From a young age, former New York City, now Vienna-based artist Ihu Anyanwu learned to make the most out of life. Although these days she splits her time selecting entries for vienna.unlike, DJing and preparing for her second full-length album, she spent many of her formative years in Nigeria.
Like many hopeful Nigerian ex-pats, armed with a Western education and a renewed optimism for social change, Anyanwu’s parents returned with their daughter to their newly democratized homeland in the early ‘80s. As radio waves carried the revolutionary rhythms of Fela Kuti, the young singer-to-be dialed into the sounds of black America. Listening religiously to Soul Train and pop stars like Wham, DeBarge, Cameo and Michael Jackson, Anyanwu spent her leisure time making up songs and wild dance routines with her Lagos schoolmates. Growing up, she felt that anything was possible. But, as things sometimes turn out, it was too good to be true.
We thought we could have the best of it all, take what’s good from the West and keep our traditions,” she explains, “but somehow my parents generation was unsuccessful with the mix
New York in the early ‘90s was much like Lagos in the ‘80s. With its bustling energy packed with noise, people, smells, sensations, grime, crime, and passion it too was a city of contradictions and infinite promise. A perfect adopted home for Anyanwu, who spent every free moment there after moving in with her father in New Jersey. “I was culturally and socially displaced when I first came to this country. I couldn’t assimilate to any particular group and I had to make my own space. NYC was and is the place to do that,” she explains. “I was attracted by the freaks. I used to think to myself ‘How come these people are dressed this way, act this way, look this way?’ It was so interesting to see that you had options and can paint your life how you want it.”
Editing an art magazine wasn’t enough for Ihu Anyanwu, so she decided to become the next Grace Jones.
Now Ihu became G.Rizo – an electronic music producer, versatile vocalist and all around creative living and working between New York, Paris and Vienna, flip flopping between Electro and Nu-Skool Rap. Among others she has worked with In Flagranti, Patrick Pulsinger, Trio Exklusiv and Electronicat.
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