Ayo Maff successfully navigated his acting debut in “Aloma,” overcoming director Chris Ihidero’s initial resistance to casting artists and demonstrating reliability that challenges entertainment industry stereotypes about musicians’ work ethic.
At NECLive 2025, both Ayo Maff and Chris Ihidero discussed the unlikely collaboration that nearly didn’t happen. Ihidero, the director and producer of the thriller, Aloma, set for release in 2026, admitted frankness about his initial concerns: “I kept saying I don’t want to work with artistes. That’s how we would have shot five days; now we won’t find the artist again; he will just disappear. I was worried that artists aren’t responsible for their time because of their schedules.”
However, members of the production crew, including Adebola Ogunshina, persistently advocated for his casting, believing he fit the character perfectly. Ihidero relented after meeting Ayo Maff during script reading, but anxieties remained until production began.
Those concerns proved baseless. “If his call time was 9:00 a.m., Ayo Maff was there at 8:00 a.m.,” Ihidero reported. More impressively, Maff maintained presence throughout gruelling filming days. “You know how filming is—you can do 12 hours but only roll camera for 25 minutes—and Ayo will be there,” the director stated.
In the same session, Ayo Maff revealed that acting represented his “second choice of dream” since school days when he participated in youth theatre. “I was like, ‘Oh, I agreed.’ We shoot music videos, but I’m just so eager to see myself in the movie. I want to know how I look,” he recalled.
Uncle Shawn (Faqua) was like, ‘Can you do this?’ I was like, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ Your first performance was amazing. He even said, ‘Okay, keep going, bad boy.’ He encouraged me more,” Maff stated, noting Shawn Faqua’s validation boosted his confidence significantly.
The production included physically demanding sequences, including a fence-jumping scene that worried Ihidero. “As his director, I want performance, but I kept saying, ‘Please be careful, don’t injure yourself,'” he recalled but the musician kept on putting him at ease.
Chris Ihidero further praised Maff’s management team for proactively addressing scheduling conflicts and the musician’s personal handling of location complications. “Because his scenes were exterior—shooting in markets, garages, motor parks—everywhere we went, Area Boys would surround his car. Ayo sorted it out every time,” he explained.
