D’banj, also known as the Kokomaster or Bangalee, was born on 9 June 1980 in Zaria, the northern part of Nigeria to a military officer who commanded an artillery regiment and a devout church dignitary businesswoman who hailed from Shagamu in Ogun State. Due to his father’s profession, he moved several times within Nigeria and later moved to England. D’banj was expected to follow his father’s military career and was enrolled in the Nigerian Military School at age eleven. However, D’banj resisted the system and disenrolled from the school after three years. While at the Military school he was a member of the elite drum corp of the Nigerian Army. From the Nigerian Military School he proceeded to another military owned institution Nigerian Navy Secondary School, Ibara, Abeokuta where he was a church worker. There he completed his secondary school education.

D’banj then proceeded to study mechanical engineering at the Lagos State University, but due to the constant strikes and several irregularities in the school he decided to withdraw. Plans to continue his studies as a mechanical engineer in London were derailed when he arrived in the UK in 2001, and met Don Jazzy who was trying for a breakthrough as a songwriter and producer. D’Banj started hanging around the studio, making ends meet while working as a security guard. “It was OK, because I did nights,” he says, “so I could listen to music on my headphones.”

Don Jazzy told D’Banj he thought he was a star in the making, and sensing that the music scene in Nigeria was “blossoming”, the pair returned to Lagos in 2004. That same year came the single “Tongolo”; the video was paid for by D’Banj’s mother. It became an instant hit,and gained wide acclaim across the country. His first endorsement was with an energy drink called Power Fist.

D’banj’s debut album, No Long Thing, was released in 2005. It yielded several singles with Tongolo as the lead single. This proved to be his breakthrough single and a hit. It also provided his Koko Master persona, with the term, koko, taking on a variety of meanings. D’banj’s debut success led to collaborations with other artists, including Dare Art Alade and Ikechukwu. D’Banj’s single koko was used by the PDP (ruling political party in Nigeria) as its campaign theme for the 2007 general elections.

D’banj’s second album Rundown Funk U Up, which was released in 2006, yielded several singles including the club single, Tongolo (Remix), and the lead single Why Me?. This proved to be another hit.

D’banj, as an artist of Mo’ Hits Records, is also a member of its collective group, Mo’ Hits Allstars (includes artists Dr SID, Wande Coal, KaySwitch, and D’Prince). He has once been spotted with one of Nigeria’s most talented singers, “Smile Lasisi”. The collective’s debut album, Curriculum Vitae, was released in December 2007. It included hit singles, “Be Close To You”, “Booty Call” and “Move Your Body”, which was the lead single. D’banj was featured in Ikechukwu’s 2008 hit, “Wind Am Well”.

July 2008 saw the release of D’banj’s third album, The Entertainer, with the singles “Gbono Feli Feli”, “Kimon”, “Olorun Maje” and “Entertainer”.

He was involved in one of the most anticipated events of the season, ‘Koko Concert’. This concert consisted of D’Banj, Don Jazzy, Dr SID, Wande Coal, D’Prince plus a few guest appearances including May7ven and comedian Tunde Ednut. The stage was set for a thrilling night – the Koko effect is definitely LIVE in London as fans of D’Banj and Mo’ Hits filled the O2 arena to capacity. As expected, the hits just kept coming and the momentum was sustained with on-stage antics from all the artists. In December 2010, the Mo’ Hits All Stars brought Koko Concert to Lagos and D’banj kept belting out energetic performances that kept the audience screaming. Colleagues like M.I, eLDee, Jesse Jagz, and Wizkid also joined up on stage. There was also a global premiere of the highly anticipated “Mr Endowed (Remix)” featuring Snoop Dogg and also a recent track “Blame It on the Money” featuring the Californian native and Big Sean.

In June 2011, D’banj was signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music record label as an artiste. On 9 June 2011, D’banj wrote on his Twitter account, @iamdbanj, “Just like yesterday, myself and my brother did Tongolo. 7 years later, Mo’Hits signs with GOOD Music. Best Birthday gift ever. God thank you.”

In December 2012, D’banj signed a mega deal with Sony. Speaking on the importance of the deal to Sony, the managing director of Sony Music Entertainment, Sean Watson, said: “Partnering with D’Banj is a seminal event for us at Sony Music Entertainment Africa. We’ve always admired his talent and to be able to assist with bringing D’Banj’s music to millions of fans, established and new, across the continent is an honour for us. We are very excited about being a part of it.”

