Bright Okpocha, better known by his stage name Basketmouth, was born on the 14th day in September 1978 and is a Nigerian stand-up comedian and rapper.
In 1991 Bright discovered his skills in drumming, which he did for over 5 years after wards.
During his days of being an instrumentalist for his church and a band at that point, he also discovered his skills in rap music and later diverted into that path in 1994.
In 1995, he, his friends and brother formed a group called da psychopaths. It had 7 members but they split before they could even release an album or single.
Bright and his brother Godwin immediately formed a group called D Oddz and later added a third member (muyiwa osunrobi). Together, they did a couple of shows but couldn’t break through the music industry as their brand of rap wasn’t accepted then.
In the year 1996/1997, they got admitted into the University of Benin where Basketmouth studied sociology while his brother studied anthropology. They performed at a concert and got booed off the stage, Bright decided to drop the mic as a rap artist and grab the mic as a standup comedian.
His 1st standup comedy was a disaster because the crowd got irritated and booed him off the stage. Later that year (1999), he came back after a series of research on what brand of comedy could sell in UNIBEN; that was the beginning of Basket mouth’s inception and acceptation into the world of standup comedy. His professional stand up act came into existence in the year 2000 and his big break came when he met Ali Baba.
That same year, Basketmouth was billed to perform at Lagbaja’s monthly concert at Motherland, in October 1st 2000. He made his 1st appearance at the renowned Nite of a 1000 laughs. After then, it was one gig to another.
On the 1st of November 2000, the concept came to reality featuring Ali Baba, Paul Play, Teju babyface, mandy, Mr. Patrick and a host of others. Immediately after Laff n Jamz in UNIBEN, Ali Baba told Bright to come down to Lagos to expose his skills. It was hard to combine studies and standup comedy but it was done.
Things got bigger and better when Bright was invited by Tequila events to perform alongside Julius Agwu on a tour that hit over 30 higher institutions around Nigeria.
The name BASKET MOUTH hit the big screen when he featured in international concerts that witnessed the likes of Joe, Boys 2 Men, Sean Paul, Beyonce, Wyclef Jean, Dru Hill, Akon, Snoop Dogg, Ciara, Chris Brown and many others. His international gig was in Europe (2003) after which he stayed off the foreign scene until his debut performance in Atlanta at the Nigerian Reunion in 2006. This performance led to series of performances and bookings in the United States and other countries including South Africa.
Basket Mouth is currently one of the brand ambassadors of one of the leading telecommunications companies in Africa (Globacom) till date and stands out as one of the names to reckon with in the entertainment industry.
