until I met my girl on the internet. 

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The CZB Interview was conceived by RiCo

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www.facebook.com/admiralc4cofficial

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