Ayo Shonaiya has spent more than three decades moving between the different worlds that make up African entertainment.
Law. Music. Film. Television. Artist management.
His career has rarely stayed in one lane, and perhaps that is what makes his story particularly interesting. Long before Afrobeats became a global industry, Shonaiya was already working behind the scenes, helping artists navigate the business while building his own understanding of how entertainment worked.
Born in London and raised in Lagos, Shonaiya completed his early education in Nigeria before studying film and television in the United States. He later studied law at the University of Westminster in London and attended the Nigerian Law School in Lagos, where he was called to the Nigerian Bar.
He entered Nigeria’s entertainment industry in 1992.
His music management career began in the late 1990s when he worked with Fuji star Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as K1 De Ultimate. His work later brought him into the orbit of major names including D’banj, Don Jazzy, eLDee the Don and Muna. He also represented Akon in specific Nigerian ventures.
Working with D’banj and Don Jazzy placed Shonaiya close to one of the most important periods in Nigerian pop music.
His legal background became particularly useful in an industry where relationships and creativity often sit alongside contracts, negotiations and business interests. Rather than simply managing artists, Shonaiya became involved in the commercial structures surrounding their careers.
That experience eventually expanded into television and film.
He founded R70 and became involved in producing African-focused television content before establishing The RMG Company and moving further into film production. Over time, he worked across different roles as a filmmaker, producer and director.
But one of his most significant projects would look backwards rather than forwards.
Afrobeats: The Backstory was built from more than two decades of footage and Shonaiya’s first-hand experience within Nigeria’s music industry. The documentary series attempted to chronicle the development of Afrobeats and place the genre within the wider cultural forces that shaped it.
The series premiered in Lagos in 2021 before becoming available globally on Netflix in 2022.
Across its 12 episodes, it explored the evolution of contemporary African pop music, including the influence of Nigerian and Ghanaian music, hip-hop, the UK African diaspora and the artists, producers and industry figures who helped shape the sound.
In a sense, Shonaiya had gone from participating in the industry to documenting its history.
His work in law continued alongside his entertainment career. In 2019, he co-founded Shonaiya & Co., a Lagos-based law firm focused on entertainment, intellectual property, media and sports law.
He has also appeared on screen, including in Akon and D’banj’s “Feeling the Nigga” music video, following his involvement in negotiations around their collaboration.
Across all these chapters, one thing remains consistent: Shonaiya has operated at the intersection of creativity and business.
He has been a lawyer helping people navigate contracts, a manager helping artists build careers, a filmmaker creating stories and a media executive working behind the scenes.
And through Afrobeats: The Backstory, some of the footage and experiences he accumulated over decades became part of the documentation of a culture he had spent much of his career helping build.
His career is therefore not simply a list of different jobs.
It is a record of how Nigeria’s entertainment industry itself has evolved.
From artist management and entertainment law to film production and the global documentation of Afrobeats, Ayo Shonaiya has spent decades both inside the culture and helping explain it to the world.
