Birth name Adegbenga Adejumo Role Musician Name Adegbenga Adejumo | Years active 2002—present Occupation(s) Record producerDJ | |
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Born 28 November 1986 (age 37) Croydon, South London, United Kingdom ( 1986-11-28 ) Genres Bass musicdubstepUK garage Instruments Synthesisersamplerdrumsvocals Labels Big AppleBenga BeatsTempa Albums Diary of an Afro Warrior, Newstep, Chapter II, Phaze: One, Magnetic Man Similar People Skream, DJ Hatcha, Dean Harris, Katy B, Kano Profiles | ||
Music group Magnetic Man (Since 2007) Nominations DJ Award for Best Urban | ||
Dubstep pioneer benga in the studio the producers season 2 episode 1
Adegbenga Adejumo (born 28 November 1986), known as Benga, is a British musician from Croydon, known for being the pioneer of dubstep record production. As a teenager he used to hang out at the Big Apple record shop in Croydon and make his own tunes at home on a PlayStation. The tunes caught the attention of dubstep producer Hatcha, who worked at the shop, and, by the age of 15, Benga had made his first record, "Skank", released on Big Apple's own record label. He was also one of the first dubstep producers when the style was emerging in the early 2000s. He has been featured on a variety of compilations including Mary Anne Hobbs's Warrior Dubz, Tempa's The Roots of Dubstep and the BBC Radio 1Xtra anniversary mix.
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Career
In 2007 Benga, along with fellow producers Skream and Artwork, formed the dubstep supergroup Magnetic Man.
Benga released the cross-over anthem "Night" with DMZ's Coki in early 2008, followed by his second album, Diary of an Afro Warrior, both on Tempa. Resident Advisor described it as "one of the most anticipated LPs in dubstep yet."
From January 2011, Benga joined BBC Radio 1 with Skream as part of 'In New DJs We Trust' and they used to present a weekly show on Friday nights. Skream and Benga performed together at Field Day music festival in Sydney on New Years Day 2012.
Benga was caught up in an online storm in July 2012 after reportedly saying he wished to remove himself from dubstep, insisting that he didn't want to be a part of the genre any more. He went on to clarify his comments saying "For me to remain creative, I've kinda not got to call my music dubstep and for me to keep pushing boundaries and moving around, making songs... I can't call myself dubstep." In 2013, he created an official remix of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", which features on the tribute remix album Love To Love You Donna. He co-produced Dominique Young Unique's 2014 debut single "Throw It Down" with DJ Fresh.
Adejumo is of Yoruba Nigerian descent. On 2 February 2014, Adejumo announced that following his engagement to Holly-Jae Treadgold he has ended his DJing career to focus on raising a family.
However, in May 2014, he announced plans to complete a new album.
In October 2015, Benga reunited with friend and long-time collaborator Skream on his BBC Radio 1 show, which they had previously hosted together, where they discussed Benga's return to DJ-ing and his recent sets.