When thinking of soul music, it’s easy to resort to the legends of the genre first, like Marvin Gaye and Four Tops, just to name a couple. However, one should also think of a towering, yet soft-spoken artist by the name of TOBi. During a New York visit, the 6’3” Toronto resident explains how he isn’t like the traditional soul music that many people are familiar with, citing the aforementioned artists. In fact, TOBi, dressed street style fly with a Kappa sweatsuit and black fedora, creates what he calls “unapologetic soul music.” The 26-year-old speaks thoroughly and candidly when explaining exactly what that means. It all comes down to undeniably being himself, he says, and doing as much as he can and as much as he wants with his music.
“[It] is not restricted to a genre,” he says of his self-described art form. “Unapologetic soul music, to me, is music that explores your deepest feelings, your fears, your joys, the things that make you tick.”
This definition of his craft has been a main component of TOBi’s musicality since he discovered music was his passion around the cusp of double digits. Even at that young age, 10-year-old TOBi associated the creation of music with how it made him feel, which was nothing but “good inside.” TOBi was figuring out all that he could do with music, whether it was writing it or singing and rapping to it, all three skills that he employs today, and each discovery was fundamental in helping him get through a difficult period in his life: immigrating from Nigeria to Toronto. Music not only brought him joy at that time but also served as coping mechanism, because the move wasn’t all sunshine and daisies for him.
When he and his family moved to Toronto, the six of them stayed in a two-bedroom home, with the children in one room and his parents in the other. They lived in a low-income neighborhood at the time and although the move wasn’t entirely pleasant, there’s a reason why TOBi discovering his love for music occurred around the same time his move to North America did.
“I think it coincides during that time because I utilized creating poetry and rap music as a coping mechanism for change,” he explains. “For me to be able to have an outlet and not to go talk to people all the time about how this was going—because my natural predisposition was introversion. So, as an introvert, having that outlet to still be able to express how I was feeling inside was almost like stumbling upon the greatest thing ever.”
Here, the buzzing talent shares exactly who he is as an artist and what his recently released Still album reveals about TOBi, the human being.
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VIBE: You sing and you rap. Would you describe yourself as an artist that’s a rapper singer like Drake, or do you veer towards one more than the other?
TOBi: Yeah, it’s interesting when people describe me online in different groups. Some will say rapper, some will say singer. I would consider myself an artist that utilizes both to create a song that means something. Whatever method I’m using at the time, it’s just what it is. Sometimes I rap more, sometimes I’ll sing more.
How did you get started in the music industry? How was your journey to where you are today?
I would say it’s been an ongoing process. I started really recording music when I was a teenager in high school and putting stuff online. You know, MySpace, all those different platforms. But for real I would say my first real project that I put out was in 2016, it was called FYI. That’s an EP that I created with a producer from Toronto, Nate Smith. I would say that’s my first real foray into the music industry as TOBi.
As TOBi…. So, before TOBi the artist, who were you? What were you doing?
I had hella names, hella pseudonyms that I was going by. I think it was just music that I thought sounded cool rather than music that felt really personal and genuine to who I am.
Did you have other career paths, or other passions that maybe clashed with music?
I mean even though I wanted to be an artist, my family was not down for that. A big part of that move to Canada was like, “okay, we’re about to move here because you’re about to go this school and this school, get this education and become a doctor or a lawyer.” It’s the typical story you ask anybody from where they come from. Any first generation or newcomer family that’s usually the path, right? So, there’s a lot of friction externally with my family on that. But also internally, there was a lot of turmoil choosing which path to go on.
Is there still that friction with your family or have they come to accept the fact that this is what you want to do and that you can actually be successful at it?
Yeah, they’ve come to accept it through many conflicts, for sure. We’ve had a number of conflicts about it. But you know, at the end of the day, they see that it’s something that I’ve been doing for so long. It’s something that I’m really passionate about and it’s working. They just needed to see that. Also, they weren’t gonna let me slide and not finish my undergrad. For me, completing that as well, that was to them like, “OK, he’s old enough, he’ll figure it out.”
What did you study in undergrad?
Biology.
Once you graduated undergrad, was it like, “OK, this is like a Plan B for him, now he can go after what he wants?”
For them, absolutely. For them, it was that, “you got this.” Now it’s the trust factor. Can we trust this guy is able to make these kinds of decisions?
Would you say that being Nigerian influences your music?
[It] definitely does because my earliest, formidable memories are from me growing up in Nigeria. Living there for eight years, I remember so many stories. I remember the food, I remember the language, the culture…. I remember all these nuances that are still residual memories but they come up every so often into the forefront. I think on this album I tapped back into that consciously.
Are there specific Nigerian artists that influence you or even Canadian artists that influence you?
