It was Richard Mullin who once made the proclamation, “The only man I envy is the man who has not yet been to Africa; for he has so much to look forward to.” Caribbean and African culture will forever share a bond that has yet to be fully explored artistically. The exponential growth in the popularity of Afrobeats music in the Caribbean has given our people a microcosmic prelude into the nuances of African life, but the cultural gap still needs more bridging. As we applaud the work of progressive Caribbean leaders such as Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who is lobbying for direct flights from the Caribbean to Africa, it would be remiss of us not to incorporate the artists and musicians who are making their contribution to bridging the gap. One such artist is Sojaboy.
The self-assured Nigerian is confident and purposeful about his endeavors, and it didn’t take us long into our conversation with him to form that opinion. “Naturally I’m the type of guy who loves to do something totally different from what other people are doing.” Despite being from the North of Nigeria which is the largest part of the country, Sojaboy admits that not many famous musicians come from there. His determination to bridge the cultural gap between the Caribbean and Africa is rooted in a profound sense of nationalism. His Nigerian pride is substantiated by his tireless work ethic geared at representing his beloved home.
In addition to his astute song writing ability, Sojaboy is also very culturally aware. He fully understands the requisite linguistic approaches he needs to adopt in order to make his music as internationally appealing as possible. “I want to make music that is going to be consumed by everybody because if you make music in a language not everybody understands, sometimes it will create a difficulty. They can like the concept of your instrumental but don’t understand your diction and the choice of words you’re saying.” The Hausa language is the language that is spoken more frequently in Nothern Nigeria. He does not totally depart from Hausa in his songs but prefers to fuse it sparingly with English and Pidgin.
Evidence of this unique writing style is his new single Fire; a track that Sojaboy and his team are supremely invested in. “We just shot the video about three weeks ago and the editing is in progress. We are working on it to make it pristine for the whole world to see.“ Sojaboy has nothing but positive accounts to give of his experience working with Stanz Visuals on the official music video for Fire. “Stanz Visuals is big in Africa! Everybody knows Stanz Visuals as he’s done videos for all the top artists in Afrobeats like Davido, WizKid and Burna Boy.”
Music consumption patterns in Africa and the Caribbean are very different from markets such as North America and Europe primarily because of the absence of Spotify. The reality of today’s music business is that Spotify numbers have become a Key Performance Indicator that is used to measure an artist’s level of success in the industry. Inevitably, African artists are being severely disenfranchised by the absence of Spotify in Africa. Despite the acknowledgement of this reality, Sojaboy maintains a positive outlook on the future of African music, but he too could not help but express uncertainty as to why Spotify is not yet available in Nigeria. “We have Shazam, we have Tidal, we have YouTube, we have Apple Music, we have ITunes . We literally have all the streaming services except Spotify. I believe right now Spotify is working to make it possible for Nigerians to start streaming.” Sojaboy’s optimism is appreciated because it not stemming from a place of naivety. Without placing an indictment on any streaming service, he diplomatically acknowledges that it needs rectification. “African music is doing really well and the artists are excelling, but if there is any advantage that we are lacking, I think it would be good for that advantage to be offered to everybody”.
In regards to the aforementioned desire to bridge the cultural gap between Africa and the Caribbean, Sojaboy told us some of the Caribbean artists he would love to work with. “Jamaica has so many big artists that the whole world knows, not just Africa. I respect artists like Busy Signal, Beenie Man, Kranium and Popcaan. Especially Popcaan, he is very big in Africa.” We look forward to Sojaboy’s ascension in the industry as he positions himself to be next in Afrobeats.
