Jacob Banks

Jacob Banks shapes his compositions around the depth of his resonant baritone, weaving together gospel, blues, R&B, reggae, and traces of hip-hop into densely textured productions. After issuing a run of favorably received EPs and securing placements across video games, cinema, and TV, the artist—born in Nigeria and now based in England—issued his first full-length record, Village, in 2018 through Interscope. He continued with isolated singles across 2019 and 2020. After the 2021 EP For My Friends, Banks stepped away from major-label structures to found Nobody Records, debuting the imprint in 2022 with Lies About the War, a project shaped by his affinity for traditional spiritual music and vintage soul.

Born in Nigeria, Banks relocated to Birmingham at age thirteen. A close companion, with whom he had attended numerous local performances, urged him toward a music career. Following that friend’s death in 2011, Banks performed at the funeral and thereafter directed his efforts toward reaching a broader listenership. In 2012 he prevailed in a regional category of the MOBO UnSung awards, one of several contests he won that year. By 2013 he had completed his debut EP and opened for East London hip-hop artist Plan B. After The Monologue appeared in January, regular rotation on mainstream U.K. radio followed, along with an invitation to support Emeli Sandé on her spring 2013 tour. In 2014 he appeared on two U.K. singles-chart entries as a featured artist: first Wretch 32’s “Doing OK,” then Chase & Status’s number-21 hit “Alive.” Two years later he released the EP The Paradox, which contained the single “Monster” featuring Avelino; around the same period he contributed to Sigma’s “Redemption” and SeeB’s “What Do You Love?” In 2016 he issued “Monster 2.0,” again with Boogie. The next year brought the Boy Who Cried Freedom EP, whose track “Unholy War” later appeared in multiple games and television programs and whose “Chainsmoking” resurfaced on the 2018 debut album Village. That record’s polished production reflected the breadth of Banks’s influences and featured Bibi Bourelly, Seinabo Sey, and NANA.

Throughout 2019 and 2020 Banks issued singles that stretched from “Love Ain’t Enough” to “Devil That I Know” and joined Grace Carter on “Blame.” He returned in 2021 with the more atmospheric EP For My Friends, then departed Interscope to establish his own imprint, Nobody Records. Lies About the War, informed by extended listening to gospel and soul forebears such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sam Cooke, and Al Green, arrived in June 2022.