On 23 June 2012, D’banj performed at the Hackney Weekend to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics, which was headlined by Jay-Z and Rihanna. He performed alongside his friend, and fellow Universal Music Group label mate, Rita Ora on 30 August 2012 at the SCALA London Live Music, Clubs and Arts Venue to celebrate the release of her debut album Ora. He also performed at the AFCON 2013 closing ceremony held in South Africa. On 18 April 2015, D’banj performed at the Global citizen earth day a Free Concert on Capitol Hill (Washington Monument Grounds) for the 45th Anniversary of Earth Day put on by Global Poverty Project and the Earth Day Network

The forthcoming single “Bother You”, inspired by the film Half of a Yellow Sun, was released on 7 April 2013, by Mi7 Records and D’banj’s label DKM Media. In June 2014, D’banj introduced artists under his record label, which includes him, younger brother Kay Switch, brothers MossKriss and Ralph Kriss and Tonto Dikeh Ebeneztizzy.

With D’banj’s first album came his first endorsement from an energy drink called Power Fist. In May 2013, D’banj was named the Bank of Industry (BOI) ambassador. In November 2013, D’banj re-signed a multi-million Naira deal with Globacom, the company he parted ways with in 2010. In June 2014 D’Banj Secures Deal With Heritage Bank. In October 2014, D’banj was named the official African ambassador for Beats by Dre. In February 2015, D’banj was named the official African ambassador for Ciroc Nigeria. In an exclusive story on Tush Magazine Issue 11, Banky W and Dbanj shed more lights on how they became Ciroc Ambassadors. In September 2015, D’banj was made the brand ambassador of SLOT, a popular mobile phone, and electronic gadget retail outfit. Dbanj is now among the richest Hip-Hop artists in Nigeria.

D’banj is the founder of Koko Foundation for Youth and Peace Development. He was also Nigeria’s first United Nations Youth Ambassador for Peace. Dbanj is a ONE campaign ambassador; he released the song “Cocoa Na Chocolate” in support of agriculture investments. ‘Cocoa Na Chocolate’ featured 18 other African artists and won Best African Collaboration at the All Africa Music Awards in 2014.

In 2015, he was applauded by World Bank Chief, Jim Yong Kim for using his music power and high celebrity status to bringing attention to serious and critical issues in Africa with special focus on agriculture and poverty alleviation. Jim Yong Kim was quoted saying that “I had the pleasure of meeting D’banj last month and seeing him perform. I’m thrilled he is the first artists to take part in our new Music4Dev series encouraging global artist to raise awareness about poverty and related issues.”

In 2015 D’banj released the video to “Extraordinary” to raise awareness on gender equality and women’s empowerment. World bank endorsed song as a song for women awareness.

In September 2016, it was announced D’banj was released from GOOD Music.

In August 2016, D’banj’s D’Kings Men Media partnered with MTN Nigeria and the Bank of Industry to launch THE CREAM PLATFORM, a creative talent platform that was set up to help discover young creative minds across Nigeria by just dialing a USSD code on a mobile phone. It is reported that the platform, as at December 2016, had over 2 million paying subscribers and has discovered hundreds of talents from the music category alone, with tens of music videos and millions of Naira given out to winners.

D’banj married Lineo Didi Kilgrow in June 2016. He announced the birth of their son, Daniel Oyebanjo III, in May 2017; the child drowned in June 2018.

In June 2020, after D’banj had posted to social media to “say no to rape,” Seyitan Babatayo accused him of raping her in 2018, saying she wanted to “[call] him out on his hyprocrisy.” Shortly thereafter she went missing for two days, and while she was missing posts made to her social media said the allegations had been a publicity stunt to support an upcoming D’banj single. According to The Guardian, she was found with help from the NGO Stand to End Rape (STER). She said she’d been abducted by Nigerian police, who turned her over to D’banj’s management team who co-opted her social media and made the retraction posts. D’banj denied the accusations, calling them “false allegations and lies from the pit of hell.” After several days Babatayo issued a statement saying she and D’banj had agreed upon a “non-monetary” settlement, saying, “I just want my peace.”

On 3 July 2020, D’banj sued Babatayo for N1.5 billion. Shortly thereafter, D’banj’s former manager Franklin Amudo reported that Babatayo had told him D’banj had raped her the day after the alleged rape.