Nigerian rapper/vocalist/songwriter Blackmagic was born and raised in Lagos. He grew up Efemena Mukoro and began work as a musician in the late 2000s, developing the amateur interest in sound recording and rapping he explored in his younger days into a full-on hip-hop persona named Ejay. He quit school to focus on music and eventually scored a deal with Syndik8 Records in 2010 with his unique style that drew on soul, Afro-beat, and a humorous, sometimes quirky rap style. He issued several singles over the next few years as well as his 2011 debut album, Blackmagic 1.0, and its 2013 follow-up, Blackmagic 2.0. Around 2013 Mukoro parted ways with Syndik8 and officially changed his stage name (which had morphed through variations of Ejay and Ejay Blackmagic) to simply Blackmagic. From there he continued making new music with a focus on collaboration, offering up music crafted with other artists such as 2015's Black Friday with Kid Konnect and the 2016 single "Wonder" with trap superstar Fetty Wap. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi