Cokni O'Dire aka Jah CoknI, King CoknI, OTO and Uncle O Williams (born 1967 in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, Middlesex

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

, England) is a British

ragga Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music. Wayne Sm ...

MC, DJ and hip hop artist best known for being a member of the original Scheme Team featured on the Rhyme Syndicate/

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

release of

Divine Styler Mikal Safiyullah (born Mark Richardson; 1968), better known by his stage name Divine Styler, is an alternative hip hop artist from Brooklyn, New York. History He first emerged as part of Ice-T's Rhyme Syndicate. His first LP, '' Word Power' ...

's '' Word Power''.

Biography

Cokni was born in

Wembley, London Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

but was raised in various parts of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The first crew he joined was El Producto in

Cambria Heights, Queens Cambria Heights is a residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Springfield Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, the Elmont, Nassau County border on the east, Queen ...

, where he was the Human B-Box for

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

, during the time when rhymed with the Albino Twins in the early 1980s. He battled many who wielded the art of oral percussion, one of which was

Rahzel Rozell Manely Brown (born October 6, 1964) is an American beatboxer and rapper, formerly a member of the Roots. Rahzel is known for an ability to sing or rap while simultaneously beatboxing, as evidenced in his performances of "Iron Man" and his ...

, in a competition judged by

Biz Markie Marcel Theo Hall (April 8, 1964 – July 16, 2021), known professionally as Biz Markie, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer. Markie was best known for his 1989 single "Just a Friend", which became a Top 40 hit in ...

. Initially known for having a thick ragga inspired vocal style, he coined the phrase 'Shock Out' in the Los Angeles hip hop dance circle during the years of 1989 and 1990. Cokni later joined

In the Original Scheme Team, when Divine got signed to

, and was featured on Divine's debut album, ''Wordpower''. After the Scheme Team had broken up, Cokni went on to pursue a successful career as a

turntablist Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating new music, sound effects, mixes and other creative sounds and beats, typically by using two or more turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into a PA system ...

and a music promoter promoting

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

dance hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and citi ...

and hip hop for Delicious Vinyl Records. After contributing to various

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

and various hip hop tracks, he later had a short reunite with former Scheme Team member, Divine Styler, to contribute vocals to

House of Pain House of Pain was an American hip-hop trio that released three albums in the 1990s. The group consisted of DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, and Everlast. The group's name is a reference to the H. G. Wells novel '' The Island of Dr. Moreau'', a refer ...

's last album, ''

Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again ''Truth Crushed to Earth Shall Rise Again'' is the third and final studio album by American hip hop group House of Pain. It was released in October 22, 1996 via Tommy Boy Records. The album is called ''Truth Crushed to Earth Shall Rise Again'', ...

'' and Divine Styler's ''Wordpower 2''.

Recent projects

He had a radio program called ''The OTO Hour'' on

KXLU KXLU (88.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting out of Loyola Marymount University in southwest Los Angeles, California. It was first on the air in 1957, and in 2007, celebrated its 50th anniversary. It is a non-commercial college radio statio ...

Los Angeles. In the club scene he has become a staple as a resident DJ/ MC of Chocolate Bar, KPL, Umoja Hi Fi and Positive Rhythm events. Currently he is featured on the French release of an Italian production called Allegro - Someone Else featuring L.V. and Fresh Game. He currently resides in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, broadcasting an online radio show ''Decent Something'' which was formerly on Beatminerz Radio and De La Soul's Dugout with DJ Maseo. Now he broadcasts independently from his home or wherever in the world there is WiFi. He been married since 1995 to the mother of his children, with whom they have two daughters and a son.

References

External links

Cokni's BlogCokni's Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odire, Cokni Black British male rappers Living people Musicians from Wembley 1967 births Date of birth missing (living people) Musicians from New York (state)