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| The trend-setting pop artist JujuBoy |
Juju Boy, who sports a stylish Mohawk hairstyle, grew up in the city of Gaborone where, he says, he was able to interact with some of the leading artists in the country including Odirile 'Vee' Sento, Tshepiso 'Kast' Molapisi and Thato 'Scar' Mathabaphiri. The artist says that his interest in music started while he was still a student and that at some point he belonged to a group that Kast was part of.
After completing his Form Five at St Joseph's College, the self-taught graphic designer then joined an advertising agency called Horizon & Ogilvy before relocating to Johannesburg in South Africa, where he worked for Joe Public, another advertising agency.
"It was while working for Joe Public that I realised that I was bored with what I was doing because I knew that I was supposed to be an artist," he says.
Juju Boy then quit his job to become a full-time artist back home and he describes that time as happy, but difficult because he did not earn much.
To make ends meet, the youthful trend-setter freelanced as a graphic designer making sleeves for local artists, which meant that he interacted with a lot of them in the process. Some of his clients included the likes of Dithuso 'DT' Selepeng, Diratsagae 'Captain Dira' Mahupela and others who are big names in their own right.
The artist also spent time in the studio and was able to record five tracks that were meant to be in his debut album.
"I decided to ditch the songs because they were not of the quality that I was looking for. I do not want to look like some artists who release albums willy-nilly," he asserts.
He then focused on working on his current album 'One Man Rock Album' which contains fifteen full-length tracks and five skits.
Juju Boy believes that the secret behind his success is that he releases singles off the album one by one giving them prominence in the process. He says so far
that the most successful track in the album is 'Hurt Me'.
"People just love that song for its sheer naughtiness and they do not have any problem with it because it contains a bit of humorous elements in it," he says.
As mentioned before, the song has thrust the artist into the limelight and he has become a celebrated figure in the music industry.
Nowadays it is commonplace to hear people of different ages either singing or humming the song in the streets. The man himself concedes that he is not able to visit any shopping complex without attracting any attention.
