JJC: WE ARE AFRICANS!!

Abdul Rasheed Bello is the maverick Nigerian-born, UK-based rapper, record producer, and talented director behind such hit videos as Bouqui’s ‘Morile’, DJ Zeez’s ‘Bobbie FC’, and most notably JJC’s ‘We Are Africans’, his personal call-to-arms on blackness. Born in the mid-seventies in Kano, he’s been based in London since 1991, where his list of clients have included such UK urban/pop acts as Lemar, Liberty X and Big Brovaz. His Backbone Music label was the creative hub of erstwhile UK-based Nigerian talents M.P, D’banj and hit-maker Don Jazzy, who at one time or the other were associated with his infamous JJC and 419 Squad. The man famously known as JJC took an extended time off from the monotony of sounds he’d been surrounded with to rework his craft, and his currently charting single ‘We Are Africans’ – a 300-styled chant to native Africans everywhere – has brought him back from what seemed like the brink of has-been purgatory. He was in Nigeria last Christmas, when after stalking him around Lagos and all but harassing his manager, we were able to track him down to a studio in Lagos while recording with another incomparable talent and icon, Femi Kuti.



So why choose this time to come back to Nigeria?

My business in the UK is doing well and I love what I do which is production and behind-the-scenes work. Even though I hadn’t been to Nigeria in four years, I’d been working with a lot of Nigerian artists. The thing is wherever you’re running a business, whether it’s in the UK or America or wherever, you have to think about your client base and my client base is here in Nigeria; 70 percent of my clients fly from Nigeria to England to do their videos, which means my business is fundamentally based in Nigeria. Still, coming to Nigeria proved to be a little challenging ‘cause coming as a music and video producer, people were like ‘Why aren’t you singing [again]?’ But before they ask me I ask myself ‘Why aren’t I doing JJC?’; for which I have no answer other than the fact that I see no reason why I shouldn’t be JJC and still run my ‘Big Boiz’ production company.

Your current single ‘We are Africans’ is all over the place; what motivated that declaration?

It’s funny how this came about. It started with a conversation between me and my kids. One day while we were in the car, my daughter was telling me how one of her ‘friends’ insulted her [by] calling her an ‘African’. So I said to her ‘Baby, it’s not an insult to be African’; and she goes ‘No I’m not African, I’m British. I’ve never been to Africa. I don’t know anything about Africa so how can I be African?’ And I told her being an African is not about nationality or where you live or where you’ve been; you were born African, your roots are African, you should be proud of your roots; and my son in the background started screaming ‘We are Africans’, and I shouted louder. That’s how it came about…



At this point rapper Dagrin comes out of the studio and walks to the car. Pleasantries are exchanged and JJC admits to how ‘absolutely amazing’ the lyrical timer is, a testament to how far Nigeria music has come in the past few years.



Normally when we hear a song as good as ‘Africans’, we usually have to wait a month or so to get a remix and a video, but it seemed you did all of that in just a few weeks…

The remix is part of the movement that ‘Africans’ is about. It’s not only about me or a couple of select people chanting they are Africans; I wanted it to be a platform for artists to display their talent while representing their culture and heritage; to show that being African is cool and not something to be sneered at. We had young guys like DJ Zeez and Dagrin, even Femi Kuti came down to play the sax on the track to show his support. We need to show more pan-Africanism so we as continent can grow and move to the next level. The remix shows other Africans being proud to be African… It is no longer my song but an African [theme] song that everyone wants to sing. I’ve provided the opportunity, starting with the UK, Gambia, and now in Nigeria. I’d given the song out to UK radio stations but they didn’t play it; it might have been lost, that was until I took my stuff and put it out on Youtube, bypassing TV and what not. 90of today’s youth access the internet, so I have my crowd no matter how much UK media refuses to promote ‘Africans’…

Besides ‘Africans’, are you planning on dropping an album sometime?

Sure. I have a 14 tracker album finished right now. I’m tempted to release some stuff but I don’t want to confuse my message ‘cause if I drop an album right now it’s gonna be all about JJC, JJC and JJC. Now is not time for that; I want to work on this ‘United States of Africa’ project and the message is to unite and change the mentality of us Africans. Though I can’t do everything, I have to start something.

