HEADIES Award winner and Next Rated award nominee, Oludipe Oluwasanmi David, known professionally as Spyro, recently opened up about his childhood in a strict Christian home and how it affected his relationship with God.
In an exclusive interview with Emmanuel Taymesan for the Tea with Tay Podcast, Spyro, the ‘Who’s Your Guy’ hitmaker, shared his experiences growing up in Mushin, Lagos, under the roof of his pastor father.
Spyro reflected on the stringent upbringing by his father, a pastor, and the challenges he faced due to the strict religious rules and expectations. He said that the intense pressure of being a pastor’s child led him to a phase where he “hated God,” a sentiment influenced by his father’s approach to religion.
“My father was quite strict, and he’s a pastor, so you know how pastors can be with their kids. They’re really strict because they have this ideology that their children are the ones that…,” Spyro said, with Taymesan interjecting, “Na we dey spoil pass,” to which he nodded in agreement.
Spyro continued, “The pressure is not good, I must say. But I didn’t even know God through my dad, even though I was right in front of the Bible. Every morning we’d wake up to the Bible, I was forced to do it so I didn’t know who God was. In fact, my dad made me hate God, the personality of God.”
Despite growing up with a negative perception of religion due to his father’s ministry, Spyro revealed that he has since found a genuine appreciation for religion on his own terms.
This personal journey involved moving away from the daily pattern of early morning fellowship and constant exposure to the Bible that characterized his early life.
Spyro, who is currently signed under Paulo Okoye’s Upfront And Personal Global Entertainment, has evidently navigated through his struggles with faith and religious upbringing to develop his own understanding and relationship with religion. (Leadership)