Paul "Jayso" Nuamah Donkor (born June 1, 1983) is a Ghanaian rapper, record producer, singer, songwriter and entrepreneur. After 10 years in the music industry as a rapper and producer, Jayso gained more attention following his work on Sarkodie's second single, Borga, which featured on his debut album, Maakye. Jayso produced over 70 percent of the songs on that album which also shot him into the limelight.

Early life

During Jayso's teenage years at

Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School , country = Ghana , region = Greater-Accra , location = Legon , coordinates = , type = Public high school , religious_affiliation = Presbyterian Church ...

(PRESEC-Legon) he formed Skillions, a critically acclaimed hip hop musical collective whose works not only served as the foundation and springboard for young artists to venture into hip hop, but also introduced locally brewed hip hop to the larger Ghanaian music community. Prior to this, Jayso joined another rapper producer JPE (now

Kobi Onyame Kobi Onyame (born Kwame Barfour-Osei) is an independent recording hip-hop artist, producer and songwriter based in the United Kingdom. His albums ''Gold'' and ''Don't Drink the Poison'' were shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year Award i ...

) with his friends Canz and Mr. Scratch to form the Haatsville Project. This resulted in the release of the Haatsville Project mixtape, which got a lot of people talking about it within the underground hip hop circuits of Ghana. His current production credits include Sarkodie, M.anifest, Sway,

Scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

Kwaw Kese Emmanuel Kofi Botwe , known by his stage name Kwaw Kese and popularly called Abodam (''craziness''), is a Ghanaian hiplife artist. Kwaw Kese is well known for his hit album ''Abodam 2007'', for which he won five awards at the 2008 edition of the ...

, Jon Germain,

Efya Jane Awindor (born April 10, 1987), better known by her stage name Efya, is a Ghanaian singer, songwriter, and actress from Kumasi. She is the daughter of Nana Adwoa Awindor, a filmmaker and celebrity host of the late television show ''Greetings ...

, Rumor and Nigerian MCs

Naeto C Naetochukwu Chikwe, stage name Naeto C, is a Nigerian rapper, Afrobeat artist and record producer. Early life He was born in Houston, Texas and is of Nigerian origin. The Governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha appointed Naeto C, as his Speci ...

and Ikechukwu and Gabonese artiste Baponga. On December 10, 2015, he released his debut album titled 'Making Tasha Proud' after over half a decade producing for others. Hammer Of The Last Two 3

Early Career/ Music career

Jayso's relationship with music began during his childhood years. During Jayso's High School days at (Presec-Legon) he began to hone his skills first as a rapper and music producer. Prior to joining Haatsville, Jayso was rhyming with his pal T-Kube, who left

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

for the UK in 2002 while in high school. He, together with JPE (now Kobi Onyame), Canz and Mr. Scratch (the Haatsville crew) put out the Haatsville Project tape. The tape received acclaim among hip hop lovers who were mostly the youth. Having built on his production knowledge courtesy of his association with Haatsville, Jayso started recruiting what eventually became the first hip hop group Skillions (Skills in a Million). Enlisting

Ball J Albert Serebo Ayeh-Hanson (born 8 November 1984), known by his stage name Ball J or Ball J Beat, is a Ghanaian rapper, sound engineer, record producer and entrepreneur from Accra. He spent most of his formative years in the U.S State of Calif ...

, Jinx Therapy (now Frank P) as the original members of the Skillions, the likes of EL, Midnight, J-Town, KP and Sandyswiz joined the Skillions family. Under the production supervision of Jayso (who could be described as the Ghanaian version of America's RZA of Skillions) the group released their ground-breaking 21 track debut 'Skillions Demotapes" mixtape in 2002. The recording of the mixtape happened entirely within the makeshift bedroom studio of Jayso. That tape gained a lot of success that led to the whole GH-Rap Movement. The success of the mix tape was largely due to the production works and the style of music; they rapped mostly in English interspersed with pidgin (a Ghanaian version of broken English and local dialects) – which appealed to a large section of the youth. This eventually cemented Skillions' credentials as one of the talented rap groups of their time in Ghana. Even following the disbandment of the group, each Skillionaire is out making a name for himself within the music and arts scene. The breakup of the Skillions allowed them to pursue solo projects and led to Jayso forming another generation of Skillions. The New Generation comprised Lil Shaker, Rumour, Kevin Beats, Graffik, Killmatic, Paapa Versa, Padlock, Sandra, Gemini, Nobel and Joey B. The New Generation under the supervision of Jayso released 'The Skillions New Generation Mixtape' with hit songs such as 'Hood', 'Alert', 'Facebook Girl and Boy", 'I No Dey Biz' under his Skillion Records Imprint. Jayso has worked with almost every notable artiste within the music sphere in Ghana since 1999. Outside of Ghana, he has worked for one of hip hop legends

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

and UK's Sway. Locally, he has produced works for the like of Sarkodie, M.anifest,

R2Bees R2Bees is a Ghanaian hip hop and hiplife duo from Tema made up of two cousins, Faisal Hakeem and Rashid Mugeez. They were nominated at the 2013 BET Awards. In March 2019, the duo released their third studio album ''Site 15''. Career 2007–2 ...

, Afro Rock Band

Dark Suburb Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lu ...

, VIP,

Reggie Rockstone Reggie Rockstone (Reginald Yaw Asante Ossei, "the Godfather of Hiplife") is a Ghanaian rapper. He was born in the United Kingdom but lived his early years in Kumasi and Accra. He has been living in Ghana continuously since he pioneered the Hip- ...

, ASEM among others.

Discography

Albums

* ''Making Tasha Proud'' (2016) * ''0106 Vol. 4'' (2019) * ''0106 Vol. 5'' (2020)

EPs

* ''0106 Vol. 1'' (2016) * ''0106 Vol. 2'' (2017) * ''0106 Vol. 3'' (2018) * ''0106 Vol. 6'' (2021)

Collaborative albums

*''T.M.G'' (with Sarkodie) (2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jayso 1983 births Living people Ghanaian businesspeople Ghanaian record producers Ghanaian rappers 21st-century Ghanaian male singers 21st-century Ghanaian singers Ghanaian male singer-songwriters Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School alumni