Kota took his stage name from ‘terra cotta’, meaning an ancient artefact preserved today for the purposes of tomorrow. In advance of both Majek Fashek and Ras Kimono, Kota was the first Nigerian to successfully integrate reggae into the Nigerian songbook. Further, he would go public to claim that the music itself was of Nigerian descent, derived from the ancient form of praise song, ere-ege. Despite such proclamations, he only switched musical style to reggae in the early 80s. He recorded his first album in 1982 and watched it top the Nigerian charts, remaining there for a period of four months and selling over half a million copies in the process. His second album was part-dedicated to Fela Kuti, at that time serving a jail sentence, which mirrored the social consciousness which now dominated his lyrics. That collection and the subsequent Peasant Child have continued to push his desire to attract Nigerian youth to the ‘righteous’ sounds of roots reggae.