Esegine Allen (born 28 March 1986), better known by his stage name Orezi, is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

musician from Delta State. He rose to prominence with his song "

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

" in 2013. In a chat with Showtime's ''The Cooking Pot'' the singer said that in the Nigerian music industry, having talent without money is a waste of time.

Early life and education

Esegine "Orezi" Allen was born and raised in Owhelogbo, Isoko, Delta State. He is the first born of five children. Orezi attended the Command Secondary School in

Abakaliki Abakaliki is the capital city of Ebonyi State in southeastern Nigeria, located southeast of Enugu. The inhabitants are primarily members of the Igbo nation. It was the headquarters of the Ogoja province before the creation of the Southeastern ...

. He graduated from the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...

and completed the mandatory one-year NYSC program.

Music career

Orezi began his music career in early 2009. He has worked with several producers, including

Kiddominant Ayoola Oladapo Agboola also known as KDDO or Kiddominant is a Nigerian recording producer, songwriter, and artist. He's best known for producing Afrobeats longest charting billboard single "Fall" by Davido, which peaked on US R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay ...

, Del B and Dokta Frabz. Orezi's debut song "I No Fit Lie" became Radio Continental's

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

. He headlined a show named after the song; the show was organised by the Continental Broadcasting Services (CBS). The music video for "I No Fit Lie" was shot in South Africa. In 2010, Orezi released the single "High B.P". The music video for the song was endorsed by

MTV Base MTV Base was a British pay television music channel from Paramount Networks UK & Australia that focused primarily on hip hop, R&B, grime, garage, reggae, funk, soul and dance music. It was launched as part of MTV's digital boutique of music cha ...

. In late 2010, he released the

DJ JamJam A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

-assisted track "Jamilaya". In early 2011, Orezi was featured on "Emoti" alongside Danagog, Igho and DJ Debby. The song was played on Trace TV, MTV Base, Soundcity and One Music. He was also featured on Jatt's single "Komije" alongside Sauce Kid,

Muna Muna may refer to: Places * Muna (Mikulovice), a World War II POW camp and ammunition factory in the Czech Republic * Muna, Estonia, village in Rõuge Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Muna, Iran, village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Mu ...

and Igho. Orezi released the music video for the song "Booty Bounce"; it features

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

s from Karen Igho,

Bovi Bovi Ugboma is a Nigerian stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He has organized popular stand-up comedy concerts like ''Bovi: Man on Fire'' across the globe. He is married to his wife, Kris Asimonye Ugboma and 42 years of age. Early life and ...

Wande Coal Oluwatobi Wande Ojosipe (born 18 October 1985), popularly known as Wande Coal, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Early life Wande Coal was born on 18 October 1985 in Lagos Island, Lagos state, Nigeria, to Chief Ibukun Olufunto and Omolara ...

, Kay Switch, Sina Rambo, Vina, Danagog,

Skuki Skuki is a Nigerian Afro hip hop duo composed of two brothers: Tumininu Laolu-Oguniyi and Atewologun Laolu-Ogunniyi. They are also known as Vavavoom (Tumininu) and Peeshaun (Atewologun). Early lives The brothers were both born in the 1980s in ...

and General Pype, among others. For several weeks, "Booty Bounce" was one of the top ten African songs on Trace Urban,

Channel O Channel O is a South African-based music channel which first started transmission in 1997. Its main concept is African music in Africa and the diaspora. Channel O can be accessed via DStv, a satellite pay TV service for pan-African households. ...

and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. The music video for "Booty Bounce" was nominated for Most Gifted Reggae Video of the Year at the 2012

Channel O Music Video Awards Channel O Africa Music Video Awards, once known as Spirit of Africa Music Video Awards, are Pan-African music awards organised by South Africa -based Channel O television channel. The awards were first held in 2003 under the name Reel Music Video A ...

