ayo animashaun

Hakeem Babatunde Haky Dee is a Nigerian entertainment entrepreneur and Radio executive. He owns Festac Radio Online.

Animashaun was born March 17, 1970 in the Kwara State, Nigeria. He studied Business Administration at Kwara State Polytechnic.

He is CEO of Smooth Promotions, an entertainment firm that organizes The Headies award and publishes the weekly Hip Hop World Magazine. On 5 November 2013 he led his firm to the launch of HipTV on Multichoice DSTV. In October 2013, The Net magazine listed him as one of the most influential people in the Nigerian entertainment industry.

Ayo has made an indelible mark in the sand of time, even though he had a rough patch growing up. In 2013, two major events happened in his life that changed his story forever.
He was listed as one of the most influential people in the Nigerian entertainment world by net.ng and his HipTV was launched on DSTV.
Today HipTV is arguably one of the most watched music TV on DSTV. He is the brain behind the success stories of reputable musicians like Tuface, Mi, Olamide and many others.
Ayo Animashaun hails from Lagos state, though he was born in Kwara state. He completed both his elementary and secondary school in Kwara state.
Ayo Animashaun may have been one of the youngest in his time to have gained admission into higher institution as he was only 16 years old when he began studying Business Administration at Kwara state Polytechnic.

Ayo discovered his love for music quite early in life and took advantage of his passion to make a brand for himself. His biggest challenge was lack of fund as “his rags to riches” story wasn’t a tale of bed of roses, but he refused to give up as he knew that his day would break soon.

He studied Business Administration because he needed to get an education. His dream was music to the extent that he was ready to become a music personality even after school.
Strangely, he was so young when he started writing down lyrics for his friends and even banking lyrics for future purposes. He had to do all kind of odd jobs to make ends meets in school while feeding his passion.
Even though he saw that things were tough from the beginning, he didn’t relent one bit. At some point, he needed money to publish his book of lyrics and found someone who lent him a N1000.
 

His HipTV which has a channel on DSTV is also viewed in so many local stations. Today, one way or the other, reputable Hip-hip musicians, actors, actresses, VJ’s and even foreign stars, have had one thing or the other to do with ‘The Headies’ boss. His international event and awards projects have drawn both foreign and local stars from afar.
He has over 50 workers working for him. The story of these workers, like Dayo of HipTV who has relocated to New York, may not have been complete, if Ayo hasn’t grown his brand and employed them.
Ayo Animashaun has helped a lot of Nigerian artistes fulfilled their dreams. He is one of the frontiers of Nigerian Hip-hop Music and that the Nigerian music wouldn’t be complete without his contribution