Ruger

It was with the single "Bounce " that Nigerian singer Ruger made his name in 2021, before becoming an artist with a recurring presence in the Afrobeats charts. Born in Lagos on September 23, 1999, Michael Adebayo Olayinka was discovered by D'Prince, who gave him the nickname Ruger and signed him to his label Jonzing World, affiliated with Sony Music in the UK and Columbia in the USA. This resulted in the duet "One Shirt" with Rema, before the release of the EP Pandemic (2021), from which the hit "Bounce" is taken. Both chart-toppers offered a calling card for Ruger, who confirmed this later in the year with The Second Wave EP and its hit "Dior", ranked #15 in the UK Afrobeats charts. Nominated in several categories at the Afican Muzik Magazine Awards (AFFRIMMA), the singer continued his success with the track "Asiwaju", which racked up a hundred million listens on platforms in 2022. The following year saw the release of Ruger's first album, Ru the World (2023), featuring contributions from Stefflon Don and Sauti Sol and a team of producers including Jugglerz, Kukbeatz and Legendury Beatz. In 2024, Ruger teams up with BNXN for the RnB mixtape, driven by the single "Romeo Must Die", ranked No. 11 on the Billboard Afrobeats charts. A new off-album track, "Toma Toma", was released at the end of the year.