Oladipo Olamide Emmanuel (born 13 September 1993), known professionally as Chinko Ekun, 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 ...

rapper and songwriter. He is a graduate of Law from the

Obafemi Awolowo University Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal government-owned university that is located in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife ...

Early life

Chinko Ekun was born in

Ikeja Ikeja is the capital city of Lagos State in southwestern Nigeria. Its population, as of the 2006 census, is 313,196. Prior to the emergence of military rule in the early 1980s, Ikeja was a well planned, clean and quiet residential and commerc ...

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 states, it is both the most populous and smallest in area. Bounded to the south by the Bight of Benin and to the west by the international border with Benin ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

, into a family of three, where he is the second child. He is a native of

Ikare Ikare is a city in the northern senatorial part of Ondo State, Nigeria. Ikare-Akoko (Ikare for short), city in southwestern Nigeria, is located in the Northern Senatorial District of Ondo State. Ikare is about 100km from Akure, the Ondo State cap ...

Ondo State Ondo State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Oǹdó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. It borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast, Edo State to the east, Delta State ...

, Nigeria.

Education

Chinko Ekun attended Blessing Nursery and Primary School, Oshodi, Lagos State and Remade Nursery and Primary School, Igando, Lagos State. He attended Baptist Model High School,

Ijegun The village of Ijegun is a northern suburban community in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. The area is home to oil tank farms. History On May 15, 2008, Ijegun was devastated by a massive explosion, killing over 100 peopl ...

, Lagos State for his secondary education. He graduated with a degree in law from

. He did his

National Youth Service Corps The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is a program set up by the Nigerian government during the military regime to involve Nigerian graduates in nation-building and the development of the country. There is no military conscription in Nigeria ...

in Lagos State.

Career

2011–2014: Career beginnings

At the age of 7, Chinko Ekun started developing passion for music. During his first year in the university, he picked interest in commercial and rap music. Chinko Ekun officially started his musical career in 2011, posting videos of his freestyles on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

. In 2013, he released "Ekun" as his first official track. In 2014, Chinko Ekun featured in

Olamide Olamide Gbenga Adedeji (born 15 March 1989) is a Nigerian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. Widely regarded as one of the biggest and most influential artists in Africa, he has been instrumental to the launching of the careers ...

's '' Street OT'' music album, on tracks "100 To Million", "Bang" and "Usian Bolt". He appeared on Olamide Live In Concert (OLIC) 2014, where he did freestyle performance. Chinko Ekun sings in English,

Pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

and

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba consti ...

, focusing solely on hip hop music. His name "Chinko Ekun" was coined from two words "Chinko" and "Ekun". "Chinko", because he was told that he looked like a Chinese during his time in the university and "Ekun", because it is his first official track.

2015–present: YBNL Nation and Dek-Niyor Entertainment

In 2015, Chinko Ekun joined

's YBNL Nation. He released his first official singles titled "Alejo Oran" and "Emi Na Re" through YBNL Nation on 25 February 2015. Barely a year later, he exited the record label after his contract expired, alongside fellow label mates Adekunle Gold and Viktoh. In 2017, he joined Dek-Niyor Entertainment, a

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...

based record label. On 13 September 2018, he released a song titled "Able God" featuring Zlatan and

Lil Kesh Keshinro Ololade (born 17 March 1995), known professionally as Lil Kesh, is a Nigerian singer and rapper. He rose to limelight after releasing the hit single "Shoki". Early life and education Ololade was born and raised in Bariga, an area in ...

. The song earned him his first Headies award as "Best Street Hop Artiste" at The Headies 2019. The song received the nomination of "Popular Song of the Year" at the 2019 City People Music Awards. It won "Street Song of the Year" at the 2019 City People Music Awards.

Personal life

Chinko Ekun is single and revealed he is not ready for marriage yet.

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekun, Chinko 1993 births 21st-century Nigerian male singers Living people Yoruba musicians The Headies winners Nigerian male rappers Obafemi Awolowo University alumni People from Lagos State Yoruba-language singers English-language singers from Nigeria