Care to comment on the musical climate in Nigeria now compared with what it was the time you were here last?

I’ve noticed the industry has started to believe in our artists, put money on them, and pay them, which means that artists are now free to live their lives and make better music and videos, and improve on the music industry that makes them superstars; not just ghetto superstars but superstars that can actually bring wealth, comfort and hope for the next generation.





Besides the Nigerian stars you’re working with currently, who else are you looking forward to collaborate with?

Well, the thing is as a character I’m two-sided. There’s the director side of me (Skillz, the producer of Big Boiz) and JJC, the artist. I definitely want to work with the whole lot… I’m approachable, whoever comes to me to say he wants to work with me or whoever I go to who is down with working with me, it’s ‘fine, let’s make music’. It’s what I love and it’s what I do. I’m not just talking Nigeria now; outside Nigeria, the whole African continent has a lot of artists never heard of. I’m trying to get to the roots.



You were behind the early exposure of MP, D’banj, Don jazzy, etc. What’s your relationship with these people?

More than anything I’m glad that with what every one of these guys have learnt from my production work, it has helped get them to their next level. Back then the production company was called Backbone and it was a support system for certain artists to elevate themselves. Now I would have loved it if they stayed on… but ultimately, we have to understand that just like a bird’s nest, when the birds have grown they just have to fly off. I’ve listened to their stuff and I’m proud of them… their work is amazing. These past four years with the climate and all has not been easy for them to achieve what they have thus far, and as such they deserve all they’re getting now and I hope it doesn’t make them forget the struggle to get there. More than anything else when I see them it’s all love; when I don’t see them I know they’re working ‘cause that’s how we are.

So what have you been doing all this time?

The thing with production is that after a while it becomes monotonous; you know, sitting in the studio and all that, I just grew tired of it. Plus, with all these kids and fruity loops, they can make up beats in seconds and it’ll sound good; many of them are hungry to become the next best producer and I’m a bit old to be stuck in the studio competing with them for that. In the past four years, I’ve been building the knowledge and the skills to be able to do [better] music and videos, and in that time I’ve learnt and mastered my craft. I’ve done Kentro World’s ‘Kamikaze’ video, Bouqui’s ‘Morile’, DJ Zeez’s ‘4kasibe’ and ‘Bobbie FC’, ‘We Are Africans’, Takerewa Dola’s ‘Pu Yanga’ (we produced the track and did the video); that and a bunch of others I can’t recall at the moment. The media is my life, this is what I do.

You’re a father of three kids, a producer, a director, an artist; how do you strike a balance with all this going for you?

Yeah, three kids… I’m blessed. For me, my kids come first ‘cause they’re my biggest fans and my number one source of inspiration. Before I started recording again, my kids listened to my old works like ‘Gba’ and they were asking why I no longer did that. I try to make them understand that if I go and start working I’m going to be away from them more and I think they’re quite grown enough to the level where we have an agreement where I can go for a bit and come back to them – that keeps them happy. One of my kids is here with me in Nigeria spending Christmas; home where we belong. Instead of travelling round, we’re sticking to our roots; and even though I grew up in Kano, Lagos still calls to me.

What’s the next thing for JJC?

Though everyone is looking at ‘Africans’ right now and feedback’s great, I’ll keep pushing that for a bit more. I did mention that I have a 14 track album; I’ve shot two other videos for singles off that album, though it’s not coming out for now as the plan is to come back to Nigeria in the nearest future to shoot a couple more videos and release a VCD compilation for my fans along with the album release. But with the climate in Nigeria, I guess I’m going to have to change some things, add some more tracks to keep my fans satisfied.

Talking about hope, what are your hopes for the future?

That my contribution to the industry can be more than it was in the past and that with what I’ve learnt in the UK I can bring about big changes; with the business I’ve been in for over half  my life, I hope that with the wisdom and direction I’ve gotten, I can make things better.