. In 2010, Orezi performed during Star Music Trek's visit to Kaduna and Makurdi, and also performed at an event celebrating Nigeria's 50th

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

. In early 2011, Orezi performed at

DJ Jimmy Jatt Oluwaforijimi "Jimmy" Adewale Amu (born October 15, 1966), professionally referred to by his stage name DJ Jimmy Jatt, is a Nigerian disc jockey who is revered as one of the pioneering hip hop DJs in Nigeria. He started out his music career as a ...

's "Jump Off" show held at the Get Arena in Lekki. He has performed in several club tours in Nigeria and South Africa. He was part of the Emoti Tour organized by DJ Debby. Orezi performed at Club Inc in South Africa. In 2012, he performed at the

Rhythm Unplugged Rhythm Unplugged is a music concert in West Africa. CEO of the Flytime Group, Cecil Hammond, organised the first concert in 2004. The annual concert is organised by Flytime Promotions, a subsidiary of the Flytime Group. The 2011 Lagos edition ...

concert in Ibadan, and toured with

Trace Urban Trace Urban (formerly MCM Africa then Trace TV) is a French pay-TV music video television channel owned by TPG Capital. It is the parent channel of the various Trace music channels. It is the third most distributed French television channel in t ...

and St. Remy. In March 2014, Orezi released the French version of his single "Shoki". He released the single "You Garrit" in 2014; the song's music video was released in September 2014. Orezi released his debut album ''The Ghen Ghen Album'' in September 2015. It features collaborations with

9ice 9ice, born Alexander Abolore Adegbola Akande (born 17 January 1980), is a Nigerian musician, songwriter and dancer. He is known for his powerful use of the Yoruba language in his music as well as his proverbial lyrics and unique style of deliv ...

Davido David Adedeji Adeleke (born November 21, 1992), popularly known by his stage name Davido, is an American-Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. His music blends traditional African elements with global mainstream pop. Davido is widel ...

, Flavour,

Ice Prince Panshak Henry Zamani (born 30 October 1984) better known as Ice Prince Zamani or just Ice Prince, is a Nigerian rapper, hip hop recording artist and actor. He rose to fame after releasing " Oleku", one of Nigeria's most remixed songs of all t ...

M.I Abaga Jude Lemfani Abaga (born 4 October 1981), better known as M.I Abaga, is a Nigerian rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence in 2006 when his song "Crowd Mentality" became popular in Jos, Nigeria. His debut studio album ''Talk About It ...

Timaya Inetimi Timaya Odon (born 15 August 1980), better known by his stage name Timaya, is a multiple award-winning Nigerian singer and songwriter. He hails from Odi, Bayelsa state, South-South Nigeria. He is fondly called the Egberi Papa 1 of Bayels ...

and

Wizkid Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (born 16 July 1990), known professionally as Wizkid, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. A prominent figure in the modern-day Afrobeats music scene, Wizkid is regarded as one of the biggest and most influential Afri ...

. Pulse Nigeria awarded the album 3 stars out of 5. In November 2015, Orezi released the music video for his single "Ogede". In September 2016, he released the controversial single "Call the Police".

Awards

Discography

Albums and EPs

*''I No Fit Lie'' (EP) (2010) *''Ghen Ghen'' (2015)

Singles (partial)

* "Jamilaya" (featuring DJ Jam-Jam) (2010) * "

" (2013) * "Booty Bounce" * "What Is the Need" * "You Garrit" * "Shoki " * "Onome" (featuring DJ Akaba) * "Shuperu" * "Shuperu (Remix)" (featuring

) * "Yagolono" (2016) * "Sweet Yarinya" * "My Queen" (2019) *"Your Body" featuring Teni (2020)

References

External links

Verified Twitter Account
{{DEFAULTSORT:orezi Living people 1986 births Musicians from Delta State 21st-century Nigerian male singers Nigerian male singer-songwriters Nigerian hip hop singers Nigerian reggae musicians University of Lagos alumni Dancehall musicians