Gossip & Gists: Runtown’s Rise To Fame

Runtown, whose real name is Douglas Jack Agu is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and producer with a diverse musical style mix of hip-hop, R&B, reggae and rap. The singer who hails from Enugu state came into limelight after he collaborated with Davido on his song “Gallardo” and recently his latest track, ‘Mad Over You’ has been a hit.

Early Life

Runtown was born on 19 August 1989 in Enugu but grew up partly in Abuja and Lagos, where he finished his primary education. After the death of his father, he moved to Abuja with his mother who was working in the Ministry of Health. In 2005, he relocated to Enugu after his mother developed interest in politics; he went on to finish his secondary school education in Enugu State. Runtown is currently studying Fashion Management at a fashion school in New York City.

Career

Runtown released his first single titled “Runtown” which was produced by Soge in 2007. His 2010 single titled “Forever” had a video directed by IvanEdd. In 2012, Jamaican/American singer Laza Morgan featured Runtown on a song titled “High on You” which did big on the Caribbean charts. J. Martins featured Runtown on a song off his Elevation album titled “Tonight”; he also worked with Phyno on a song titled “Anam-Achi Vers-Achi” which was produced by WizzyPro.

On 29 January 2014, Runtown collaborated with Davido to release a song produced by T-Spize titled “Gallardo” which brought him to limelight. Runtown’s career took a huge step after he signed a recording contract with Eric-Manny Entertainment through his friend, releasing “Successful” and “Domot” which received frequent airplay.

Runtown was featured on WizzyPro’s “Emergency” song which also featured Skales and Patoranking. The song was produced by WizzyPro and released on 2 November 2014. The music video for “Emergency” which was directed by Patrick Elis was released on 19 January 2014.

On November 23, 2015, Runtown released his debut studio album titled Ghetto University. Ghetto University featured appearances from DJ Khaled, Phyno, Wizkid, Uhuru and Anatii. The album made him listed in the “Top 5 Most Streamed Artist” in Nigeria, generating over N35 million turn over on MTN Music Plus. Runtown dropped “Mad Over You” in November 2016 and the Dancehall track instantly became a hit on local and international airwaves, earning him a spot on Billboard Twitter Top Tracks in the first week of 2017 at 38th position.

Awards

He won Nigeria Entertainment Awards Best Collaboration of The Year Won in 2014. He was nominated that same year for The Headies 2014 Next Rated Act.

In 2015, Runtown was nominated at the Nigerian Entertainment Awards and City People Awards for Best Pop Artiste and Artiste Of The Year.
Controversies

Ownership of “Aye” In 2014, there were reports in the media that Runtown wrote “Aye”. In an interview with The Nigerian Tribune, Runtown said “A lot of people have been asking me that question. Davido has had a number of interviews where he addressed how the song came about.
 
Exit from Eric Manny Entertainment
 
On 31 May 2016, Runtown terminated his contract with Eric Manny Entertainment upon an injunction obtained by the record label from a Federal High Court in Lagos stopping Runtown from performing at events or recording songs on allegations that “he signs up, concludes and attends musical shows without the knowledge of the label”.
 
Runtown however denied the allegations in an exclusive interview with Joey Akan of Pulse Nigeria. In the aforementioned interview, Runtown revealed that he quit the record label due to breaches in the recording contract, threat to life and extortion.

Relationship

Runtown is currently unmarried but he was once linked to former Miss Universe, Monifa Jansen.