JAZZMAN

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Jazzman
The hip hop renaissance in Nigeria has witnessed the emergence of artistes who experiment with a variety of styles and sounds, many of whom attempt to create sub-genres by fusing elements of two or more indigenous music genres together with hip hop. In fact no artist has yet attempted to do as much as a 5-cut EP of such sounds, the reason being that practitioners are yet to fashion out a foolproof formula for consummating such unions. All that is about to change though, as a certain Olumuyiwa Olofinkuade is set to do something different, pioneer a new trend and possibly redefine an era.The artist, better known as Jazzman Olofin, has not only fashioned out a formula but has tested his unique sound with music lovers and the result is a resounding success. This affable and mildly eccentric philosophy graduate started his professional music career in the late 90s as a member of the R&B quartet, X-Appeal. Their 2001 album, "Big Men", spawned a few hits, enough to earn them some recognition in the crowded Nigerian hip hop/R&B scene. The group broke up soon after and Jazzman decided to go solo in 2002. The artiste who mentions the likes of Fela Kuti, Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey and even Michael Jackson as some of his earliest musical influences, confesses to being unable to describe his own sound. Foremost music critics have attempted to describe his sound as an eclectic sum of all his influences - a fusion of juju, fuji, highlife, afrobeat, pop, funk, etc. with hip hop as the underlay. The result is music that is not only refreshingly different but also forcefully dynamic. His lyrics, delivered in a flow that is part rap, part sing song, is a clever blend of Yoruba, English and pidgin languages that will prove difficult to duplicate. His first radio single, "Raise da roof" released in November 2002 was a rock influenced party banger that took the airwaves by storm.His hit song, “Shake Sumthin” set dance floors on fire nationwide and put the Nigerian fire brigade on high alert. The cut enjoyed massive airplay on radio stations across the nation and the accompanying video has become a permanent fixture on the music programmes on local T.V stations. It also got significant airplay on the South African satellite music station, Channel O. Jazzman, who is signed to Storm Records, is currently in the studios working on his next album. He recently toured the country on the Star Mega Jam, lighting up the stage in whatever town they were in.
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GT man

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GT
The latest addition to the Storm family is simply called GT. G.T, The Guitar Man, that is! His first single, “Dreamer” which was produced by Waltbanger made it to major charts across the continent. The album titled “The Truth” is due to be released in the first quarter of 2007.The R&B vocalist, real name Gbemiro Olaolu Oluwatokunboh Akigbogun who hails from Ogun State was born in September 1984 in London, UK. Abandoned by his father at a young age, he grew up with his Mom and his siblings. Growing up, he was pretty much left on his own as his Mom had to work hard to support the family but instead of tumbling down the wrong path, he took up a productive vocation…music. He started playing the guitar in 2003 and was part of several groups, which performed at several churches. They served as a stepping stone to where he’s at now.In 2005, after performing at a Valentine’s Day show, he was approached by comedian Omobaba who liked his music, took him under his wing and gave him the hook up for several shows. That same year, he met Dare Art Alade who introduced him to Obi Asika of Storm records where he got signed in July 2005.He’s featured on hit song, “Eko Ile” with his fellow label mates, Jazzman Olofin, Sasha and Dare Art Alade; he’s also appeared in Akon’s “Mama Africa” video which was shot in Ghana and has performed at Night of a Thousand Laughs, Big Brother Nigeria eviction party and Club Nru, South Africa.
He’s been performing at lot of major events including 2007 Silverbird’s Man of The Year. His performances are always met with warmth from crowd who feel his moving vocal skills and baby looks. He has also made cameo appearances in a couple of videos including Sasha’s Adara video and Naeto C’s Sitting on Top.
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D.J. JIMMY JATT

