Young Shina Edagbami was determined to get an education. His mother wanted him to become a mechanic but he refused to be the only one of her five children without formal education.
After passing his O-Level exams on his second try at the Methodist Boys Secondary School, Lagos - he had failed earlier at the Lagos African Church Grammar School, Ifako - he enrolled at the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta (then Ogun State Polytechnic) to study Accounting.
He confessed that he did not have a particular interest in the subject. He just wanted a certificate. The determined Shina didn't stop after receiving his Ordinary National Diploma (OND). He went on to enrol at the Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) for a Higher National Diploma (HND) course, also in Accounting.
It was at Yabatech that Shina discovered his love for music. According to him, the love morphed into an addiction. "I began to hunger for more than I was getting," he reminisced. "I started wondering why some songs didn't have scratch stunts and how nice they would sound if they did."
His experimentation began with a self-built mixer because he had no access to sophisticated DJ equipment. He created a pitch control from an old turntable to match the speed at which different songs were mixed.
"I brought out the electric wire connected to the rotating motor of the turntable and connected it to a volume control," he said. "The volume control helped me regulate the motor speed thus creating a pitch control."
He would begin his career by DJing shows organized by the Student Union. Although he got paid for his scratching and mixing services, he said he did it mostly for fun and not the money it brought. An unexpected bonus was popularity as his reputation as a DJ preceded him on campus beyond his own imagination.
"I didn't know I was becoming popular, until one day a lecturer walked into my class and called me DJ Shina. That, in fact, is how I got the name," he revealed.
Even with his new found fame, the newly christened DJ went on to serve his nation at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, as a pay master. After his Youth Service ended, he worked as a radio DJ for both Star 101.5 FM and Ray Power 100.5 FM.
Hired for his music mixing ability, Shina still felt he needed to be fully prepared whenever he was called up to anchor a show, so the famous DJ went back to school. "I went for a Master's degree in Communication Art at the University of Ibadan so I could improve my communication skills," he said.
With a Master's Degree in hand and his star rising, DJ Shina organised a show in Offa, Kwara State to entertain his growing fan base.
"I organised a show in Offa and decided to invite some friends I knew were into singing to help complement the show. I invited Eddy Montana whom I knew from Yabatech and Tony Tetuila who had been inviting me for shows in Ilorin. I also invited Eedris AbdulKareem and at my request, they recorded a song called "Shakomo" but unfortunately, the show was cancelled."
Although the show was cancelled, the obvious chemistry highlighted on "Shakomo" led the trio of Eedriss, Tony and Eddy to form the group Remedies. While Shina won't take credit for forming the group, he apparently put the pieces together and that has to count for something.
With the new formed alliances in place, Shina and the Remedies were invited for the Rothmans' "Groove in the Hood" tour across Nigeria in 1994.
"We travelled round Nigeria, taking hip-hop to every state," he boasts. "By the time we came back to Lagos, hip-hop music had taken over. The tour and the effort of Ray Power established Hip-hop in Nigeria."
During the tour, Shina realised he preferred being a performing DJ to being a radio DJ and decided to go independent and concentrate more on concerts and shows.
"As a radio DJ, you don't get the satisfaction of seeing the crowd react to your music," he reasons. "Playing at concerts, you get to see the crowd and know if they're happy or not. You'll always want to make them happy because if they are not, you'll get pelted with pure (sachet) water and the likes."
In 2001, Shina left the country in search of greener pastures and moved to Canada, where his younger brother lives. He still comes to Nigeria occasionally to play at shows. While in Canada, his love for Nigerian music never diminished, rather, it grew!
"I jam mostly Nigerian music whenever I play in Canada and even though the Canadians don't understand some of the lyrics, they love the music."
DJ Shina has since relocated to Nigeria and is currently working on a project he won't talk about.
"I want it to be a big surprise when it's through," he says with a wink.