Real Name; Douglas Jack Agu, popularly known as Runtown, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer who is versatile in creative strength, from infusing a mix of Hip hop, R&B & also Reggae; with also having the capability to be as diverse as possible, in composing indigenous songs, that can be likened to the similar local sounds notable in the Eastern part of Nigeria.
Runtown started to develop his craft under the close tutelage of the then fast rising rapper, Phyno. He came into the music scene with the release of his Dancehall tune “1980” which was independently released under the Penthauze imprint. However, things went right with his brand when he secured a multi album deal with Eric Many records and saw the rebirth of another superstar from the Eastern part of Nigeria, Enugu to be precise. Fast forward to many hit songs and the release of a studio album to his name, he became a household name in the music industry and a force to be reckoned with. The period within late 2014-2016 was somewhat of a breakthrough period for the Nigerian music industry that saw the outreach Afrobeat gain recognition from worldwide record label power houses, and attention from music lovers from all over the world. It seemed like the continent was now reaping the fruits of its labor of our past music giants like Psquare, Dbanj & 2face of the early 2000’s Era in Nigeria. As also wings that was spread out to the Caribbean regions of the world with the amazing exploit displayed by the likes of Timaya & Flavor. Let’s not also ignore the great passion and strides shown by the regular suspects in the Hip-hop scene of the industry from the Late Da grin, Olamide, M.I, Reminisce, IllBliss, Phyno And So on. And, the niche carved by Burnaboy, to intention to succeed by the witty and fondler of words; Falz-the-bahd-guy. While the Nigerian women were also doing their commendable work on the scene, the likes of Dare, Banky W and Praiz were holding the fort in the R&B front. And Wizkid, Tekno & Davido marking their territory amongst the newcomers in the music industry. We still experienced a little bit of stagnancy, with the level of music that was been churned out from our recording musicians. And it was almost too predictable, boring and spreading like wild fire.
Then in the closing stages of the glorious year that was in 2016, Runtown became the Clark Kent we needed to resuscitate our music industry and took on the cape of Superman to save the day and breathe life into the quality of songs that to be released in our music industry. Behold! The hit single “Mad Over You” was upon us on the 4th of November to music lovers worldwide and literally became the sound track of our lives for the year of 2017. It even gave Runtown the confidence to headline his first highly publicized musical concert in Lagos, Nigeria. The track had all the required elements needed, it even had a distinctive Ghanaian highlife feel that was once slept that prompted Mr Eazi who was on his current wave to speak out about how “Nigerians” were culture appropriating his sounds, which just added more points to Runtown and his team of producers that engineered such masterpiece in the persons of Del B & Tspize - of the Gallardo fame. The record, Mad Over You influenced all the songs released in the first half of 2017 that it literally helped a certain artiste, who had become confused and lost his form with his affiliation with Sony Music to decide to drop his highly documented record deal with the record label giants to decide to appeal more, to his core Nigerian fans and abandon his attempt at making crossing over type of records to start a new chapter of his career with his “back to basics” Move. Mad Over You was like the friendliest plague, that every recording artiste in our country was ready to be infected with. It then formed the basis of a sudden shift in Melody, composition and arrangements with our so-called pangolo making music in these parts, to the birth of the Pon-Pon sound that every single big name in the music scene jumped on including our favorite twins.
Such case study formed by Mad Over You, gave Davido the hit records he needed to reclaim his spot and blossom in this new chapter of his life in which such output must have even been surprising by Runtown himself. But Runtown was already basking in the glory of Mad Over you to be worried by the impact Davido was making. Closely dissecting the hit track Mad Over you saw various elements of sheer brilliance from Runtown in putting such a record together. We notice that the entire form of the song that was released in 2016 still forms a great part of the type of songs we have in 2018. With how he recorded and put together his lyrics, a huge part of the music industry couldn’t just seem to let it go, no wonder Eazi who was outrightly riding on that Ghana-influenced wave he was on, was angry at that time. Our Song writers and performers have seen how important the Ghanaian lyrics are easily catchy and appealing to the entire populace, that it forms the easy way out for composers who don’t want to stress it out in the studio when writing their songs. We see similar slangs like Odeyewu, Odoo, Sika, Banku, Shitor amongst others. Since Runtown got the formula right by adding these famous ingredients in creating Mad Over You; It proved worthy to be used by those that needed to follow the similar route. And we can’t also deny that presence of the famous line from Runtown which goes /fight for the love, Girl I want make you whyne for the doh/ or something like that, which was arguably evident in his For-Life record. The style in recording and amplifying that verse is one that isn’t audible but gets the people/listeners going. Such method was easily missing from the type of records our favorite Superstars were used to making.
But until the success of Mad Over you till now, everyone seems to not know how to create a hit record without having such popular elements experimented by Runtown. Notable mentions include FIA, Assurance, Doh (All by the same Artiste), Manya, Bobo, Pour Me Water, Ma Lo, Nowo Nowo etc. In a highly structured Music industry, Runtown is supposed to be getting a percentage on all these songs listed above, because these are some of our biggest records till date out of the Nigerian music industry. It should be regarded as a sample and a rip-off of the musical style of his original work done on Mad Over You. During this current drama going on with the tussle with his music Label, Runtown should literally be celebrated for the hard work he put into giving us a golden record that created the spark needed for other A-list musicians in the studio booth. He shouldn’t just be forgotten as such artiste that is subjected to provocation from his label boss. He should easily be regarded as a notable music legend that created one of our greatest exports in music composition from this part of the world, that is going to be referenced to, in years to come by.
Runtown didn’t just create any regular highlife & dancehall record, he gave life to the New Era of the Nigerian music industry!
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