1da Banton has been basking in the success of his 2021 hit single ‘No Wahala’. The Nigerian Afrobeat sensation has been steadily grinding and improving his sound over the years. He describes his style of music as a blend of afrobeat, dancehall, and reggae. Since the release of his hit single ‘No Wahala’, he describes the growth of his career by saying “It’s been amazing. It’s been unlocking doors, people get to appreciate the music more. The numbers keep going up. It’s life-changing. Children say “No Wahala, I’m a big fan of ‘No Wahala’.”
When he first started making music, his name was Wonder Boy, but when he decided to pursue a music career, he opted to stick to just Wonder and had to modify the way it’s spelled, using 1 as a figure. He attributes the name Banton to his love of Jamaican music culture since Banton means “story-teller” in Jamaican.“I tell lots of stories in my music. I love reggae and dancehall music, so it influences my music. So I just adopted Banton because I used to be the patois guy, I speak so much patois. So that’s how I got Banton to 1da Banton”.
Most recently 1da Banton had a viral performance alongside UK artist Tion Wayne. “Yeah, that was a great experience, shout out to Tion Wayne for showing so much love. He allowed me to share his set, shout out to him and his manager too, big up to them, they’re family”.
He maintains that so far his favourite performance for ‘No Wahala’ was in Port Harcourt at Ohma Lay’s concert. “It was wild, the feedback was amazing. The energy was up there, I had so much fun. I think that’s my favourite for now”.
2021 saw the release of 1da Banton’s debut album, ‘Original Vibe Machine’. When asked about the creative process and inspiration behind the title, Banton had this to say, “As it relates to the title for the album, it’s self-explanatory. They call me “Original Vibe Machine ”. I’m original. I’m a vibe. The kind of music I make can only be done by machine. So that’s why I’m called “Original Vibe Machine” OVM”.“OVM! Original Vibe Machine! I’ve been working on the album for a couple of years. There are songs on the album as old as five years. While putting the album together I would make sure there was some sort of connection from every song, there was a feeling there was a way I wanted the album to sound, took a lot of time to put that together but by the end of the day, it came out nice, ‘No Wahala’ is off the album, that’s the first single off the album. And it was a big success. And we’re looking forward to doing more of that”.
Before ‘No Wahala’, 1da Banton had a hit with the single ‘African Woman’ and it turns out he wrote the song with the intention of having someone else perform it. As he states, he was making ‘African Woman’ for a South African artist who had issues with the track’s tempo. “She said it was too slow so I had to make something faster for her”. He later revisited the song and, “I was like this is a jam, I need to finish it. So that is how I finished it and I put it out and ‘African Woman’ became ‘African Woman’.”
Banton praises the current afrobeat movement, “Shout out to everyone representing the afrobeat culture. It’s a good time, lots of stuff happening in the African music scene, especially in Nigeria. In Africa at large I mean, I’m proud of everybody for what they’re doing, the world is about to see. It’s already happening. Nigerian songs, African songs as a whole score are getting to the Billboard charts.
Professing his love for Jamaican music culture he goes on to list some of his favourite artists he hopes to collaborate with, “I’m a big fan of reggae and dancehall music, I have a song with Kranium already, but I love Popcaan, I love Damian Marley, Koffee. I love Chronixx, I was listening to the Chronixx album this morning while I was driving where I was headed. There are so many. My song with Kranium ‘Whine Fi Mi’ was released a couple of years ago and I think I should shoot a video because people need to see that song they need to hear it”.
Banton plans to release not 1, but 2 remixes for ‘No Wahala’. The Nigerian remix featuring Kizz Daniel and the French remix with Naza and DJ Leska. He says this move was inspired by the huge reception the song has received in the European region. “ ‘No Wahala’ is pretty big in France and Europe as a whole. So it was only right to give them and to collaborate with someone from France. I just want to make people feel the vibe, that’s what it is, just to spread good vibes. More music, more new music ASAP, I really can’t wait to start putting out new music because my hands are itchy. I need people to feel that original vibe”.
Tour plans are also underway for Banton, “I want to be performing this song to fans all over the world. Tour schedule information is going to be released soon, but we’re working on it, we’re putting the dates together, believe me, we’re going to be almost everywhere around the world. I feel like if I have the opportunity Jamaica is the first place I’m going to touch down because I love Jamaica so much”.
Stay tuned for what 1da Banton does next.
