Benga | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Adegbenga Adejumo |
Born |
Croydon, South London, United Kingdom |
28 November 1986
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 2002—2014, 2015—present |
Labels |
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Associated acts |
Magnetic Man Skream Katy B |
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.
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.