Ismaila Alfa was born in Nigeria to a Nigerian father and Canadian mother. In fact, his mom hails from Pipestone, Manitoba.

He completed his early school years in Edmonton, wrapping up his middle and senior school years in Winnipeg. He pursued a civil engineering degree at the University of Manitoba but, dropped out to tour Canada and the United States as a hip hop musician for eight years.

"You've seen that movie Eight Mile?" he's fond of saying. "That was my life."

But with a wife and two children comes responsibility and that brought Ismaila and his "great pipes" to the CBC in January 2008 as an intern.

He stuck around freelancing for the morning show until April 2008 when he found his way into the spotlight again as the show's audio technician, traffic reporter and jingle writer extraordinaire.