Adegbenga Adejumo (born 1986), known as Benga, is a British musician from

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, known for being a pioneer of

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

record production. He has been featured on a variety of compilations including Mary Anne Hobbs's '' Warrior Dubz'',

Tempa Tempa is a garage and dubstep music label founded in 2000 by Neil Jolliffe, who also coined the term "dubstep" in 2002. The label, along with Big Apple, and parent label Ammunition, was part of the formation of dubstep as a genre. A key member ...

's ''The Roots of Dubstep'' and the

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...

anniversary mix.

Career

Adejumo is of

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 constitute ...

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 ...

descent. Inspired by

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...

producer Wookie, Benga would produce tunes on a

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

, and subsequently

FruityLoops FL Studio (previously known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. FL Studio features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. The program is availa ...

. As a teenager he would visit the Big Apple record shop in Croydon where he was introduced to

Skream Oliver Dene Jones (born 1 June 1986), known as Skream, is an English electronic music producer based in Croydon. Skream was an early and influential exponent of the dubstep genre. After producing several singles, he released his first full-len ...

, and together they would help forge the sound of dubstep emerging in the early 2000s. His productions caught the attention of

DJ Hatcha Terry Leonard, better known as DJ Hatcha or simply Hatcha, is a South London producer and DJ notable for his seminal work in the musical genre dubstep. He is divorced from defected DJ Sam Divine. He had a regular show on the prominent pirate ra ...

, who worked at the shop, and, by the age of 15, Benga had made his first record, "Skank", released on Big Apple's own record label in 2002. Benga's second release was a collaboration with Skream, called "The Judgement". Further releases followed on Big Apple Records,

Hotflush Recordings Hotflush Recordings is a British record label. Founded by electronic musician Paul Rose, the label began as a UK Garage night on Stokes Croft in Bristol when Scuba was studying at University of Bristol, booking the likes of Artful Dodger (duo) ...

and

Planet Mu Planet Mu is an eclectic English electronic music record label created and run by Mike Paradinas. The label started out as a subsidiary of Virgin Records then Paradinas set up the label independent of Virgin. After releasing intelligent dance ...

, before Benga self-released his debut album ''Newstep'' in 2006. As dubstep garnered mainstream attention, Benga continued to release singles, including a collaboration with Coki of

Digital Mystikz Digital Mystikz are a dubstep production duo consisting of Mala (born Mark Lawrence), and Coki (born Dean Harris, 26 August 1980) from the South London suburb of Norwood. Along with Loefah and SGT Pokes, who make up the group ASBO (All Soundbwoy ...

called "Night", that reached 98 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 2008. ''

Diary of an Afro Warrior ''Diary of an Afro Warrior'' is the second album by dubstep producer Benga. Released in 2008 it was met with favourable reviews and has been credited – along with fellow Tempa artist, Skream Oliver Dene Jones (born 1 June 1986), known as ...

'', Benga's second album, followed in the same year with ''

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. It was established in 2001. ''RA''s editorial team provides news, musi ...

'' describing it as "one of the most anticipated LPs in dubstep yet." In 2007 Benga along with fellow producers

and Artwork, formed the dubstep supergroup

Magnetic Man Magnetic Man is an English electronic music project from London, consisting of dubstep producers and DJs Benga, Skream and Artwork (previously known as Menta). The trio first met in the late 1990s at the Big Apple Records store in Croydon. ...

. This resulted in the release of an EP and eponymous studio album in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Benga also produced Katy B's debut single "

Katy on a Mission "Katy on a Mission" is a song performed by British recording artist Katy B. It was released by Rinse accompanied by a B-side titled "Louder" as her debut single and lead single from her debut album, '' On a Mission'', on 22 August 2010. The so ...

", which peaked at number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in 2010. From January 2011, Benga joined

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

with Skream as part of 'In New DJs We Trust', and presented a weekly Friday night show. Skream and Benga performed together at Field Day music festival in Sydney on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

2012. Benga generated controversy in July 2012 after reportedly saying he wished to remove himself from dubstep, insisting that he no longer wanted to be a part of the genre. He went on to clarify his comments saying "For me to remain creative, I've kinda not got to call my music dubstep and for me to keep pushing boundaries and moving around, making songs... I can't call myself dubstep." In 2013, he released his third album '' Chapter II'' on

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

, which included the single "Forefather" featuring

Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria * Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State **Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries **Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...

. He also created an official remix of

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

's "

I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, ''I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to have ...

", which features on the tribute

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 2007 ...

''Love To Love You Donna'', and co-produced

Dominique Young Unique Dominique Lashawn Clark (born March 15, 1991), better known by her stage name Dominique Young Unique, is an American rapper and model. In 2012, Clark signed to Sony Records, a contract which ended in 2014. Dominique is currently signed to The H ...

's 2014 debut single " Throw It Down" with

DJ Fresh Daniel Edward Stein (born 11 April 1977), better known by his stage name DJ Fresh, is an English musician, DJ, record producer, best known for making electronic music. He is one of the principal members of the drum and bass group Bad Company, ...

. On 2 February 2014, Adejumo announced on social media that following his engagement to Holly-Jae Treadgold, he was retiring to focus on raising a family. However, in May 2014, he announced plans to complete a new album. In September 2015, Benga revealed via his Twitter account that mental health issues had been the reason for his retirement announcement. In an interview with

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, he explained that he noticed issues in late 2013 and was subsequently

sectioned Involuntary commitment, civil commitment, or involuntary hospitalization/hospitalisation is a legal process through which an individual who is deemed by a qualified agent to have symptoms of severe mental disorder is detained in a psychiatric hos ...

in March 2014. He stated that drug use from the age of 17 had caused

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

, whilst excessive touring led to

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

. In an interview with Annie Mac on

in 2018, Benga claimed to have deleted all of his productions from his hard drive during his hospital stay. He premiered a new track "Psychosis" on the radio show, inspired by and to treat his psychological experiences, and was released in February 2018 on his new Illuminate record label.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

As lead artist

Benga & Skream

Hatcha & Benga

Benga & Walsh

Benga & Coki

Benga & Paul Trueman

Production credits

References

External links

* *
Benga RBMA lecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benga 1986 births Living people Dubstep musicians Black British musicians Black British DJs English people of Nigerian descent English record producers People from Croydon People with bipolar disorder People with schizophrenia English people of Yoruba descent Yoruba musicians Planet Mu artists