He later relocated to Buea because of language barrier at the University of Soa, and later moved to Toronto, Canada to further his education in Engineering.
His musical career began while in secondary school, though as a dancer. He later joined a band, though not as a main singer since he shied away from people. It was not until he traveled far away to Canada that music became his companion, and subsequently he found his passion and calling to do music as as profession.
He started his buildup process five years ago, training himself and studying the music industry and business for two years before dropping his first ever single titled “Come Close” in 2019. Since then, he’s been consistent while improving on his art to be the best Afrobeat/Afropop Artiste from Cameroon, and why not Africa? His other songs include “ONA, HOLIDAY, IMANI, and BUSY BODY” and are all available on YouTube and other streaming platforms.
Track Title: Busy Body (Remix)
Artiste Name: Jbwai ft Ko-C
Album: TBD
Year: February 26, 2021
Video Director: TBD
Song Producer: TBD
Genre: Afro-House Fusion, Afro-Pop
Label: TBD
Takeaway: His music is influenced by classic Afrobeat vibes, with a unique feel and a wide range of other modern influences and trends that makes his sounds to hit differently with a mercurial twist. His videos are classic and astonishing to complement his energetic songs and his music production is unique.
Jbwai seeks to use his music and influence to breach the gap between home-based artistes and those in the diaspora. It is a phenomenon in the Cameroonian entertainment sphere that artistes based out of the country are not given the same level of recognition, privilege and/or exposure as those back home.
Artistes in the diaspora are instead tagged as “Diasporan artistes”, which in turn has a negative effect in the artistes’ career. Why can’t they be labeled as “Cameroonian artistes” and not Diasporan artistes? Therefore, Jbwai firmly believes that any artiste who is born and raised in Cameroon is a “Cameroonian artiste”, and it shouldn’t matter if the artiste is now based in America, Canada,, Europe or any country outside of Cameroon, as they should all be given equal treatment and privileges as those back home since they all target the same market.
He is also calling on other artistes who are based abroad to know, study and connect more with their target market. It’s for this reason that he recent visited Cameroon for three months to connect more with his fans by doing media tours, club tours, performances, shows, collaborations, as well as meet and greet meet and greet with his home based fans. To him, this is the only way he can get his music to the grass roots, to the people who really matter.
While in Cameroon, he collaborated with a few home based artistes like Ko-con the “Busy Body remix” which will be released on April 2nd, 2021. He also collaborated with Gasha (Cameroon), and Waje (Nigeria) on a song that will be included in his forthcoming EP, and he is looking forward to more local and international collaborations. With these collaborations, they will share and tap into each other’s fan base, which is going to be beneficial on both sides.
While in Cameroon, Jbwai performed at top platforms like Yafe in Yaounde on New Year’s Day in 2021, and in some major clubs in Douala and Yaounde. His media tour was successful as his songs are now being aired on radio and television for his fans to listen to and view respectively.
With the release of Busy Body remix featuring Ko-c and his subsequent EP, Jbwai aims to raise the bar higher and not only dominate the Cameroonian market, but also the African and Global market.
He looks up to other great Afrobeat artistes like Runtown and Burna Boy, and wish to one day be like them or even better.
Apart from being an artiste, Jbwai is also a Tech entrepreneur operating his startup company in Canada, Europe, and Asia.
Twitter Handle: @Jbwai4 (https://twitter.com/Jbwai4)
IG Handle: @Jbwai (https://www.instagram.com/jbwai/?hl=en)
