The Hip Hop African

By Zainab Ahmed

Tobe Nwigwe, an Igbo Nigerian-American rapper, teams up with his wife Martica “Fat” Nwigwe for their song “Fye Fye.” In the video Tobe and Fat are surrounded by dancers who are in green and white attire, the colors of the Nigerian flag. Tobe Nwigwe raps about loving his wife and kids. As well as his Blackness with him rapping “if you Black we nsync bye bye bye.” Then his wife Martica “Fat” Nwigwe comes out pregnant in a light green fluffy crop top with a full skirt. She is also wearing a Ichafu which is the traditional headwrap for Igbo women. Even though Martica is not Nigerian, but is actually African-American, is very important. She is showing appreciation to her husband’s culture with her outfit and in one of lines she mentions oracles which were a big part of pre-colonial Igbo traditional religion. The entire cast emphasizes Pro-Black unity that mixes African-American culture, such as rap and attire (durags for instance), with Nigerian aesthetics, symbolism and attire. The mixing of these two represents the Nwigwe family especially his children who are half Igbo Nigerian and half African-American.

Tobe Nwigwe has been a rising star in the entertainment world. He was born in Houston, Texas to Igbo Nigerian parents in 1987 and has been very active in music since 2016. Nwigwe met his wife while working on his charity, a nonprofit named TeamGINI. The name is derived from “Gini Bu Nkpa Gi?” and it means “What’s your purpose?” in the Igbo language. He started his music career posting original songs every Sunday on Instagram and Youtube which garnered him much attention. This success would lead him to be at the 2018 BET Hip Hop cypher and the following year on Tinydesk. The Tinydesk concert elevated him further with Michelle Obama’s workout playlist featuring “I’m dope.” In 2020 he made a song bringing awareness to the Breonna Taylor situation titled “I need you to (Breonna Taylor” and again performed on BET at the Hip hop awards.