Steven Umoh, better known as Obongjayar, is a Nigerian artist based in London. Born in Calabar, Nigeria, Obongjayar moved to the United Kingdom with his mother to escape abuse at home. After settling in England, he eventually began to be exposed to American hip-hop artists like Eminem, Usher, Nelly, Snoop Dogg, and Ciara. While attending university in Norwich, he began to create music, primarily utilizing an American accent to mirror the artists that he had listened to. Eventually, however, he switched to using a Nigerian-British before going into music full-time. His unique voice mixes Hip-Hop, spoken word, and singing, to create a very distinct aesthetic to his music. The fun interplay between Afrobeats, Highlife, Hip-Hop, and Funk seems to permeate his musical interplay with serious themes that he often discusses, including the Black experience in the West. Ultimately though, as he says in his 2023 song Who Let Him In, “What is it? What is it? Keep asking what is it? Hip-hop, punk, afrobeats, spoken word, poetry, Psychedelia, funk, R&B,It is he, it is me, big OB, nobodies prodigy”. Thus, Obongjayar has become one of the most artistically distinctive voices of this decade.
His most recent works have analysed the state of society, both locally and internationally. A press release quotes him as saying, “Where’s our united humanity? Where is our united love for our brothers and sisters and children looking for safety and opportunity? Where is the love for our planet?” He asks in his 2023 song Just Cool, where the tranquillity is, and why power structures need to reinforce a system of violence on those searching out a better life. To “just let me cool”, seems to be a cry to let each to their own. In a world that is finding itself locked up, and increasingly hostile to migrants, the idea of being “Just Cool” helps one navigate the “Hyperbolic, Catastrophic…Catatonic, S**t parade” that humanity is currently experiencing. As he says in a spoken word part of the song “There’s nothing new to celebrate. There’s nowhere left to run away. They’re closing off the open seas. They’re locking off the runways. They keep telling me the one thing. So far from everything I see. Your hands are covered in blood stains” Thus, as migration increasingly becomes politicized, and the rhetoric against those searching out safer countries than their own increases, the anthems surrounding the cry for freedom will resonate much more deeply.