Review: Three Artist That Personify The creativity of Nigeria music And There Biographies

Creativity is the difference between the common and the uncommon. It’s often the difference between that’s ok and what’s just absolutely brilliant.

Humans are the most creative species on the planet and we bring this power to bare in every area of our lives. This is how stars are born. The names of men like Sir Isaac Newton, Graham Bell, Benjamin Franklin, Fela Kuti, Michael Jackson, Leonardo Da Vinci,Helen Keller, Van Gogh and Muhammed Ali all speak the same thing today. Creativity in their arts.

Where in arts, sport, music or science this individuals made there marks on history by being creative in there area of endeavour.

Nigerian music today also have men and women who personify creativity. There lives and career has a show of passion and creativity that is undeniable. This piece examine two  men and a woman who have shown ingenuity in there music careers.

First on the list is 2Baba

2Baba

2Baba is a Nigerian singer,songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, humanitarian, and activist.

His real name is Innocent Ujah Idibia. He was born on the 18th of September, 1975 in Jos, Plateau state Nigeria.

Innocent Ujah Idibia  hails from the Idoma ethnic group, in Benue state in Nigeria. He grew up also in Benue state where he attended Mount Saint Gabriel’s Secondary School in Makurdi. He continued his education at the  Institute of Management & Technology, Enugu (IMT), where he did his National Diploma course in business administration and management. 

It was during his days at IMT, that he  started composing and singing jingles at the GB Fan Club at Enugu State Broadcasting Services (ESBS) in 1996. He also performed at school event and parties, also at neighboring schools such has the University of Nigeria and Enugu State University of Science & Technology. He dropped out of school later to follow his passion for music.

He made his break in music in 2002 with the Plantashun Boiz after dropping out of school. The trio band was formed with the rapper Blackface (Ahmedu Augustine Obiabo) and with musician Faze (Chibuzor Oji) and himself. Then he went by the stage  name 2Face  IIdisbia.

The trio\band released two successful albums: Body and Soul in 2000 and later Sold Out in 2003 under the Nelson Brown’s owned Label (Dove Records).

2Baba got married on the 2nd of May, 2012 in Lagos. He’s happly married to the award-winning actress, movie producer, model and serial entrepreneur Annie Macaulay – Idibia. A civil ceremony was held in Dubai, UAE on 23rd of March 2013 and had a high attendance of celebrities.

Their marriage is blessed with two girls; Olivia Idibia and Isabella Idibia. 2Baba is also father to 7 kids; 5 kids from 2 previous relationships.

2Baba is not just an A-list singer, songwriter and record producer he’s also an  entrepreneur, philanthropist, humanitarian, and activist. 

He established an NGO called The 2Baba Foundation. whose motto is “service to humanity”. It was previously called The 2Face Reachout Foundation, and eventually The 2Face Foundation. The foundation underwent another name change in September 2016, and is now known as The 2Baba Foundation. The foundation’s work is centred around nation building, peaceful co-existence, and accountability in governance.

In 2009, 2Baba was appointed as ambassador by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control. He released a song “Man Unkind” to raise awareness on the menace of fake and sub-standard food and drug products in Nigeria. In 2009, he was awarded the prestigious International Youth Ambassador for Peace Summit and the Nigeria Youth Merit Award by the National Youth Council of Nigeria in recognition of his contributions to youth development in Nigeria.

He’s also involved with other organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other NGOs like The Nigerian RedCross Society, Enough is Enough (EiE)(Office of the Citizen campaign), Youngstars Foundation and National Democratic Institute (for Vote Not Fight campaign).

2Baba is one of the biggest and most respected name in Nigerian music today. He released his debut solo album Face 2 Face (2004), which established him as a viable solo artist. Since then he has released many more hit singles and albums with national and international acceptance. 

He released his second album Grass 2 Grace in 2006, which contained hits “One Love”, “True Love, “4 Instance”.

In 2006, his song “African Queen” was used in the soundtrack for the film Phat Girlz, which was released internationally. In 2009 he released an experimental album called Unstoppable releasing the single “Enter the Place”. In 2010, he released an “International Edition” of the same album under the title The Unstoppable International Edition making him the first Nigerian artist to have an appropriately priced international album.

 The international edition of the album won two awards at the 2010 SoundCity Music Video

Awards. He also won the Channel O Music Video Awards Best African Western award and the MTV Africa Music Awards for Best Male and Artist of the year.

Upon leaving the music label Kennis Music after the release of his second solo album, he set up his own record label known as Hypertek Entertainment.  He has since done collaborative work with artist such has 9ice, R Kelly, Prince Lee, P – Square,  Sound Sultan, M.I, Vector and Wizkid and many others.

2Baba has an impressive catalogue of awards to his name, a proof of the his genius. He has received one MTV Europe Music Award, one World Music Award, five Headies Awards (Hip-hop award), four Channel O Music Video Awards and one BET award for his musical work, four MTV Africa Music Awards, one MOBO award, one KORA award, 3 Afrima Awards, and many nominations.

2Baba has received few academic honourary awards in recognition of his impact and influence in Nigerian. In 2016, he received an honorary Master of Arts in Music degree from Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, Nigeria. In March 2019, he was awarded an honorary fellow of the school of music by the Music Department, Obafemi Awolowo University. He  was appointed as the Good cause Ambassador for the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in August 2019

2Baba is a role model and a national example to many Nigerian youth today, in music and beyond music and we honour him in this piece. He has done well and we expect to see even more things from him.

Our next creative artist is the Mama Jam Jam, the Afro Beats Queen Tiwa Savage.

