Jasën Blu is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, record producer and score composer. His debut project, the ''Road 2 Soulwave'' EP was released in October 2020 after several unofficial releases as well as commercial singles which include "Already" (2017), "Brown Shuga" (2019), "Chill", and "BluFunk" (2023).

Early life

Blu was born and raised in

Akure Akure is a city in south-western Nigeria. It is the capital and largest city of Ondo State. The city had a population of 403,000 as at the 2006 population census. History Pre 1914 Rock engravings dating back to the Mesolithic period, hav ...

, Nigeria. His first ever live performance was at age twelve, when he sang a mimed version of " Angel" by

Shaggy Shaggy may refer to: People *Shaggy (musician) (born 1968), Jamaican American reggae rapper and singer *Shaggy 2 Dope, half of the hip hop, horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse *Shaggy Flores (born 1973), Nuyorican poet, writer and African diaspora ...

to fellow students at his boarding house social gathering in secondary school.

Education

He attended

Federal University of Technology Akure The Federal University of Technology Akure (informally FUT Akure or simply FUTA) is a federal government-owned university located in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. It was founded in 1981 under a drive by the government of Nigeria to create univers ...

from 2004 to 2009, studying Urban & Regional Planning while combining academics with music. After several demo recordings and back up vocal performances for other student artistes, he moved to Lagos in 2008 to further his music career.

Career

Blu's first break came when his song "L.A.S.G.I.D.I. (Gidi Anthem)" was selected as lead soundtrack and trailer theme to Nigerian filmmaker

Obi Emelonye Obi Emelonye Emelonye a Nigerian film director. He is known for directing award-winning films such as ''Last Flight to Abuja'' (2012), '' The Mirror Boy'' (2011), and ''Onye Ozi'' (2013). In 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, which shut do ...

's 2012 tragedy thriller, "

Last Flight to Abuja ''Last Flight to Abuja'' is a 2012 Nigerian disaster thriller film written by Tunde Babalola, directed and produced by Obi Emelonye, and starring Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Hakeem Kae-Kazim and Jim Iyke. Shot in Lagos, the film received 5 nomination ...

", for which he gained considerable recognition due to the success of the film. He then had minor releases like "Song About You" while working on his debut album. On Valentine's Day 2017, he released "Already", the lead single off his debut album and shortly after took to social media to announce the title of his impending debut album as ''Soulwave'' while continuing work on new material. He then followed up with "Brown Shuga", an Afro-fusion flavored remake of

D'Angelo Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...

's 1995 hit, " Brown Sugar", which was well received by fans in Japan. Blu supported the release of "Brown Shuga" with several live performances, including an appearance as opening act at the 2019 edition of

Seyi Sodimu Seyi Sodimu (also known as Mr. Jeje or Seyi) is a Nigerian singer-songwriter. He is best known for his hit single "Love Me Jeje", which made him popular in Nigeria in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He is a pioneer of the ever-growing Nigerian Mu ...

's "Grown & Sexy" Concert, which saw him share the stage with top domestic and international R&B stars including

Styl-Plus The group Styl-Plus (originally STYL) is a Nigerian R&B and pop musical group / quartet. The founding members were Shifi Emoefe, Tunde Akinsanmi, Yemi Akinwonmi, and Lanre Faneyi, the name STYL being an abbreviation of the founders' first name ...

, Paul Play Dairo, Nigerian reggae legend Daddy Showkey, and the show headliner who has also been cited as Blu's musical influence, American R&B singer

Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

. In 2020, Blu detoured from original plans of a full-length debut release and completed recording on his EP, ''Road 2 Soulwave'', which was released in the rest of the world on 9 October, and released in Nigeria on 5 November 2020. After a brief hiatus in 2021, Blu made a return to building up towards the release of the ''Soulwave'' LP in August 2022 with the non-album buzz single, "Otojometa" In March 2023, he released ''Soulwave''s second official single, "Chill" via his independent record label, Nubiana. The season-themed third single, "Summertime" was released in July, which Blu hinted was inspired by hip-hop group Lost Boyz's 1997 song of the same name. The fourth single, a retro-pop and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

inspired record "BluFunk" was released in September 2023. In December, a remix of "BluFunk" dubbed the 'RockOut Remix' was released, featuring Nigerian Hip-Hop artist Hotyce, marking Blu's fourth and final release of 2023. Late May 2024, Blu released "Faraway (My Heart Goes...)", a neo soul and R&B record that interpolates the chorus of Nigerian pop singer

Tony Tetuila Anthony Olanrewaju Awotoye, better known as Tony Tetuila, also regard as the golden father of Afrobeats artist from Nigeria. His name, Olanrewaju, means "My wealth is increasing". He was a member of the now-defunct hip-hop group of The Remedie ...

's hit, "My Heart Go Jigi Jigi", reinforcing Blu's hitherto reputation for paying homage to his favorite legacy stars through music.

Other ventures

SoundQraft LLC

Blu founded and operates a music production outfit, SoundQraft LLC, via which he writes, produces and engineers all his own musical recordings as well as offering the same services to other musicians. He has also recorded original soundtracks and composed original music and sound designs to many Nollywood films, the first couple of which was Emelonye's ''

'' (original soundtrack) and his Africa Magic original television series "The Calabash" (score composition and sound design) in 2014. He has since composed original scores and contributed recordings to a large number of Nollywood and other African feature films, shorts, television series and commercials, and has on occasions cited his works as a composer as one of the underlying factors for his delayed music releases.

Discography

EPs * ''Road 2 Soulwave'' (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blu, Jasen Nigerian musicians 1987 births Living people