D'banj
Nigerian singer
Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo (; born 9 June 1980), known professionally as D'banj ( də-BANJ), is a Nigerian singer, rapper, music executive, event host and television personality. Often regarded as one of the greatest African and Afrobeats artists of all time, he signed with American rapper Kanye West's record label GOOD Music to release his 2012 single "Oliver Twist", an uptempo dance fusion of EDM and Afrobeats for which he became best known. With record producer Don Jazzy, he co-founded the record label Mo' Hits Records. His stage name is a combination of his first name, Dapo, and his surname, Oyebanjo.
Early life
D'banj, also known as the Kokomaster or Bangalee, was born in Zaria, the northern part of Nigeria to a military officer father and a devoutly religious businesswoman mother from Shagamu in Ogun State. Dbanj has twins as siblings, Taiwo and Kehinde "Kayswitch" Oyebanjo.
D'banj's parents hoped he would follow in his father's footsteps and join the military, but D'banj turned to music instead being introduced to the harmonica by his late older brother, Femi Oyebanjo, who died in a plane crash at the age of seventeen.
D'banj's struggle for his parents' approval inspired his music, most notably on the album track, "All Da Way", from his debut album No Long Thing.
Work and music
2000-2004: JJC and 419 Squad
Before his recording debut, D'banj moved from Nigeria to the United Kingdom in 2001 to pursue music after studying mechanical engineering at Lagos State University. Prior to relocating, he recorded early material in Nigeria such as the OJB Jezreel-produced "Kiss Me Again" featuring rapper Ruggedman, which received limited airplay before his departure.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “D'banj” as nigerian singer. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as nigerian singer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q944365. The first chronological checks are 1980, 2012, 2000 and 2004.
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This entry incorporates text from “D'banj” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.