Tiwa Savage

Tiwa Savage is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and actress.Her real name is Tiwatope Savage. She was born on the 5th of  February 1980  in Isale Eko, Lagos State, Nigeria. She relocated to London at the age of 11 for her secondary education. There she began her music career doing backup vocals for artists such as George Michael and Mary J. Blige. 

She graduated from Berklee College of Music. While in the United Kingdom she participated in the UK edition of The X Factor and in 2009 she signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

She  moved back to Nigeria  afterwards and signed with Mavin Records in 2012. In the same year she made an appearance on the label’s 2012 compilation album Solar Plexus.

She released her debut studio album Once Upon a Time on 3rd of July, 2013. It was supported by seven singles: “Kele Kele Love”, “Love Me (3x)”, “Without My Heart”, “Ife Wa Gbona”, “Folarin”, “Olorun Mi” and “Eminado”. The album did well for her. It was nominated for Best Album of the Year at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards and for Best R&B/Pop Album at The Headies 2014.

She got married to Tunji Balogun popularly known as Tee Billz on the 23rd of  November, 2013. They couple had two marriage ceremonies.

A traditional marriage was held at the Ark in Lekki and a white wedding was held on the 26th of April, 2014 at the Armani Hotel in Dubai. On 1 January 2015, Savage and Balogun announced that they were expecting their first child together. Six months later, Savage gave birth to their son Jamil Balogun. Things fell apart between the two not too long into their young marriage. Between allegations on social media by her husband and a 45-minute interview conducted by This Day newspaper and Pulse Nigeria the deed was done. Not long after she announced that her marriage to him was over.

In her music career the naija Afro Beats queen is having it good. Her productions so far consists of two studio albums, one compilation album, fifteenth singles (including six as featured artist), ten music videos, three promotional single, five guest appearances, and one cameo appearances. She’s also received numerous awards and nominations. In 2018 she set the record as the first female African musician to win a BET Award. 

Check out her list of awards  Read More

He biggest hit singles includes “Kele Kele Love” released in June 2010. It was the lead single to her album, “Once Upon A Time” which was released in 2013, “Eminado” featuring Don Jazzy. Next she released “Love Me” released in May 2011, “Without My Heart” is another jam by Mummy Jam Jam that was released in December 5, 2011, “All Over” on April 9, 2017, “If I Start To Talk” from her R.E.D album which was released in 2015, “Bad’ Featuring Starboy, Wizkid, “Standing Ovation” featuring  YBNL’s Olamide, and “Malo” the sixth track of her debut  EP “Sugarcane EP” was released in 2017.

Her boundless energy and hardwork has brought her success and her fans can be sure she’ll carry on to do more.

Last on our list is the Don Baba J himself.

Don Jazzy

Don Jazzy is a Nigerian record producer, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He’s real name is Michael Collins Ajereh, better known as Don Jazzy or Don Baba J. He was born on 26 November 1982 in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria.

His mother is an Igbo princess from Abia state and his father is an origin of the Isoko people in Delta state.His family moved to Ajegunle, Lagos where he was raised. He attended Federal Government College Lagos. Don Jazzy found an interest in music early in life and at age 12 abd began to play the bass guitar and drums.

He enrolled in business management studies at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo state. In 2004, he collaborated with D’Banj to form Mo’ Hits Records. In the next two years, they produced the albums No Long Thing and Rundown/Funk You Up and a  third album, Curriculum Vitae. Sadly the two will not continue forever. In March 2012, Don Jazzy and D’Banj abandoned their partnership citing artistic differences

According to Forbes Don Jazzy was rated the 39th “Most Powerful Celebrity in Africa”

An interesting thing about Don Jazzy is that unlike most producers he doesn’t have a single track to his name. He does not take credit as a singer, but he performs background vocals for artists he produce for.These performances include vocals for D’Banj, Sauce Kid, Dr SID, Ikechukwu, Kween, D’Prince, Jay-Z. Don Jazzy provided vocal performance for Kanye West’s song Lift Off with Beyoncé on the “Watch The Throne album”.

He was employed by Kanye West as a producer at Very Good Beatz in 2011. Don Jazzy worked with Jay-Z and Kanye West on the production of Lift Off, featuring Beyoncé on the album “Watch The Throne” which was released on 8 August 2011.

On 7 May 2012, he announced the creation of his own record label, Mavin Records. In his words  he see Mavin Records being the power house of Music in Africa in the shortest possible time and that’s why Don Baba J is a creative  genius. In May 2012, he released an album featuring the artists signed to his label. The songs on the album included: Amarachi, YOLO, Forever, Oma Ga, Take Banana and Chocolate and the anthem I’m a MAVIN. 

Artist signed under the Mavin Record Label include Reekado Banks, Korede Bello, Dr SID, D’Prince, Di’Ja, Johnny Drille, Ladipoe, DNA Twins, POE, Rema and Crayon. 

His collection of awards include:

Nigerian Music Awards (2006) – Producer of the Year.

Nigerian Entertainment Awards (2007) – Music Producer of the Year

The Headies 2011 – Producer of the Year for Over The Moon, Mr Endowed and Pop Something

The Headies 2014 – Producer of the Year for Dorobucci

City People Entertainment Award (2015) – special recognition award.

The Beatz Award TM (2019) – New Discovery Producer.

He is stil exoecting more

Very little is known about his relationship life. He has been very private about his love life since ever he became a household name in the music industry. But on the 3rd of May, 2019, he posted on his Instagram account, “I know u will want to toast me now. But it’s too late I have a

babe now.” announcing to everyone that he’s now in a relationship.

Don Jazzy is a creative genius who has raise stars and has contributed to the success of many others and we cannot but acknowledge him and celebrate him. From here on forward we wish him all the very best, hoping to see even more of him in the future.