In recent years, Abuja has built a reputation for itself as a bedrock of hip-hop music in Nigeria. Artistes like Psycho YP and Zilla Oaks have acted as flagbearers putting the city on the map. A new duo, Hybrid Sosa and Alien Lamba are determined to keep the good work going, with their refreshing brand of Afro-drill. Their new tape, Drill Capsule making waves and gaining rave reviews, and the 49th Street team caught up with them to talk all about it. We discuss their new tape, how the duo was formed, as well as their plans for the future.
49th Street: Tell us a bit about yourselves, your music, and musical background.
Alien Lamba: My name is Aina Bamiyo Paul, I’m half Alien and half human from Pluto and Ekiti State. I’m a super crowd controller popularly called hypeman. I love being a part of entertaining right from when was a kid and I studied Theatre Arts too. I started music officially during the COVID first wave lockdown meanwhile I’ve been dropping jabs here and there before then. I love the UK Music scene so much, Drill music to be precise. I think that really had so much influence on me. I also do other genres of music so y’all don’t get surprised when you get to listen to them.
Hybrid Sosa: I’m Hybridsosa, a very versatile artist. I love all types of music from Dancehall to Hip-hop to Drill. Whatever it is, so long as the vibe is right, man I’m with it. I really can’t say the exact time when I started making music, but I know I voiced a song first with Morello back in 2013. I fell in love with the music-making process then, and I’ve not looked back since. Over time, I’ve worked with the likes of Mekoyo, Ray Beats, Tso and Tish. Tish played a key role in forming my sound, and he produced Sugarcane Rush, my song with Jesse Jagz.
49th Street: How long have you guys known each other? How did making music together start for you?
Alien Lamba: We’ve known each other for about 2 years now because I moved from the South Western part of the country to the Capital in 2019, it wasn’t long after I got here that we met. Making music with Sosa is cool to be honest, vibes sync, that’s the perfect word. Y’all don’t sleep on this duo lol.
Hybrid Sosa: Well I think I met Lamba in 2019, I think through Morello, one of my guys, he’s also a happyboi top memba. Yeah so I guess we met at a show and we just vibed and started kicking it from there, we vibed in the studio for some time and we both love drill and music in general, and we were like, let’s give the music scene here a different dimension to this drill thing and so we came up with the EP “drill capsule”.
49th Street: There’s a big hip-hop scene in Abuja? How big of an influence did that have on your sound?
Alien Lamba: Abuja’s hip-hop sound is so catchy and if you really balance yourself well with perfect strategies you’d be so swift in getting your own fanbase. Lagos is known for the commercial music thing, fine they do it well but the Hip-hop scene here is wilder and well acceptable than any other. So I’d say Abuja’s hip-hop scene helped to discover this part of me.
Hybrid Sosa: Yeah Abj has been heavy on that hip hop thing from day one so yeah I guess the sound is more acceptable here I would say.
49th Street: What kind of music did you listen to growing up? Who are/were your musical influences?
Alien Lamba: Based on my upbringing, my pops always played Yinka Ayefele, Barrister Shina Peters, Ebenezer Obey, Orlando Owo and those sets that year. My musical influences aren’t that much because I just love good music but I’d give it to Unknown T, Tion Wayne, Russ Millions, M1llionz, Abra Cadabra and A92.
Hybrid Sosa: Man I listened to all types of music growing up; there was a lot of gospel, reggae, Afro pop , RnB so far it was good music I would gravitate to it. As far as influencers there was Tuface, Damian Marley, Jay-Z and right now I’m just learning from my mates and peers in ABJ. Right now, like if you look in the city you would see that bare niggas are making moves and the older guys are bigging them up so we’re going in a good direction.
49th Street: At what point did you decide that it was music for you? How did the fam take it? Were they supportive?
Alien Lamba: I discovered this music thing was for me after recording 3-4 songs then I realized oh so I can pull out lyrics this much, then I just strapped myself better. Here I am flexing on it. My fam has been supportive from Day 0, regardless of what part of entertainment I hop on.
Hybrid Sosa: Man, the day I decided it was music was when I woke up one morning I was like, ‘this life is short I’ll take a chance on my dreams for real happiness.’ From then on, I was like “Yeah I’m hybridsosa, let’s go”. For my dad he just prays for me to affect my generation positively and stay out of trouble 😂 he really doesn’t want me to be a “worldly musician” and I understand that but we move.
49th Street: Drill Capsule is a quality hip-hop tape? Tell us what the process behind making the EP was like.
Alien Lamba: The process of getting that tape wasn’t so easy but I’m glad we made it happen. Before we both concluded to make this tape, we were mind ready that we would sacrifice our time, funds, energy and trust me all the plans we said we was doing. We literally have been doing them one after the other. Trust me, una never see anything lol.
Hybrid Sosa: Drill capsule is real life man. It’s experiences and stories, you feel me? Just put together, basically just painting a picture for you to know how the thing goes. So just staying up late for a studio session, instrumental playing in the background and we just might be talking about something and before you know, we just put it in the music and start dropping bar after bar. Sometimes before the session even starts my man has some sick hook playing in his head and he just comes through laying the it down and then Tish, our producer goes crazy with the production and then the next day I hear it and I am like mind blown, then I go straight to notes and start putting bars down. like it’s fun man. Very organic still.
49th Street: The tape is filled with a lot of catchy lines and acronyms like O.P.I.C, NFNC. Was it a deliberate attempt to add to the slang culture on the streets?
Alien Lamba: Sure, it was deliberate. Drill Music isn’t a commercialized sound yet in Nigeria but you know how we are in the country, we just wanna hear a relatable line or something catchy in a song and that makes it easy for people not to forget about both the artist and the song. It was intentional, trust me.
Hybrid Sosa: Man I don’t know. Man I won’t say it was deliberate, you know how it is now, it’s just the lingo.
49th Street: You belong to a crew called Happy Boiz. How did that come about?
Hybrid Sosa: Man I’ll leave the Happy Boiz history for Lamba to tell.
Alien Lamba: Happy Boiz has been in existence way back from Uni, most of the pioneers of the movement went to the same school. Drae Immortal being the solid pioneer then has been into the Hiphop music scene and we brought that same energy to the Capital. Look where we are today, having more cool minds to work with in the Capital and thing. Happy Boiz is a Wild Movement, too certy.
49th Street: Who are the artistes that you’re looking to collaborate with in the future?
Alien Lamba: An African Giant collab would be perfect, Unknown T, Tion Wayne, Dbo Fundz, Offica.
Hybrid Sosa: Man I’d willingly work with anyone, Nigerian or international. Man can’t even count them but with time everything will align.
49th Street: Drill is a new genre on the Nigerian scene. What plans do you have to take Afro-drill to the next level?
Hybrid Sosa: Yah drill is taking over and I’m totally with the movement. We have a lot of dope Nigerian artists doing their thing with it. We’ll keep dropping and putting out work.
49th Street: Will there be more collaborative projects between Alien Lamba and Hybrid Sosa?
Alien Lamba: Definitely there are other collabs on the way by myself and Hybrid Sosa. It’s a duo movement, y’all just get used to it.
Hybrid Sosa: You lot just keep anticipating greatness from us, we coming in different dimensions, different forms. Just look out.
49th Street: Drill Capsule is out. What next for Alien Lamba and Hybrid Sosa? Any plans for later this year?
Alien Lamba: Bigger plans, I’d rather not say yea. Let the work do the talk.
Hybrid Sosa: Yeah, more content, more music definitely, just watch my space on Instagram; (hybridsosa_hb) or Twitter; (hybridsosa)
