Meet Jamiu Akinbile of YDN in Carson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamiu Akinbile.

Jamiu, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
All three of us in the group grew up together in Carson, CA. We’ve been listening to Afrobeats ever since we were kids, just by hearing it from parties our parents took us to or them playing it in the car. But Afrobeats was not as big as it is today thanks to the like of Davido, Burnaboy, and Wizkid. I never thought I would be making Afrobeats music, just because when I was younger I was really focused on basketball, played AAU since I was eight and would be busy every weekend, but in 2015 when I was a sophomore in high school I was forced to transfer and go to school in Nigeria/London which really brought me in tune with my culture and Afrobeats vibe.

When I came back to LA in 2017 Kingbulu, Emsho, Kenna & Young Dammy who was apart of YDN at the time have just been playing around making songs just for fun, gave me a call one day and said they had made a song and one of the friends I made in Nigeria just happened to be Davido’s cousin so I said I would send the song to him and see what he would say, after some time we got the track in Davido’s hands and he said he “I liked the vibes I can tell y’all American keep working” from there that gave us the motivation to really take our craft serious and our journey still continues.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not been a smooth road, if there weren’t as many obstacles as there has been, we should’ve been signed somewhere in Nigeria having a great ole time. We’re still full-time students/athletes because if you know about African parents, they are not letting their kids drop out, especially for music. Apart from that having good management has been a challenge in the past, there’s also a challenge with being outside the box creating this type of music in an LA market which is dominated by the LA west coast sound.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
YDN PRODUCTIONS is an Afrobeats music group based out of Carson, CA. We are known for blending LA and Nigeria together being that connecting link between the motherland and sunny California. Giving melodies, having great delivery and dynamism, we have found the sweet spot for both territories and that’s what sets us apart from others.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up I was never known as the tall one, I was a busy kid had basketball practice everyday after school and always away at games on the weekends, I was always know as quiet and not liking to interact with other kids but I only talked and hung out with people I knew, but I was always nice some may think other-wise because I ignored a lot of people, my only interests were basketball and music nothing else mattered.

Pricing:

• $150 to perform 1 song
• $500 for a 10min show
• $1500 for a show
• $500 for a feature

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sonicbids.com/band/ydn-entertainment/
• Phone: +1 (310) 594-2139
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ydn_ent?igshid=1o7fqnd9k9bk4
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/YDN_Ent

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.