TOBi or not TOBi: It seems like everything L.A.-based rapper and singer TOBi puts his name to of late turns to gold. His Shall I Continue? and Elements Vol. 1 releases saw the Juno Awards fly in as his stock rose. His still-blossoming success is fully deserved, too; TOBi’s melodic, soulful, genre-blending hip-hop transcends trends as the artist focuses on his art.

“I started writing music when I was 8 years old,” he says. “It started off as poetry in response to my environment, and then I started recording music myself at 13. And then I became a professional artist I’d say when I was 24, after I finished university and was working for a little bit. That was 2016.”

TOBi majored in biology and minored in psychology at uni and he says that while he took a different career path, his studies make their way into his music.

“It does, because it shapes my world view,” he says. “It shapes how I look at the world around me. I look at things from a material standpoint, as well. Because science is all about asking questions. The purpose of science isn’t to say we have all the answers, it’s to continue to ask the right questions. That’s what I base my art around.”

The artist was born in Nigeria and he moved to Canada with his family when he was 9 years old.

“First time I ever saw snow was the day I landed,” he says. “It’s interesting because people would say, ‘Your English is so good.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, Nigeria is a British colony so English is our first language.’ So yeah, it was just about learning how to assimilate into the Canadian, North American culture while retaining my ancestry.”

TOBi was able to go to Africa last December, when he performed at the AfroFuture festival in Ghana. He’s planning to visit Nigeria next year. Fortunately, he hasn’t been deprived of Nigerian food while in Canada.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so blessed because in Toronto there’s so much Nigerian food, I’ve never lacked when it comes to cuisine,” he says. “But I will say, I wish I had a firmer grasp of my traditional language, which is yorùbá. I’ve tried as an adult to relearn it, so I’m currently in that process right now.”


TOBi relocated from Canada to Los Angeles during the pandemic.

“I just packed all my bags and I was like, ‘I’m out of here,’” he says. “I really wanted to finish the album, because I was working on the album with the producer Alex Goose prior to the world shutting down, and then we started working remotely on Zoom and over the Wi-Fi, and it just felt very vacuous. It didn’t feel like we were going anywhere. So I was like, ‘I’m just gonna move and we’ll lock in, and we’ll do it in person.’ That’s what happened. I’m glad I made that move. It was the right decision.”

After a couple of years in La-La Land, TOBi feels at home.

“There’s pockets in L.A. that I’m like, I’m really gravitating toward,” he says. “There’s such a rich landscape of artists here, not just musicians but visual artists. Sculptors, architects, and I’m always inspired. I’m constantly inspired while I’m out here, so I do like it out here a lot.”

Throughout it all, TOBi has spent the past three years or so releasing quality track after quality track. The albums have been superb, right up to new full-length PANIC. The man himself says that he’s constantly learning about the art of songwriting.

“I’ve never been formally trained in music making,” he says. “Everything has been DIY, and the more art I intake, the more my life experiences grow and I’m shaped by the world around me, and I grow as a human being. It affects how I create music as well. It affects the content, the delivery, and the intention behind it.”

This new album has been four years in the making.

“For Panic, the first session I ever had was in August 2019, and that was with Alex Goose and a musician named Jon Bap,” TOBi says. “Over the course of the next few years, we got musicians from all over to contribute to it. We got Daniele Luppi from Italy to do the strings on it, we got Phil Ranelin who’s an underground jazz icon from Indiana, he plays the trombone on it and his voice is on the intro and outro. And then we have all these amazing musicians from L.A. sprinkled throughout the album, contributing a bass line here or adding some sort of texture to the overall tapestry. We really wanted to make it feel like it was the score to a movie. A movie that you would paint in your mind.”

TOBi considers PANIC to be a very personal project, particularly because he wrote about 99% of the lyrics.

“Thematically, I talk about things that are important to me, like mental health, social issues and not just issues but social stories – the human story,” he says. “I consume a lot of news, journalism, documentaries, so I like to be as aware of the world around me as possible. I noticed that I think humans, we’re getting into this place where it’s increasingly polarizing in terms of views and ideologies. Personally, I wanted to use the album to bring some sort of solace at the end, with the two songs ‘Protect You’ and ‘How Much Longer.’”

TOBi has been here long enough now to consider himself very much a part of the L.A. rap scene.

“I’m really fortunate, man,” he says. “Coming to L.A., I connected with rappers and singers that are from L.A., like generations in L.A. Inglewood, even the Valley, people who lived here and they’ve been open to collaborating with me and I appreciate that for real. Because there’s a really strong community here that I like to tap into, and collaborate with them. Show people that even though I’m from another place, I respect what’s been going on here before I came here.”

TOBi will spend the rest of the year and much of 2024 promoting PANIC. He’s touring North America and Europe with Mick Jenkins in the first quarter, hitting L.A. on Feb. 8.

“I just want people to hear it and people to feel something from it, because we really put our heart and soul into it,” he says. “I want people to gain something from it. Don’t forget to live, enjoy life.”

Good call.

TOBi or not TOBi: TOBi’s PANIC is out now. He performs with Mick Jenkins on Feb. 8 at the El Rey Theatre.
&list=OLAK5uy_mImvh8nj1qb5Tl0FzP2JL3b6Zfox7vd50


 
Editor's note: The disclaimer below refers to advertising posts and does not apply to this or any other editorial stories. LA Weekly editorial does not and will not sell content.