William Orioha (born 3 March 1979), known professionally as 2Shotz, is a former

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 who is now a US-based photographer and filmmaker. He won the award for Best Collaboration at The Headies 2006. His debut studio album ''Pirated Copy'' was released in 2004. It was supported by three singles: "Carry Am Go", "Odeshi" and "Delicious". 2Shotz's second studio album ''Original Copy'' was released in 2005. He released his third studio album ''Commercial Avenue'' in 2007. His fourth studio album ''Music Business'' was released in 2008. 2Shotz released ''I am William'' and ''Loud Silence'' as his fifth and sixth studio albums in 2010 and 2016, respectively. He is a hip hop artist who raps in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Pidgin and

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a ...

Early life and education

2Shotz was born in Surulere,

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 Ben ...

, Nigeria, to a family of three members. He is a native of

Umuahia Umuahia () is the capital city of Abia State in southeastern Nigeria. Umuahia is located along the rail road that lies between Port Harcourt to its south,and Enugu city to its north. Umuahia has a population of 359,230 according to the 2006 Nige ...

, Abia State. He went to

Government College Umuahia Government College Umuahia, or GCU, is an independent secondary school for boys located on Umuahia- Ikot Ekpene road in Umuahia, Nigeria. Twenty years after the establishment of Kings College, the first government-owned high school, by the Bri ...

for his secondary education. 2Shotz graduated with a degree in industrial relations and personnel management from

Lagos State University Lagos State University, also known as LASU, is located in Ojo, with sub-campuses at Ikeja and Epe both towns in Lagos State, Nigeria. The university was established in 1983 by the enabling law of Lagos State, for the advancement of learning ...

(LASU).

Music career

2Shotz started singing while in secondary school and decided to pursue a career in music prior to enrolling at LASU. In 1999, he teamed up with 2Ply to form the group Foremen. They signed a record deal with eLDee's Trybesmen in 2000 and released their debut album ''Men at Work'' under the label. The album was supported by the single "For the Men". 2Shotz signed a solo deal with Trybe Records following the group's disbandment in 2000. He later joined the group The Trybe and recorded the 2001 song "Oya" with them. In 2005, he launched his record label Umunnamu Music. He joined Obi Asika's record label Storm Records a year later, but exited the label to focus on Umunnamu Music. In 2016, he quit music to pursue a career in photography and filmmaking and said he was under-appreciated in Nigeria.

Personal life

2Shotz married his girlfriend, whom he met on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, at the

Ikoyi Ikoyi is the most affluent neighborhood of Lagos, located in Eti-Osa Local Government Area. It lies to the northeast of Obalende and adjoins Lagos Island to the west, and at the edge of the Lagos Lagoon. Popular with the extreme upper class res ...

Marriage Registry on 12 April 2013. They have a daughter who was born in Ireland on 12 March 2015. 2Shotz separated from his wife in December 2015 after she accused him of domestic violence.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Pirated Copy'' (2004) *''Original Copy'' (2005) * ''Commercial Avenue'' (2007) *''Music Business'' (2008) *''I AM William'' (2011) * ''Loud Silence'' (2016)

Singles

*"Delicious" (2004) *"Odeshi" (2004) *"Carry Am Go" (2004) *"Make Dem Talk" (2006) *"Which Level" (2007) *"Incase U Never Know" (2008)

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2Shotz 1979 births Living people Igbo musicians The Headies winners 21st-century Nigerian male singers