There is something different about Nigeria’s
Number 1 Disc Jockey, DJ Jimmy Jatt as his popularly called,DJ Jimmy who has come of age in his career is set to celebrate his 25 years in the Nigerian music
industry. DJ Jimmy Jatt, whose real name is Jimmy Amu, visited City People
Corporate office recently and in this roundtable interview, he shares the story
of his 25-year career on the wheels-of-steel.
You are widely regarded as Nigeria’s No. 1
DJ, what is responsible for that?
I don’t see myself as number 1 to be honest with you, I see myself as growing and developing and I always look for the next level. As long as you don’t see yourself on top, that means there is still room for you to grow. The moment you start seeing yourself as number 1 or on top that means there is no room for improvement. First of all, I’ll like to always make it very clear, I am actually celebrating 25 years anniversary in the industry but I have been deejaying for more than 25 years.
I don’t see myself as number 1 to be honest with you, I see myself as growing and developing and I always look for the next level. As long as you don’t see yourself on top, that means there is still room for you to grow. The moment you start seeing yourself as number 1 or on top that means there is no room for improvement. First of all, I’ll like to always make it very clear, I am actually celebrating 25 years anniversary in the industry but I have been deejaying for more than 25 years.
How has the 25-year journey been?
It has been nice, rough and a bit of everything at the initial stage. I started deejaying at a time when nobody saw deejaying as a profession, so people look at you and wonder why they pay you to come and play music.
I had friends, their aunties, mum or dad will tell them don’t ever let me see you around that boy, he is an unserious guy. They assume you must be into all the negativity in life. They see you as the highest weed smoker, biggest womanizer. I have seen people flog their daughters because they come around me, those were really challenging times.
It has been nice, rough and a bit of everything at the initial stage. I started deejaying at a time when nobody saw deejaying as a profession, so people look at you and wonder why they pay you to come and play music.
I had friends, their aunties, mum or dad will tell them don’t ever let me see you around that boy, he is an unserious guy. They assume you must be into all the negativity in life. They see you as the highest weed smoker, biggest womanizer. I have seen people flog their daughters because they come around me, those were really challenging times.
A lot of times people will think they are doing
you a favour by telling you to come and play music, like afterall, we’ll serve
food, you will drink and there will be girls for you. Those were at the
beginning, then getting into it, sourcing for equipment and records around then
was a major challenge as well. Not like now, where you download and have your
songs. You’ll find yourself in a situation where people are asking you for a
song because it is being played somewhere and you as a deejay, you must have
it.
We used to buy every song. There was no other
way. You don’t burn record, you do not duplicate records, download record, and
then we used to buy every song. Then, I used to tell people and they will be
like this guy has been making money from way back, there was no money in
deejaying when we got into it, even the money you’ll use to acquire the music
itself is more than what you make from it.
What are the practical steps you took to
make deejaying what it is today?
To be honest with you, there was no deliberate attempt that I made to make it good business. What I think I did for me was more passion driven. If you like something, just continue with it, push yourself. There were times when you had enough money to buy breakfast and you needed to buy a particular record and if you eat breakfast you won’t be able to buy the record, so you go ahead and buy the record because of the passion you had for it and I think that passion drove me to that extent.
To be honest with you, there was no deliberate attempt that I made to make it good business. What I think I did for me was more passion driven. If you like something, just continue with it, push yourself. There were times when you had enough money to buy breakfast and you needed to buy a particular record and if you eat breakfast you won’t be able to buy the record, so you go ahead and buy the record because of the passion you had for it and I think that passion drove me to that extent.
Tell us, what is it that has kept you
going for 25 years?
I always tell people that in my 25 years, I have always been constantly in the ring. Let’s say I am a boxer and there is a ring. They will say Deejay Jimmy Jatt vs DJ Fresh Waves, other time DJ Jimmy Jatt vs DJ Shina, Dj Waxxy, DJ Humility, other times, DJ Jimmy Jatt vs DJ Neptune, other times DJ Jimmy Jatt and a bunch of deejays. I am always constantly in the ring, for 25 years.
I always tell people that in my 25 years, I have always been constantly in the ring. Let’s say I am a boxer and there is a ring. They will say Deejay Jimmy Jatt vs DJ Fresh Waves, other time DJ Jimmy Jatt vs DJ Shina, Dj Waxxy, DJ Humility, other times, DJ Jimmy Jatt vs DJ Neptune, other times DJ Jimmy Jatt and a bunch of deejays. I am always constantly in the ring, for 25 years.
What is the secret behind it?
It’s being able to look at yourself and always try to make yourself better. What has worked for me is that I always help people to get up, I always help DJs to come up and they are chasing you, for every step they take, you take a step.It’s healthy growth for everybody because there is progress for everybody, you are aware that you helped these boys to come up, some other people have spent time and that gave energy to hold people down and if you hold people down you at that same point, you are not even moving.
It’s being able to look at yourself and always try to make yourself better. What has worked for me is that I always help people to get up, I always help DJs to come up and they are chasing you, for every step they take, you take a step.It’s healthy growth for everybody because there is progress for everybody, you are aware that you helped these boys to come up, some other people have spent time and that gave energy to hold people down and if you hold people down you at that same point, you are not even moving.
So if you are holding two people down, 20 people
are passing the other ways to move on, but if you help people grow, they’ll
always want you around them because they will feel like they might need you
because you helped them get to this point and that has always been my own
situation. Up till now, you will still find deejays coming to me, Baba we want to
do this, how do we go about it. So they ensure that they carry you along.
