It would not be an overstatement to state that the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja just might be the Hip-hop capital of Africa’s most populous nation. Interestingly, its Hip-hop supremacy is more about the quality rather than the number of rappers coming out of the vibrant music scene there. They may not have the numbers of Lagos and Ibadan, but by God, the artistes there have the skillset to rival the very best. Take Tomi Obanure for example. A young, versatile, lyrical hard hitter who does not appear to have a ceiling.
Tomi Obanure is a rapper who specializes in telling vivid stories in Grime and Drill fashion. His voice holds the cadence and accent of a British rapper – Stormzy comes to mind on listening to Tomi. However, the instrumentals he raps over are not always in the line of Grime and Drill. He often infuses elements of Afrofusion into his sound, either as a stand-alone beat or to soften the more brutal instrumentation that defines those Hip-hop subgenres. It works very well for him as there’s certain robustness to his overall end-product that holds the potential to attract the rap faithful and passers-by alike.
His discography is still very much under development, but there’s enough on it currently to tell you all you need to know about the level of talent Tomi Obanure wields. His debut project, “No Rest for the Wicked” was one of 2020’s finest projects from a rapper on the come up and caused all the right noises on the underground rap scene. The 5 tracks had everything one would want from a proper rap project: clever bars, hard punchlines, and flows that were easy on the ears. He went quiet in 2021 though, only contributing stellar verses on a handful of feature appearances. But with the arrival of the new year, Tomi Obanure is back, harder than ever.
On the 7th of January, he put out “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead”, a two-pack single. On it, we have “Midnight”, a track that explores the realities of life on the streets from s gangster’s perspective. It is coupled with “Heavy Hitta Freestyle”, an anthemic track with braggadocio-laden lyrics. Underneath the cover of this release is a clear statement of intent from Tomi Obanure; he is hungry for success and hell-bent on getting the largest possible percentage of Nigerians to pay him his due attention. The evidence of skill and talent has already been laid bare on his releases, it’s now a matter of pushing his product to the wider audience. He’s still very much a work in progress, but you can be sure you will enjoy the work that has already been done when you stream his music.