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DJ Jimmy Jatt
DJ Jimmy Jatt recently released his debut album, The Definition, a mix tape featuring over 50 of Nigeria’s best artists. The album has received massive airplay and is currently flying off the shelves at stores as everyone wants a copy of such a monumental album. The first single “Stylee” features Mode 9, Tuface and Elajoe. The video was directed by DJ Tee and has been on the charts for over nine weeks now.He retains a revered role for setting the pace for hip hop music across his country; Nigeria, dating back from the early 90's when he jumped on the scene in Lagos up on till this moment. Dj Jimmy Jatt rocked and bopped heads at a lot nightclubs and gigs dropping the latest hit on vinyl. LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION At a point in Nigeria the only accepted forum for hip hop artistes to have themselves groomed whilst engaging in lyrical battle was the ROAD BLOCK street Carnival pioneered by Dj Jimmy Jatt. Setting up speakers, turntables, amplifiers and microphones, young lads swarmed his studio like bees unto nectar begging for a lifeline to tout their art. Acts, the likes of Junior and Pretty, Daddy Fresh, Daddy Showkey, DJ Abdullah, El Cream, Ruff, Rugged and Raw and Aladin (Formerly know as Chuck Da Bone) all grabbed the microphones, lighting up the stage, entertaining the crowd and basically having fun.
No one had the slightest idea that Rap music was just on the brink of blowing up in Nigeria. Hip hop gigs would later grow bigger in '93 when Dj Jimmy Jatt started hooking up DJ Raves in major university campuses across Nigeria, appealing to kids of the elites and hip hop disciples, Jimmy Jatt's events became the Mecca of hip-hop, where heads allover the country converged. Two notable annual events were, The Tupac and Biggie (Notorious B.I.G) remembrance concerts, which virtually featured all the big names in the game. Weird, Trybesmen, Def 'o' clan, Dr Fresh, Remedies, El Dee, F.B.I and Plantashun Boiz (Tuface & Blackface) were the favourites way back...
Dj Jimmy Jatt had already become a giant; he couldn't help being noticed by big time events outfits. Getting drafted by the likes of: Cosse, Tequila, Marathon events, Vigeo, STB McCann, Contact Marketing, Kent and Summerset saw him becoming a traveling man too busy on tour with either Coca Cola, Rothmans, St Moritz, Benson and Hedges, Nigeria Breweries, MTN, Globacom, Guinness, etc.
MAJOR GIGS PLAYED (1) Akon show in Nigeria (2) 50cent Concert (3) MTV BASE Lunch with 2Face & Lebo in Lagos(4)Globacom Campus Storm Tour(5) MTN Friendship is Beautiful Tour(6) Wyclef Concert (7) Sean Paul Concert (8) Beanie Man Concert(9) Gordon Spark Concert (10) Shaggy star megajam(11) LL cool J/Akon star mega jam (12) Benson and Hedges * Kicking In Kano, *Gold and Tones, * Loud In Lagos, *Wicked and Wild, *Wet and Wild, *Grab Da Mic (13) Rothmans o Mega Groove
Bio

2SHOTz

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2Shotz
2Shotz, real name, William Iroha started rapping in 1992. He hooked up with another upcoming artist, 2Ply and they started the group, Foremen in 1999. Foremen later met eLDee of the Trybesmen and signed onto Trybe Records in 2000. Their first album was titled Men at Work and featured hit single For the Men. The duo split later that year leaving 2Shotz to carry on as a solo artist under Trybe Records. He joined the group, The Trybe which was a collection of all the artists under record label. They received commercial success especially with "Oya" which set the music industry on fire.He received commercial success with singles like Delicious featuring Big Lo, Carry Them Go, Odeshi and Which Level. He published the Pirated Copy album under Trybe Records in 2004. As a sequel, Original Copy was released in 2005 under Umunnamu Music label, a record label he formed himself, and went on promotional tour around all the major cities in Nigeria.He signed unto the Obi Asika led, Storm Record label in 2006 and received commercial success with his next album, Commercial Avenue. The album featured songs like Make Dem Talk which stayed on major charts for a couple of weeks.2Shotz is currently preparing to shoot the video for the second single, “Fear” which according to 2 Shotz is going to reveal a different side of him. Contrary to the rumors that he has broken ties with his label, 2Shotz has just renewed his contract with Storm Records, and is actually recording his next solo album, scheduled for an early 2008 release. However, 2 Shotz supporters will not have to wait that long to hear new material from the Naija Hip-Hop veteran. He has settled the score and teamed up with his longtime friend and partner in crime, Big Lo to record a collaboration album, which is almost ready for the market. Their first single, "This na Naija", has just hit the airwaves creating a buzz. Previously, they’ve had commercial success with Delicious.
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IKECHUKWU

