Hearing Yoruba or pidgin used to be something third-culture kids might only hear at home or over the phone. Fast forward to Afrobeats’ global spread and its rise in prominence in pop is as fast as the ‘millennial whoop’ was in the 2010s in the UK and US music charts. With such cultural dominance comes the idea that there is a winning recipe for pop music coming from the continent. “I think there was a format of how Afropop feels and when you’re not doing that format, people did not understand what the music was,” says Teezee. “It was like, this is too foreign, it’s too European or whatever.”
BORN IN LAGOS and living in London, the musical maverick is thought of as a pioneer of Nigeria’s burgeoning alternative scene because he harnesses the power of constant reinvention and rebellion against the dominating sounds and cultures, while maintaining a distinctly Nigerian flavour. After all, with a population of more than 200 million, the country’s art shouldn’t be monolithic. Naturally imbued with a sense of pride in his heritage, Teezee eschewed a teenage “identity crisis” while studying: “Omọ Yoruba ni mi o” — he’s a Yoruba child.
