Emmanuel Kellam Olaniyan (born 27 November 1997) is a

Nigerian British British Nigerians are British people of Nigerian descent or Nigerians of British descent. This article is about residents and citizens of Nigerian descent living in Britain. Many Nigerians and their British-born descendants in Britain live in S ...

actor, rapper, television presenter and YouTube personality better known as Eman Kellam. He is best known for his appearances on The

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

Channel and his

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

web show British Slang With Eman Kellam.

Personal life

Olaniyan was born and raised in

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

, to parents of

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

origin. He attended

Forest Hill School Forest Hill School is a boys' secondary school and sixth form located in Forest Hill, in the London Borough of Lewisham. The school is in federation with the girls' secondary, Sydenham School, which is nearby. In 2005 the school was given Per ...

. and then The BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology.

Career

YouTube

Olaniyan started creating content on his

channel "EmansBlogs" in 2012. He started creating video blogs in his kitchen discussing topics that were popular and relevant at that point in time. It was not, however, until 2014 when he uploaded his most viewed video, "Pranking My African Dad", in which he told his father that he had impregnated a 14-year-old girl, that his channel went viral and started to pick up speed and gain subscribers. This video has had over 8 million views as of August 2021 and has been discussed and shared across various platforms including

WorldStarHipHop WorldStarHipHop is a content-aggregating video blog. Zurawik, David.Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with shocking viral videos". ''The Baltimore Sun''. March 23, 2012. Retrieved on April 22, 2012Alternate link to the same article fro ...

and

Bossip ''Bossip'' is an online gossip and entertainment magazine with a focus on African American celebrities. The site is owned by iOne Digital, an Urban One Inc. company. The magazine is based in Atlanta, Georgia. ''Bossip'' has interviewed celebri ...

. In January 2016, he appeared on the

Channel as Lifebabble talent on the

Scottish BAFTA BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

award nominated show ''Lifebabble''.

French Montana collaboration

On 5 November 2016,

French Montana Karim Kharbouch (Arabic: æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 13. ...

premiered his highly anticipated album '' MC4'' on the

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

show

OVO Sound OVO Sound (also known simply as OVO) is a Toronto-based Canadian record label, founded in 2012 by hip hop artist Drake, producer 40, and Oliver El-Khatib. It operates as a subsidiary of, and is distributed through, Warner Music Group's Warner ...

Radio. The show was curated by multi award-winning artist

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

Noah "40" Shebib Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

and Oliver El-Khatib in which who Drake also founded the OVO Sound record label with. Olaniyan and his father appeared on the show in a skit linked to a song on ''MC4'' called "

Check Come ''MC4'' (abbreviation for ''Mac & Cheese 4'') is the twenty-first mixtape by American rapper French Montana. ''MC4'' was originally intended to be released as his second studio album. It was released on November 5, 2016, by Coke Boys Records, Bad B ...

". The skit was taken from Olaniyan's infamous "Pranking My African Dad" prank. Olaniyan confirmed via Twitter that he knew him and his father would be featured and claims he had known and been sworn to secrecy for over two years. So it would be a funny surprise for his and French Montana's followers.

CBBC and BBC "Own It"

In February 2018 Olaniyan appeared on The

Channel in the United Kingdom as a guest presenter to promote "BBC Own It", a new online learning resource commissioned by the BBC aimed at 9-12 year olds. Covering a range of topics that would relate to children growing up in the digital age. Own It launched nationally on Tuesday 7 February 2018.

YouTube Black Voices

In January 2021

announced the international list of creators of the inaugural YouTube Black Voices Class of 2021, of which Olaniyan was a UK class member . Some members of the class of 2021 were also featured in the September 2021 issue of

British Vogue British ''Vogue'' is a British fashion magazine published based in London since autumn 1916. It is the British edition of the American magazine ''Vogue'' and is owned and distributed by Condé Montrose Nast. British ''Vogue'' editor in 2012 c ...

in which Olaniyan was also included. Quote from

feature "As YouTube expands its diverse community, the Class of 2021 are the new figureheads in the making to follow. Prepare to watch those featured here go stratospheric".

British Slang With Celebrities Series

Olaniyan is also known for his "British Slang With Eman Kellam" series on his YouTube channel. In which he asks predominantly American actors to try and figure out the meaning of a slang word commonly used by youth in the United Kingdom. Celebrity guests who have featured include

Gabrielle Union Gabrielle Monique Union-Wade ( Union; born October 29, 1972) is an American actress. Her career began in the 1990s, when she made dozens of appearances on television sitcoms, prior to landing supporting roles in 1999 teen films ''She's All That' ...

Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured "the concept of classic movie stardom". Throughout his career spanning over four decades, Washington ha ...

Childish Gambino Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glove ...

Regina Hall Regina Lee Hall (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Brenda Meeks in the comedy horror ''Scary Movie'' film series (2000–2006). She has since appeared in the television series '' Ally McBeal ...

Dave Franco David John Franco (born June 12, 1985) is an American actor. He began his career with small roles in films such as '' Superbad'' (2007) and '' Charlie St. Cloud'' (2010). Following a starring role in the ninth season of the comedy series '' Scr ...

Cara Delevingne Cara Jocelyn Delevingne ( ; born 12 August 1992) is an English model and actress. She signed with Storm Management after leaving school in 2009. Delevingne won Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2012 and 2014. Delevingne sta ...

and

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

nominated actress and creator of

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's Insecure,

Issa Rae Jo-Issa Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985), credited professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, producer, and comedian. Rae first garnered attention for her work on the YouTube web series ''Awkward Black Girl''. Since 2011, Rae h ...

Music career

2021

Olaniyan released his secret debut EP "For The Summer" on 10 June 2021. Speaking via Instagram he said "I remember going on tour with Lotto Boyzz in 2017 and seeing how much they loved making music. I was only hosting for them back then, but seeing the passion really inspired me to want to take music seriously. It's been a long time coming. Music is one of the things I love the most. I've grown up around it. Whether that be through my parents blasting

Fuji music Fújì is a popular Yoruba musical genre. It arose from the improvisational wéré music, also known as ajísari (meaning "waking up for sari"), a genre of music performed to wake Muslims before dawn during the Ramadan fasting season. Alhaji Si ...

when I was a kid or me being around P2J in the studio when I was a younger, it's a passion of mine that I can't wait to share with you guys".

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

Extended Plays

Songwriting credits

References

External links

* * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_xlrv59sxs * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eib2B1WzCLY {{DEFAULTSORT:Kellam, Eman 1997 births English YouTubers Living people Male actors from London 21st-century English male actors English people of Nigerian descent People from Lewisham People educated at Forest Hill School English male film actors Black British male actors Black British television personalities YouTubers from London