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Ikechukwu
A Jack of all trades and a master of many is what he likes to call himself and if you sit with Ikechukwu, aka E-killz or international killz, you would understand why. Not only does he bring it like no one in Nigeria has seen or done before in the hip-hop game but he has racked various kinds of training and experience in his life from university in the united states to exposure to the corporate world working on wall street, from bartending at the finest bars and restaurants in new york city to promoting at some of the elite clubs. Ikechukwu has also garnered martial arts training through out his whole life from shotokan karate from the age of 6 to studying aikido, taekwondo and even tai chi. An avid athlete, Ikechukwu has always been involved in some form of athletics or physical fitness. With being an actor and C.E.O. of his own production house, world famous Akademy, Ikechukwu is in fact the universal soldier, and proved it in 2006 when he took Nigeria by storm with the collaborations with dare, escalade part.2 and Fuji, and ultimately with his debut single, my name is.Following up with strong singles such as Legal Representah and Naija Boy , and being Nominated for best new artist at the channel o music video awards, Ikechukwu not only proved he wasn’t a one hit wonder but he was here to change the face of Nigerian music and taking the Nigerian artist to a global level. After all he is international killz. This brother has been on the international scene through modeling and production endeavours. And increased his international profile when he went on the road through Europe, touching places like Vienna Austria, Munich Germany, and Bratislava Slovakia.Ikechukwu has also shown how business savvy he is by dealing with brands helping them build platforms to reach target markets or promote new product like in the case of hennessy, were not only did he host a club tour across Lagos city but also put together and hosted a weekly radio show on 96.9coolfm for thirteen weeks.With the coming of Naeto-C , his partner in crime, who will obliterate what is now known as the hip-hop market in Nigeria and the follow up of his brother UZIkWENDU and the world famous aKademy album , Ikechukwu is finally in that space were he has ached to be for years. That space everything you are involved with is good as gold and it’s the beginning of all things great because you are making decisions creative space isn’t cramped. Now making movies and recording new material for the world famous akademy and his sophomore album Ikechukwu is geared to expose the richness of talent from Nigeria to the rest of the world.
Bio

NAETO.C

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Naeto C
"Naeto C" was born on December 17th in Houston Texas, spent his earlier years growing up in England and Nigeria within a household hugely influenced by music. His likeness for music grew fast and was articulated into other creative art forms, most specifically poetry, which took him to various competitions and earned him accolade as a young poet during his earlier years. Naeto would later move to The United States to further ahigher education both in SUNY Old Westbury and a year later, George Washington University. While in the states, Naeto linked up with Uzikwendu and his brother, Ikechukwu, an up and coming Hip Hop artist out ofWashington Heights, NY. The trio formed the World Famous Akademy, an aspiring Record Label but most importantly, a brotherhood between them and their close friends. While in the States, Naeto C recorded over 40 to 50 songs as a solo artist and about 25 songs with the World Famous Akademy as agroup.- Naeto graduated in 2004 with a B Sc. in Biology. His originalintention was pursuing a professional career within the medical field but like most creative artists, ""Naeto C", opted to drop the medical career path and follow one that would be more accommodating to his creative side like that of entertainment industry. His budding sense of self-employment, being an entrepreneur and numerous business ideas were catalysts to making a career change, however, furthering his educationalbackground remained a priority. Within this period, Storm Records had expressed interest in signing the World Famous Akademy having heard their material on a local radio station. Coincidentally, one of the co-owners of Storm, Obi Asika, was an older cousin of Naeto. Years prior to Storm indicating interest in the World Famous Akademy, Naeto had already played earlier material of himself and his group to Obi. After receiving Obi's message from South Africa about signing the World Famous Akademy trio, Naeto notified therest of the group and introduced Ikechukwu to Obi over the phone and in person in December 2005. A year later both Naeto and Ikechukwu would return to Nigeria at the beginning of 2006 and Ikechukwu would release his debut album titled "Son of the Soil", laying the foundation for "Naeto C" and the World Famous Akademy. While in Nigeria, Naeto got admission into University of Hertfordshire, to pursue a Masters in Biotechnology. Having found the ideal recording home that would provide the flexibility to nurture a career in music alongside a Masters program in the UK, signing a record deal with Storm was a perfect match. Working as an in-house producer with his newly discovered production team "ET-Quake" (Consisting of TY Mix and VC Perez).His first single from his unreleased debut album, Sitting on Top is a phenomenal piece of work, with a delightful video to go with it. The song has been sitting on the charts from Soundcity to MTV Base for weeks and is still going strong. He recently shot the video for his next single “You Know My P”. Naeto was able to display his production skills working with Storm artists like Sasha, Dare Art-Alade, GT the Guitarman, Disconnect, Saro-Wiwa and Nkiru. Within a year of working with the aforementioned artists, Naeto had successfully recorded over 60 songs including his most recent album material (a bulk of which he co-produced with ET-Quake). A notable production achievement is the "I Believe” song Naeto wrote and co-produced with VC Perez (member of ET-Quake), which features himself, an up and coming R&B/Gospel artist, Sheun and the Legendary Hugh Masekela from South Africa. Within the same year Naeto garnered a lot of experience performing, from Ikechukwu's album launch to Channel O awards to the I Believe Tour to Always promo tour with Sasha and many more gigs, in preparation for the phenomenal MTN Homecoming Concert, headlined by a popular friend, Nigerian pop sensation, D'banj.
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