Omotayo Moya Omololu is awesome, here’s why:
Aside from having an awesome name, Moya is much more than your average student. When he’s not busy with school work and working behind the scenes of Urban Superior on IUP-TV, you can find the 21-year-old communications media major writing and recording music as Magic of the rap group YoungStars.
“I’ve been rapping since I was around eight years old,” Moya said. “I started with my brother who was also a rapper. He would write a verse and help me write mine up until the point where I didn’t need his help anymore.”
Moya is a seasoned musician and a seasoned student as well, neither his grades nor his music suffer in the busy college atmosphere.
“Making songs and balancing school work is pretty stressful,” Moya said, “but these are two things I’ve been doing basically my entire life. In high school, I would make CD’s and give them to anyone with five dollars.”
Nowadays, Moya’s dreams are a bit bigger than getting five bucks for a CD. Moya plans to pursue a career in television and possibly attending graduate school in New York.
“I probably wont stop with my music, though. I’ll probably never stop making music.”
Though Moya is a “lean-mean music making machine” himself, he enjoys the “rap scene” other artists contribute to here at IUP.
“I think the rap scene here at IUP is very interesting,” Moya said. “We have people who opened up for major artists like Big Sean and B.o.B. to people making music videos and cyphers. I love the determination everyone has. It’s motivating to me.”
You can catch Moya aka Magic performing at The Underground Live presented by WIUP-FM Saturday evening in the Hadley Union Building’s Delaware Room. Advertised as “Hip-Hop’s Biggest Bash,” this hip-hop showcase will feature “IUP’s best performers” including Magic, Dubby of Team Loko, Eric Soler, Taylor Marie and Rks. There will be free giveaways and free Chipotle.
Moya said he is both excited and nervous to perform at the showcase.
“I’m nervous because I don’t want to mess up and look bad in front of all of those people, but at the same time I’m excited to do it,” Moya said.
“I don’t think I’ll mess up, but even if I do, so what? It happens. I’ll just make up some words at the moment to make it sound like it was all planned.”