Before Afrobeats filled stadiums and global charts, Nigeria’s voice of protest came over a heavy reggae bassline.
It belonged to Oseloke Augustine Onwubuya, known professionally as Ras Kimono, the Delta State-born musician who turned economic hardship into anthems.
Kimono was born on May 9, 1958, in Ekeleke Elumelu, Onicha-Olona, Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. He began his musical career as a student at Gbenoba Secondary School, Agbor.
He later moved to Lagos in the late 1970s and worked as a disc jockey, locally called a “selector,” at the Floating Boathouse, a popular nightlife spot on a docked ship at Lagos Marina.
It was there he honed his “toasting” style – rhythmic chanting over reggae beats – and formed the group Jastix Reggae Ital with Majek Fashek, Amos McRoy and Black Rice Osagie. The group laid the foundation for Nigeria’s golden age of reggae before splitting to pursue solo careers.
Kimono’s breakthrough came in 1989 with his solo debut album Under Pressure on Premier Music, released with his Massive Dread Reggae Band.
The timing was significant. Nigeria was under the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, whose Structural Adjustment Programme had triggered soaring inflation. Citizens struggled to afford basic meals.
The album, which sold more than 100,000 copies, produced hits including “Under Pressure,” “Natty Get Jail” and “Rum-Bar Stylée”. The title track, with its lyric “Under pressure, Nigerians under pressure,” became an overnight anthem, played in beer parlours, markets and homes across the country.
He followed it with What’s Gwan in 1990, an album that tackled subjects ranging from the legalization of marijuana to pan-African unity. Other albums included Rub A Dub, Run Fi Cover, Oracle of Jah and Senseless Killings, released in 2017 after a hiatus.
Kimono toured extensively in Africa, Europe and the United States and won several awards, including Nigeria Music Awards and Fame Music Awards.
Despite his genre’s association with drugs and excess, Kimono lived a disciplined life. He was a long-time vegetarian, did not smoke cigarettes and abstained from alcohol, a lifestyle he maintained until his death on June 10, 2018, at the age of 60 in Lagos.
Eight years on, his music remains in rotation on radio stations across West Africa and is cited by a younger generation of artists as proof that Nigerian music could be both commercially successful and socially conscious.
He was buried in his hometown of Onicha-Olona, Delta State. He is survived by his wife and his daughter Oge Kimono, who is also a musician.