Yeah, so I’ll start with the Nigerian side. Some artists that influence me are Fela Kuti, Majek Fashek, King Sunny Adé, those are more of the older artists that influence me. And then modern, probably Burna Boy, this dude named Brymo, he’s from Nigeria, he’s amazing. There’s some influence of him actually in this project as well. Overall though, as far as contemporary hip-hop music, I would say Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Frank Ocean. I just like artists that truly delve into the different aspects of their emotionality.
Who do you see yourself collaborating with? Would you see those artists as well?
That’s a good question. Definitely, Kendrick, definitely Frank Ocean for sure. Producers, Pharrell. I think Pharrell brings something special out of the artist that he collaborates with. He gets them to step out of their comfort zone. He can work with the Clipse, and then he can also work with some pop sounds and do Despicable Me soundtracks. So that’s definitely someone I would love to collaborate with. I think we can do something amazing.
As an artist, what would you say are three goals that you would want to accomplish within the next five years?
I definitely want to go on tour in different continents. I want to go across the world and connect with as many humans as possible, that’s one. Two, I want to be a songwriter for other artists as well. I want to be able to tap into other experiences and be able to create music that doesn’t just reflect my life, but speaks to others as well. And lastly, I want to be involved in what I see as a movement. A movement of self-discovery, an awakening of self-awareness as well. I feel like in 2019, and going forward, we as global citizens are becoming more and more aware of the world around us and the world within us as well. That’s personally from a psychological perspective and a mental health and well-being perspective. I want to be more aware of not just the literature but also what movements are occurring and how I can be involved in it as an artist to create a platform to put that out there.
Is there any movement now that you’re passionate about, that you see yourself getting involved in?
Absolutely. One movement that I’m really passionate about is this kind of awakening of self-healing. I don’t know if you see this but even on social media, on Twitter or Instagram, there’s a lot of people who promote healthy consumption of food, drinks, music, media, books. So like a healthy consumption of taking things into your body, right. Because that essentially becomes who you are. That’s something I’ve been very passionate about on a personal level. I’m still working on that, because I don’t want to come out and be an ambassador for something I’m not applying to myself. That’s my major thing right now and I love it. That’s why I love a lot of these new artists coming out. I love Solange, I think she’s a huge proponent for that. Not just through her music but through what she says, through what she does, and her actions. I like to align myself with those kinds of groups.
Now let’s get into your album. Why the name Still?
I remember the name was so many different things before Still. Still was the perfect word to encompass what was going on in there. There’s different layers to it. First one that I’ll speak on is the persistence and the dedication. When I was creating this project, I’ve been making it for two years but the stories on there are from when I was eight years old. It almost feels like I’ve been writing this project for 15 years, that’s what it feels like to me. Just that ongoing process of change and growth as an individual and persistence, it’s still. It’s ongoing, it keeps on going even after the project. It keeps on going, it doesn’t stop. And then secondly, one thing that’s always been very important to me is presence and being grounded in the present moment. To be still is to be centered and almost fixated in the current experience. So that word is perfect.
For Still, can you speak on specific experiences in your life that you pulled inspiration from?
There’s a number of experiences. Some of the songs were a bit difficult to write because of the experiences. But, I remember clearly, vividly when I first moved to Canada and having my family come with me afterwards and where we lived. We lived in this apartment in a kind of low-income area. It was a two-bedroom apartment and there was six of us in there and all the kids were in one room and I just remember it was small. It was very small but it was fine. I was just happy that we were all together. And I drew on that a bit on some of the songs on there and what those times were like, right and seeing the growth of not just me but my family as well. Like my mom for sure.
That’s another experience that I drew from. Her coming into the country, working manual labor overnight and then she transitioned into the role that she’s currently in where she runs the whole company and watching her grow from that, that was motivating for me as well. Still, you know, the story’s for her, too. And then there’s pieces in the album that speak about my more rebellious teenager years, getting up to no good.
What can fans and new listeners expect from Still?
They should expect to be moved. Not just physically, because some of the beats are slapping, but also on an emotional level. It’s a bit of a trip listening to it from top to bottom. I’ve listened to it on some late nights before going to bed, and every time I listen to it, I’m even tapping into something new that I subconsciously put into the project that I wasn’t consciously aware of that I did. So I would like listeners to be able to experience certain emotions and feel free with it. Not to try to repress anything, just let it go, just let it come free. You gotta let it go sometimes. And expect that flame, expect that sonic flame, now and forever.
What can fans and new listeners expect from Still?
They should expect to be moved. Not just physically, because some of the beats are slapping, but also on an emotional level. It’s a bit of a trip listening to it from top to bottom. I’ve listened to it on some late nights before going to bed, and every time I listen to it, I’m even tapping into something new that I subconsciously put into the project that I wasn’t consciously aware of that I did. So I would like listeners to be able to experience certain emotions and feel free with it. Not to try to repress anything, just let it go, just let it come free. You gotta let it go sometimes. And expect that flame, expect that sonic flame, now and forever.