Hardly is there any big show in Nigeria that
you are not billed to perform, how does that make you feel?
No there are a lot of shows without me. Let me tell you why you think I have presence everywhere. I have presence because I have a lot of protégées. I have had a lot of people I brought up who are in different sectors. Right now, I have boys across the world, I always say I have boys in Asia, deejaying America, deejaying across Africa. So when they have something to do over there and they need another DJ, check what is gonna happen, who are they going to refer.
No there are a lot of shows without me. Let me tell you why you think I have presence everywhere. I have presence because I have a lot of protégées. I have had a lot of people I brought up who are in different sectors. Right now, I have boys across the world, I always say I have boys in Asia, deejaying America, deejaying across Africa. So when they have something to do over there and they need another DJ, check what is gonna happen, who are they going to refer.
Are you happy with what you’ve achieved
in the 25 years of your career?
To be honest with you, I am grateful to God, all of us, I think we have that Oliver Twist instinct in us, we would always want more, but I think this is all I have done all my life and maybe I am not Dangote, I am not Bill Gates but I’m happy and I have job satisfaction.
To be honest with you, I am grateful to God, all of us, I think we have that Oliver Twist instinct in us, we would always want more, but I think this is all I have done all my life and maybe I am not Dangote, I am not Bill Gates but I’m happy and I have job satisfaction.
How many deejays have you trained?
It is 25 years, even if I want to name every year, that would be 25 but it is not once every year, there is a whole lot of them.
It is 25 years, even if I want to name every year, that would be 25 but it is not once every year, there is a whole lot of them.
Having trained a whole lot of people, who
trained you too?
To be honest with you, I got into deejaying from
my brothers. They were deejays before I got into it, I think that kind of
dragged me into deejaying. I started more as an aspiring artist, I was a rapper
cutting demo tapes but I think we were ahead of time because they used to say
rap was American at that time, the same rap music everybody is embracing now
but there was no way ahead for that at that time.
I was into break dancing also, I was first a
Disco boy and then my brothers were deejays and for some reason, I started
following my brothers to small parties and I think that is what drew me into
it. But the person who taught me to deejay professionally is one guy called
Cache. He used to be a deejay at Princes Nightclub then, as far as I was
concerned, if I say so I think he was the best deejay at the time, he wasn’t really
popular but he was the best deejay at the time, in terms of what he does so he
taught me how to deejay professionally.
Do you still have any plans to drop any
other album?
I am almost rounding up, I am like 85 percent done with the new album, mainly to commemorate the 25th anniversary. I think it is going to be the biggest collaborative album in this country. The definition album till now still has the highest number of collaborations, it has well over 50 artists. In terms of producers we had well over 10. In coming up with the album, I recorded with well over 100 people, it is just that the number of tracks may not make the album, this album as at the last count, the people I have worked with between producers and artists are almost a 100 people.
I am almost rounding up, I am like 85 percent done with the new album, mainly to commemorate the 25th anniversary. I think it is going to be the biggest collaborative album in this country. The definition album till now still has the highest number of collaborations, it has well over 50 artists. In terms of producers we had well over 10. In coming up with the album, I recorded with well over 100 people, it is just that the number of tracks may not make the album, this album as at the last count, the people I have worked with between producers and artists are almost a 100 people.
So it is easier to count who is not on the album
at this point than saying who is on the album. So we have that album coming, it
is called The Industry’ and if you call an album the Industry, then you know
what it says, it says a lot. It is a reflection, you can’t have everybody on an
album but it is a good balance of representation from everywhere. The
album drops hopefully in August, the reason we are saying it is August is
because in the process of this 25th year anniversary, there are events lined
up.
What was your parents’ thought about
deejaying?
I am a victim of what my parents and family made me. In my house, everybody was into music, they loved music, in my house between my mum and dad, my dad was collecting records anyhow, all types of music, all the James Brown, Fela, IK Dairo, it was a family thing . My dad was collecting, my mum on the other side was a soft person, so she was into the ABBA, Boney M, Bongo Zikwe, all those country music, Dolly Paton type of music and then my brothers didn’t make things easy, the early hip-hop and the early 80s vibe, Cool and the Gang, Shallama, Whispers and all that.
I am a victim of what my parents and family made me. In my house, everybody was into music, they loved music, in my house between my mum and dad, my dad was collecting records anyhow, all types of music, all the James Brown, Fela, IK Dairo, it was a family thing . My dad was collecting, my mum on the other side was a soft person, so she was into the ABBA, Boney M, Bongo Zikwe, all those country music, Dolly Paton type of music and then my brothers didn’t make things easy, the early hip-hop and the early 80s vibe, Cool and the Gang, Shallama, Whispers and all that.
They were dumping it in the house where they had
a brother or son who is not outgoing and they really don’t buy me toys. When
they come back, I am the one who will ask them if they have listened to track
on one album or the other. I had more time, parents had to go to work or some
other things, I don’t go nowhere. From my family, I never had any objection in
terms of music, I was a good kid and they didn’t have any problem with me.
How many were you in your family?
In my family, my father’s kids were 10, I am in the 3rd position, from my house we are 5, of course my dad was a polygamist and he has other wives but I lost like 3 younger ones. So we are seven as it is now.
In my family, my father’s kids were 10, I am in the 3rd position, from my house we are 5, of course my dad was a polygamist and he has other wives but I lost like 3 younger ones. So we are seven as it is now.
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