Making a name in the music industry is a difficult phase for all the freshers who are trying to make a name for themselves. The rapping community has a vast fanbase and the listeners require quality and connection. Ayodele Joseph Basil is one such young rising star, who has achieved more than he could imagine at a very young age on his own.
Born in the state of Kano, Nigeria on April 22 in the 80s, to parents with a professional background in music. Ayo’s passion for music was inherited by his parents, his father and mother, were originally from the states of delta and Edo respectively. His father was a music director and guitarist of a local church choir. At a very young age, Ayo found his love for music and his passion to become a music producer.
Following the steps of his father, Ayo effortlessly became the youngest music director of the same church choir and his secondary school. He was on the right track to becoming Nigeria’s top music producer, but there was still an element of power and passion missing from his life.
As we all believe in the notion that until we lose something important in our life, we don't realize the importance of the most precious things around us. In the same way, Ayo always knew he was going to be Africa’s top music producer someday, but he didn’t realize that he had to put in more effort and treat his gift of music as a precious commodity. After the death of his mother in 2001, Ayo felt the urge to do more and achieve great heights.
He reinforced his lifelong desire of becoming a musician and by 2002 had some released albums credited to him as the music producer. He went on to hone his skill in audio engineering at MidiCorp Studios in 2004, then proceeded a year after to Playground Entertainment to understudy ace Producer/Musician; Paul Play Dairo as a sound engineer, playing an active role in the productions done at Playground Studios.
With so many new networks and connections came new opportunities. In 2006 he connected with the defunct Mo’ Hits camp and was engaged as recording/mixing engineer for D’ Banj’s smash hit “Why Me” and their Mo’ Hits All Stars CV Album.
With so many new projects, he experienced a whole new career altogether. By this time he had worked on many new projects with Nigeria’s foremost artists, both onstage and in the studio. He also took up work from companies for jingles and various musical projects.
In the year 2009 he signed a contract with Soul Muzik as resident Producer/Engineer, and worked on Darey’s Double Dare albums- Love like a movie 1 and some other projects. After so many years of working with producers, musicians, and composers, it was time for him to head out independently to create a structure of his own and move his career to the next level.
Soon after he took this step in the year 2011, many record labels and indie artists soon followed with various projects, which helped Ayo in delivering hit tracks like ‘Shake’ and ‘Sweet Tomatoes’ on his “Blessed” album which was released in 2012, continuing the streak on Kcee’s “take over” which featured massive hits “Limpopo” & “Pull Over”, and record-breaking Wizkid’s “Ayo” and more.
Ayodele Joseph Basil, also known as Del B, was now a music producer, composer, singer, and songwriter, who became certified as the certified Nigerian Music producer after the release of his major hit in 2012 “Shake” by flavour. After gaining much fame, Ayodele was now known as the music producer Del B. In the years 2013 and 2014, he was nominated in the category for “Best producer at the headies awards” and also won in the same category at the NEA awards held in Houston, the USA in 2014.
Del’ B draws his inspiration from his idols Quincy Jones, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Teddy Riley, Pharrel Williams, Ryan Leslie, Kanye West, and many others through his artistic influence crosses cultural lines and genres, all of that plus his industry experience makes him nothing short of a seasoned to the core music maker.
After the feedback from experimental singles of his own in 2012 and featuring in hot singles with Nigeria’s top acts over the years, it was now time for Del B to take a step further and collaborate with Africa’s best to release mainstream.
He soon collaborated with Wizkid on ‘Oshe’ featuring Reminisce which received warm rave reviews and later on did an official single with Mr. Ease backed with slick visuals done in Nigeria and the USA on ‘Boss Like This’
Del B has come a long way from being a music director in a local church choir to being Del B, a Nigerian music producer. His hard work and determination had led him to pave his way to success and fame. Ever since he reinforced his passion for music, he had only been working hard to achieve and earn what he deserves. After 2018, two of his productions with acclaimed Afro-pop star Runtown hit the airwaves “Unleash” and “Lucie (Oh Oh Oh)”.
He released his own single 080 featuring Dice Ailes whilst completing his mixtape – ‘Afrodisiac’ which is due by March 2019 along with other forthcoming projects with other artists in the same year.