M.I Abaga

Jude Lemfani Abaga (born 4 October 1981), commonly known by his stage name M.I Abaga, is a Nigerian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Jude's venture into the hip hop world started with the sampling of musical works from DMX and Lauryn Hill as early as 1998.

After his time at Calvin College, Michigan, US, he delved into poetry while pursuing a career in Business and Economics.

There, he performed regularly at the school's major hip hop shows and concerts.

His rapping gained him a third-place finish at the Calvin College show named 'Hip Hopera' in 2003, which was the only "hip hop show" that Calvin College has ever had.

M.I. also made some amateur attempts at comedy, but decided to stick to music.

Jude began his music career when he returned to Nigeria in 2003.

He started producing of mixtapes with his friend Djinee.

This led to the critically acclaimed single "Safe" (a song which he parodied popular Nigerian songs in its lyrics) which gathered impressive airplay by African radio and music video stations such as MTV Vibe.

The track also earned him awards at the Nigerian Music Video Awards, City People, N.E.A among others.

The hype surrounding the release of Safe led to his first studio album titled Talk About It which was rated 8.5/10 by Oye Akideinde of 360nobs.

He gained recognition in 2006 with the popularization of his track "Crowd Mentality" in his home city of Jos.

His debut studio album, Talk About It, was introduced in 2008, followed by MI 2: The Movie in 2010.

Subsequently, he unveiled his third studio album, The Chairman, four years later.

The album gathered awards such as Musician of the Year (Modemen Awards in 2008) and Best Hip Hop Artist (City People Awards).

His first mixtape was PYERIBOY.

He won Best Hip Hop and Best New Act at the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards, and was nominated in the Best International Act category at the BET Awards 2010.

Jude was born in Jos, Plateau State.

His parents, Pastor and Mrs. Abaga, are from Takum, Taraba state, both of Jukun-Nigerian descent.

He attended Baptist High School, Jos where his mother purchased basic music notations and later, a 7-key mini piano which launched him into the music world.

Jude has two brothers, Jesse Jagz, who is also in the Nigerian and African music scene, and Jason Abaga.

During Jude's adolescence, he would listen to tracks from Lauryn Hill, Bob Marley, Sarah McLachlan, Pablo Neruda, Jay-Z and DMX.

He later released a sample mixtape titled Illegal Music in 2009.

The mixtape was followed by Illegal Music II which was released in 2012.

Back in Jos, Nigeria, he established Loopy Music with his brother, Jesse Jagz, Ice Prince, Ruby, Threadstone, Lindsay, Moses (Elbulk), and E kelly.

M.I was eventually signed to the Chocolate City firm, a well-known music label in Nigeria, which forced him to relocate from Jos to the nation's capital, Abuja, and influenced the start of his successful career in the Nigerian music industry.

He has also received international recognition in South Africa from the popular Channel O music Award, MTVbase Awards and the American BET Awards.

A proficient producer, lyricist, songwriter and instrumentalist, M.I has been described by DIV as the future of African hip-hop.

He has produced and featured on the works of artists like, Don Jazzy, Threadstone (Nigeria's first rock band ), Kel, Djinee, Shifi (Styl Plus), Jesse Jagz, Ice Prince, Hyce-age, Ruby, Lindsey, Leony, Wizkid, and others.

He also runs a production company, Rychus Era Productions with his brother Jesse Abaga (Jesse Jagz).

In 2013 he was appointed by Nigerian telecommunication company Glo Mobile as a brand ambassador alongside other Nigerian artistes like Omawumi and Burna Boy.

He was also a judge in Glo X-Factor, the Nigerian version of the reality singing show in 2013.

Abaga was CEO of Chocolate City from 2015 to 2019.

Illegal Music 3 - The Finale was released on 29 February 2016.

The ten-track mixtape was made available online for free, gathering over 400,000 downloads in just three days.

Additionally, Abaga released the playlist Rendezvous in February 2018, followed by A Study On Self Worth: Yxng Dxnzl, in August of the same year.

He released "The Guy" album in 2022.

On 9 February 2018 a seventh studio project titled Rendezvous, a playlist with a style generally different from the regular.

The project came as a surprise to fans as it was released merely a day after the rapper announced the release date for Yxng Dxnzl.

In March 2020, he announced his exit from the label and launched his own record label Incredible Music.