Since 2006 when he rose to prominence with his hit single, ‘Crowd Mentality,’ Jude Abaga better known as M. I., an acronym for Mr. Incredible, has been rising in his career. His supremacy in the African continent became evident when he featured Flavour, another prominent highlife artiste, on the song, ‘Number One.’ The song reverberated within and beyond the continent.
M.I
As a result of the popularity of his songs which are mostly devoid of vulgar lyrics but full of punches, Abaga who is the Vice President of Chocolate City Music has been nominated on several awards and has won several awards including the MTV Africa Music Awards, 2009, Best Rap Album 2009 –HipHop world Awards, Hip Hop Revelation 2009 – HipHop World Awards, Best New Act of the Year 2009 – Nigerian Entertainment Awards, Best Rap Single 2008 – HipHop World Awards, Musician of the Year– Modemen Awards 2008, Best Use of Special Effects in a video-NMVA 2009, Best Mainstream Hiphop Video-NMVA 2009, Musician of the Year-The Future Awards 2010, Musician of the Year – City People 2010, Artist of the Year – National Daily 2010, Musician of the Year – Malaysian African Entertainments Awards 2010, Most Amiable Brand – Orange Wall of Fame 2010, among others.
His style of rap has been compared to that of the likes of Kanye West, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar and Lil Wayne and Jay-Z.
The history of the Nigerian music industry without the mention of Abaga’s contributions as he has inspired many top musicians today like his younger brother, Jesse Jagz, Wizkid, Ice Prince, Brymo, Vypa, Pype, Ruby, among others. He has also produced songs and albums for his label mates notable of these was when he produced two songs off Ice Prince’s album Everybody Loves Ice Prince in 2011.
Abaga at the moment has five albums to his credit namely, Talk About It (2008), Illegal Music (2009), M.I. 2 (2010), Illegal Music 2 (2010) and The Chairman (2014).
He has also received international recognition in South Africa from the popular Channel O music Award, MTVbase Awards and also the American BET Awards. A proficient producer, lyricist, songwriter and instrumentalist, M.I has been described by as the future of African hip hop. He has also produced and featured on the works of artistes like, Don Jazzy, Threadstone, Djinee, Shifi, Flavour, Shifi, Ice Prince, Lindsey, Wizkid, Jesse Jags, Ice Prince, Ruby, among many others.
A peep into one of the crititically acclaimed musicians, Jude Abaga was born in Jos, the capital of Plateau State on October 4, 1981to Pastor and Mrs. Abaga from Takum in Taraba State. He attended Baptist High School, Jos, where his mother bought him a 7-key mini piano which launched him into music. While growing up, he often listened to tracks from Bob Marley, Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, Pablo Neruda and DMX. Early 1998, stared to sample musicals works of Lauryn Hill and DMX. After his stint at Calvin College, Michigan, U.S.A., he delved into poetry while pursuing a career in Business and Economics. He performed regularly at the school’s major hip hop events. He got a third place finish at the only hip hop show of his college tagged; ‘HipHopera’. Abaga also tried his luck with comedy but it didn’t work out, so he decided to stick with music which eventually paid off.
At a time when the music industry was dominated by top hip hop artistes like Ruggedman, Modenine and Eedris Abdulkareem was when M.I. made his entry. It was in 2003. He however stamped his feet when he together with his friend, Djinee commenced the production of mixtapes which led to a single, ‘safe’. Surprisingly, the song received impressive airplay on radio across Africa. The track earned him awards at the Nigerian Music Video Awards, N.E.A, City People, amongst others.
Later in Jos, he teamed up with his brother,Jesse Jagz, Ruby, IcePrince, Threadstone, Lindsay, Moses (Elbulk),E kelly to form a record label, LOOPY records, and they perform every Sunday at a theme tagged, Jam Session in an open bar.
M.I was later signed to the Chocolate City which made him move from Jos to Abuja and also influenced the beginning of his successful career in the Nigerian music industry.
MI has done a lot to bring a Northern presence to the Nigerian music industry, he depicts the perfect example of bringing Nigeria together. His music is conscious; therefore he is a leader in many ways to the youth of Nigeria.
‘The Short black boy’ as he’s fondly called has done so well for himself financially with some of his mouth watering endorsements like The Gillette 2 campaign – 2012, Hennessey Artistry – 2012, 7 Days Croissant – 2012, Glo X-Factor judge – 2013, Lagos Energy Ambassador – 2013, among others.
With the way Abaga is going, the sky will be his only limit, demands nothing less than N3million to N3.5 million as his take home pay whenever he performs at a show.
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