User:Bankole Adeluola/sandbox

JJC (short for Johnny Just Come; Nigerian slang for a recent arrival, especially naïve newcomers - see example of JJC usage at the forum of Nigerian Village Square) is the stage name for Abdul Rasheed Bello, a Nigerian rapper and record producer. He was born on April 4, 1977 in Kano, Nigeria, but has been based in London since 1991.

He has produced singles for UK pop acts such as Liberty X, Lemar and Big Brovaz. He is currently setting up his own production company, Backbone Music, and working with a number of developing new artists.

Early Life and Music Career JJC was born and raised in the Northern part of Nigeria. He spent the first fourteen years of his life in Kano state. His father played a lot of country music, and JJC also got himself acquainted with different genres of music, ranging from Afrobeat by Fela Ransom Kuti to African Juju by Dr. Shina Peters, and later on Pop music by the legendary Michael Jackson. After he relocated to England in 1991, whilst he was at Dick Shepard School in Brixton he began to familiarize himself with the art of producing music records. Along with his friend, they founded the then known Big Brovaz music group. Big brovaz were MOBO award winners. In 2006, the popular band decided to split; due to poor album sales and three of the members initially leaving the group. JJC founded another group known as the 419 squad, (a Nigerian group of singers and rappers) (419 is the chapter of Fraud in the Nigerian Criminal code and also the streetname for the infamous Nigerian advance fee fraud. The group released their first album "Atide" meaning we have arived. The group was composed of S.O. Simple, M.P. and Smokey, who were the three official acts. JJC has performed with the 419 Squad at numerous events, including WOMAD and the RESPECT festival. In 2004 they together won a KORA All African Music Award as best artists Westafrica. Their aim was to change the perception of fraudulent activities that has already been tagged ‘419’ in Nigeria . The group was known for their different style and flavour; their songs were both in English and Yoruba. The group was affiliated with other acts such as Dapo Oyebanjo,Dbanj, and Sidney Esiri A.K.A Dr Sid. Controversy[edit] In an interview with Nigerian Entertainment Today, Popular African act D’banj accused former boss, JJC of cheating him and Don Jazzy, who were both founders of the defunct record label Mo’hits record. He accused JJC of being the bad seed in the box and wasn’t paying him whilst he worked for him. JJC was furious about this, and decided to do an exclusive interview with Nigezie to clarify the situation. During the interview, JJC claimed that D’banj was brought to him by a friend in England, and pleaded for JJC to help him in the music industry. JJC asked D’banj to sing, but was not impressed, but told him they were going to work on his skills of playing the harmonica. Popular Nigerian producer KAS, brought Don Jazzy to JJC, and JJC said he taught him how to produce records. JJC said his reason for not paying D’banj was due to the fact that D’banj was a “nobody” and he was actually giving him a platform and exposure by allowing him to perform at his shows, and taking him to the biggest African stages. On the other hand, he was paying Don Jazzy 1000pounds because he was producing tracks for them. JJC also accused D’banj of being a real “419” and he was wanted by the police, that was the reason behind D’banjs popular track Mo bo lowo won meaning “I have escaped, they can’t catch me”. They were not taking this issue seriously, but in reality it was actually affecting D’banjs career. JJC also claimed he co-wrote some of D’banjs songs with Don Jazzy, and he is sure that Dbanjs current hit songs were composed by Don Jazzy and Wande Coal.