Joey B

Darryl Paa Kwesi Bannerman-Martin, or better known as Joey B, always knew that music was his calling. Despite numerous obstacles and a relatively modest temper, he became one of Ghana's best performers and gained fame even beyond its borders. 

But to fully delve into its history, let's start from the beginning. Darryl Paa Kwesi Bannerman-Martin was born in 1989 in one of Ghana's most historically rich cities, Cape Coast. This city is also a fishing port, so many people in it associate their profession with the sea, whether fishing or working on ships. From childhood, Joey B realized that such a life is not for him. He wanted to do what his heart was full of, namely music. He was interested in both performances and songwriting, so Joey B wasted no time and began writing his first songs at the age of 6. At the same time, he decided to gather his first band, for which he wrote songs. Of course, this was only the initial experience, and more like a game, but it only further encouraged him to pursue a musical career.  

Joey B attended St. Louis Elementary School. Then Theresa's school, after which he moved to Accra High School, where he took his studies more seriously. While studying at Zenith University College, Joey B began to become much more active in music. This time he composed a lot of songs and continuously tried to come up with something new. After graduating from university, he realized that now he needs to do everything possible to get such a desirable place in the music business. To do this, he began actively looking for producers to work with and later found Lil Shaker, with whom they worked for some time. This collaboration helped him better understand the backstage of show business better and gain the necessary professional experience.  

Later, in 2013, Joey B began releasing his first singles. One of them was "Chop Kenkey" feat D-Black. Although not very popular, this song still managed to announce a new artist and attract attention to him. next in line was “Azonto Bomb” feat Amadaa. This track came out more dynamic, and it felt like Joey B was rapidly improving his rap and production skills. Like the first song, it did not gain much popularity, but the next song released by Joey B will be his first real hit. "Cigarette" was released in 2013 and brought fundamental changes to Joey B's career. At first, this song was performed not in the usual hip-hop performance but closer to electric music. Although this song’s production was not as good as his newer songs, people still liked the song, and a few weeks after the release of "Cigarette", Joey B became quite popular in Ghana. Due to this, he began to receive more and more proposals for performances or collaborations, and he gladly agreed to one of them. 

In 2014, Joey B had the opportunity to record a joint song with the then well-known artist Sarkodie. The result of their collaboration was the song "Tonga", which is still probably his best hit. Tonga has become a real phenomenon and has gained unprecedented popularity throughout Ghana and even beyond. 

On the official YouTube channel Joey B, the music video for the song "Tonga" has already gained almost 2 million views. People from all over the country started sending their versions of dances to this music, it was played at parties and on the radio, and it seemed at the time that wherever you went, you would definitely hear "Tonga". 

This song didn't just become so popular. It had much better production than some previous songs, the dance rhythm was much more powerful, and the words were easy to remember and linger in the head for a long time, especially the simple but extremely rhythmic chorus.  

After gaining such popularity, Joey B had almost complete creative freedom, which was a great time to experiment. “Otoolege” ft Samini returned to the afrobeat genre, combining rap and rhythmic dance music. Of course, it did not become such a hit as the previous song, but most listeners still liked it. The next single, "U X Me" was also performed in the afrobeat genre but from a more lyrical perspective. This song became another hit and only confirmed the status of Joey B as a performer with great potential. The music video for this song has already garnered 1.4 million views on YouTube. After releasing a few more singles, Joey B decided it was time to move on to a new level and released his first EP called "Darryl". 

EP "Darryl" was released in 2017 and contained nine tracks. In almost all tracks from this EP, there was a reasonably high level of production and a variety of bits. Some tracks were made in collaboration with artists such as Darkovibes, KiddBlack, $pacely, and Odunsi. This EP was quite successful and further advanced the artist's music career. Between the first and second EP, Joey B managed to release many more singles such as "Nsa", "911", "Green Tea" and others. His second EP, called "Lava Feels", was released in 2020, and as well as the first contained nine tracks. To do this, Joey B's EP decided to collaborate with many artists he met in the music business. Among them were Sarkodie, RJZ, Bosom P-Yung, Stonebwoy, Ko-Jo Cue, M3nsa, and others. "Lava Feels" was well-received by fans and critics and generally received more plays than "Darryl". 

Joey B's latest singles at the moment are AKOBAM (feat Kofi Mole & Medical) as well as the brand new hit "COLD" (feat Sarkodie). Although they were released recently, AKOBAM has almost reached 500k views on YouTube, while COLD has already crossed that line and has 550k views. These results clearly show that in music, Joey B has achieved the results to which he has been going for so long, and is currently considered one of the best performers in Ghana. Looking at Joey B's future plans, including the release of a full-length debut studio album, the release of new songs and collaborations, and the general development of music in Ghana, it is safe to say that he will succeed. No matter what obstacles Darryl Paa Kwesi Bannerman-Martin faces, he knows for sure that he can easily overcome them and prove again and again that Joey B deserves the fame he has received.