Ras Kimono (9 May 1958 – 10 June 2018) was a Nigerian reggae artist whose debut album ''Under Pressure'', led by the single "Rum-Bar Stylée", was a big hit in the

Nigerian music The music of Nigeria includes many kinds of Traditional folk music, folk and popular music. Little of the country's music history prior to European contact has been Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage, preserved, although bronze ...

scene in 1989. Before he released his solo album, he was in a group called ''The Jastix'' along with Amos McRoy and

Majek Fashek Majekodunmi Fasheke (March 1963 – 1 June 2020), known professionally as Majek Fashek, was a Nigerian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His 1988 album ''Prisoner of Conscience'' included the single "Send Down the Rain", which won six Performing M ...

. Oseloke Augustine Onwubuya, popularly known as Ras Kimono was born in Ekeleke Elumelu,

Delta State Delta is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South (Nigeria), South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named after the Niger Delta—a large part of which is in the state—the state was formed from the former Bendel State, on 27 August 1 ...

Nigeria Nigeria, 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 Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, He started out his career as a student of Gbenoba Secondary School Agbor and later as a member of the Jastix Reggae Ital, alongside Majek Fashek, Amos McRoy Jegg and Black Rice Osagie. His music was greatly influenced by the poverty, inequality and hardship he witnessed in his early life. He released his solo debut album ''Under Pressure'' on the Premier Music label in 1989, which propelled him to instant continental stardom. The album had hits such as "Under Pressure", "Natty Get Jail" and the massive hit "Rhumba Style". He later released a string of hit albums, touring all over

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, promoting his brand of

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

music. He won several awards including the Nigeria Music Awards, Fame Music Awards and many more. In 2010, he was still performing to a loyal fan-base of all ages and his music is still played on radio, throughout West Africa. Kimono served a long apprenticeship on the Nigerian music circuit, experimenting with a number of styles, before making his late 1980s breakthrough as a reggae singer. Together with his Massive Dread Reggae Band. Kimono released his debut album, ''Under Pressure'' in 1989, accompanied by the popular single, "Rum-Bar Stylee", this revealed both a Jamaican and native African influence (the latter particularly evident in his ‘

Patois ''Patois'' (, same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or sl ...

’ delivery, as frequently employed by

Fela Kuti Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997) was a Nigerians, Nigerian musician and political activist. He is regarded as the principal innovator of Afrobeat, a Nigerian music genre t ...

to communicate with the urban underclass). His strongly polemical lyrics produced album sales of over 100,000 copies, and a fervent following for his advocacy of social change. ''What’s Gwan'' proved even more successful, with the topics selected including legalization of

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

, and the need for Africans to intellectually repel

colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

and its arbitrary boundaries between tribes. Most controversially, he was not averse to naming directly those in power he saw as synonymous with backdoor imperialism. He died at the age of 60 on 10 June 2018 in

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 ...

, Nigeria.

Discography

*''Under Pressure'' (1988)"Kimono, Ras." ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', 4th ed. Ed. Colin Larkin.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. *''What's Gwan?'' (1990) *''Run Fi Cover'' (1992) *''Lone Ranger'' (1994) *'' Oracle of Jah'' (1996?) *''Matter of Time '' (2008) *''Senseless Killing'' (2017)

References

1958 births 2018 deaths Nigerian reggae musicians Musicians from Delta State {{Nigeria-musician-stub