OJB JEZREEL A PHENOMENALLY TALENTED URBAN IMPRESARIO - HIS HISTORY

Babatunde Jezreel Okungbowa a.k.a. OJB Jezreel, who died early today at the age of 50 years,a month to his birthday, is undoubtedly phenomenally talented urban music impresario.He make beautiful music the purpose of his existence. 

Jigga, as he is affectionately refered to by his Gbaja Street homies has been the creative force behind the numerous hits of a countless number of artistes. Name them, from Ruggedman, 2Face Idibia, Jazzman Olofin, Nomoreloss to Raskie, K-Show & Six-O, C-mion, Abounce, Jafaar, Amah, Funke, the list is endless.
                                   

Sometime in 1986, OJB Jezrel, who confesses to having a rather an uneventful childhood started making beats in backroom studios. Started first in his Surulere neighbourhood and later in other parts of the city. He said he was inspired by music made by legendary producers like Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Dallas Austin, LA Reid & Babyface, Teddy Riley and later R.Kelly, 

He started with the group called Playgroup, which consists of his friends, Micheal Richman and the three Dairo brothers, Henry, Banji and the now famous Paul Play, son of Nigerian juju music icon,IK Dairo, offering Hip Hop/R&B beats to popular Nigerian artistes at the time.

OJB recently took the business arm of his game to another level with the signing of a distribution deal with Kennis Music, the record distribution behemoth run by industry fat cats, Kenny "Keke" Ogungbe and Dayo "D1" Adeneye. His first assignment was to do an urban makeover of Ace, the classic album by juju music maestro, Sir Shina Peters. The charismatic entertainer had also signed a deal with the enterprising duo for the re-release of his 1989 classic. OJB has also just released his sophomore offering, a seventeen tracker titled Jah's My Lite. With an intriguing variety of styles and sounds, the album is one of the best hip hopr&b albums ever released in Nigeria. The album moved 20.000 units in it's first week, an impressive figure for an artiste more renowned for his skills behind the boards than behind the mic. His label has packaged a tour of the U.K. for the international promotion of the album. It is expected to commence in June 2005.

He is survived by three wives and eight children.


SOURCE: NAIJ.COM