Abiodun Osikoya, popularly known as Bizzle Osikoya, is a Nigerian record label executive, talent manager, film producer, and sound engineer. He is the co-founder of The Plug (whose subsidiaries include The Plug Entertainment, The Plug Music, and Plug Sports) and The Block Party Series. In June 2022, Bizzle joined the

Recording Academy National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely known for its Gramm ...

class of 2022, as a professional member.

Early life

Abiodun Osikoya was born in Nigeria and raised between

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. He had his primary education in Lagos and his secondary education in Lagos and Birmingham, before proceeding to study Music Business in Liverpool for his tertiary education, where he graduated with a B.Sc. in Music Business from the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

, and

SAE Institute The SAE Institute (SAE) and SAE University College (in Australia), formerly the School of Audio Engineering and the SAE Technology College and badged SAE Creative Media Education, is a network of colleges around the world that provides creativ ...

in Liverpool. His interest led him into studying sound engineering at SAE in Liverpool and film production at Digital Film Academy in New York.

Career

He began his career at Storm 360 Records as

Naeto C Naetochukwu Chikwe, stage name Naeto C, is a Nigerian rapper, Afrobeat artist and record producer. He rose to prominence with the track 'Kini Big Deal' which is credited for changing the Nigerian hip hop sound. Known for his catchy hooks and s ...

's road manager, and later joined

Mo' Hits Records Mo'Hits Records (popularly called Mo'Hits) was a Nigeria-based music record label owned by D'banj and Don Jazzy. According to Nigeria's Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Mo'Hits Records Limited was founded in 2006, signing D'banj as its first ...

, where he worked with

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 ...

, Dr SID,

Tiwa Savage Tiwatope Omolara Savage (born 5 February 1980), known professionally as Tiwa Savage (), is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and actress. Savage sings in English, Nigerian Pidgin and Yoruba; her music is a blend of afrobeats, R&B, afropop, p ...

, and

Davido David Adedeji Adeleke (born November 21, 1992), known professionally as Davido, is a Nigerian American, Nigerian-American singer, songwriter and record producer. Davido was born in Atlanta, U.S, and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. He made his mus ...

. In 2012, he joined

Mavin Records Mavin Records (also known as the Supreme Mavin Dynasty) is a Nigerian corporation and record label founded by record producer and recording artist Don Jazzy on 8 May 2012. The label's inception came to fruition following the closure of Mo' Hits R ...

as an A&R, and was responsible for Mavin's compilation album ''

Solar Plexus The celiac plexus, also known as the solar plexus because of its radiating nerve fibers, is a complex network of nerves located in the abdomen, near where the celiac trunk, superior mesenteric artery, and renal arteries branch from the abdomi ...

'' and

Reekado Banks Ayoleyi Hanniel Solomon (born 6 December 1993), who is better known by his stage name Reekado Banks, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. He was signed to Mavin Records between 2014 and 2018, and went by the stage name Spicy before his record d ...

studio album ''SPOTLIGHT'', before he resigned from the label in 2016. In 2016, he founded B Entertainment, which he later merged with

Asa Asika Asa Asika (born 14 August 1990) is a Nigerian talent manager, best known as Davido's manager, also the co-founder of The Plug (subsidiaries; Plug Entertainment, Plug Live, The Plug Music, Plug Films, Plug Publishing, and Plug Sports) and The Bloc ...

imprint StarGaze Entertainment, to establish The Plug. On 18 December 2016, he lost the prize for New Media, at

The Future Awards Africa The Future Awards Africa (previously known as The Future Awards) are a set of awards given by The Future Project, a social enterprise communications firm affiliated to Red Africa. The awards are intended to celebrate young people between the ag ...

to Tosin "OloriSuperGal" Ajibade. On 17 December 2022, he joined Nigeria recording chart company

TurnTable charts ''TurnTable'' charts is a catalog of relative weekly, and yearly popular songs in Nigeria. The results are published in ''TurnTable'' magazine. ''TurnTable'' provides additional weekly charts, as well as the End of the Year Top 50. The charts ca ...

, as one of its executives, alongside Oye Akideinde. He also served as an A&R executive on

Oxlade Oxlade is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (born 1993), English professional footballer * Allen Martindale Oxlade (1882–1932), Australian rugby player * Aubrey Oxlade (1882–1955), Australian cric ...

's debut ep '' Oxygene'' and Alpha P's debut EP ''

King of the Wolves ''King of the Wolves'' (KOTW) is the debut extended play by Nigerian singer-songwriter Alpha P. It was released on 15 November 2019 through Universal Music Group Nigeria. Background and promotion Following the disbanding of the music duo RNA, an ...

''. He worked on BOJ and Ajebutter22 collaborative album ''Make E No Cause Fight 2''. Bizzle has also helped launch the careers of many famous Nigerian

Afrobeat Afrobeat (also known as Afrofunk) is a West African music genre, fusing influences from Nigerian (such as Yoruba) and Ghanaian (such as highlife) music, with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex i ...

Afropop African popular music (also styled Afropop, Afro-pop, Afro pop or African pop) can be defined as any African music, regardless of genre, that uses Western pop musical instruments, such as the guitar, piano, trumpet, etc.Olabode, O. (2023, J ...

, R&B and

alté Alté (locally pronounced as "ahl-teh") is a fusion genre of music that combines elements of afrobeats, dancehall, reggae, hip hop, and alternative R&B. The term was coined in the 2010s by Nigerian music group DRB LasGidi, meaning alternative ...

musicians including

Tomi Agape Tomi Agape is a Nigerian Afro-fusion, neo-soul, and alternative R&B singer, and songwriter. She is part of the Nigerian Alté scene. Her breakthrough single "In The Night", features Nonso Amadi. In 2020, she released an extended play ''Never Gunn ...

Alpha P Princewill Emmanuel (born February 26, 2002), professionally known as Alpha P, is a Nigerian rapper and singer-songwriter signed to Penthauze. Previously, he was signed to Universal Music West Africa (formerly Universal Music Group Nigeria), an i ...

, Vict0ny, and

Tems Temilade Openiyi (born 11 June 1995), known professionally as Tems, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and record producer. She rose to prominence after being featured on Wizkid's 2020 single "Essence", which peaked at number 9 on the ''Billbo ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osikoya, Abiodun Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool Businesspeople from Birmingham, West Midlands Businesspeople from Lagos Businesspeople from London Music promoters Nigerian music industry executives Year of birth missing (living people)