Hey TOBi, I know it’s early morning for you, so how are you today?

Pretty good, just got a couple of errands to run, but we’re here and alive!

I’ve never been to Canada, can you describe the music scene there?

The music scene is coming up right now, as there are a lot of different artists, blending different sounds, you know as they are not necessarily sticking to one type of format. Myself included, in Toronto, there is space now to be more of a creative artist and have your own unique sound and it doesn’t have to be what Toronto is traditionally known for, which is a good thing.

 You originally dropped ‘FAMILY MATTERS’ back in 2020 on your ‘ELEMENTS VOL 1’ drop in 2020, What made you want to go back to this track in particular and get Flo Milli involved?

I think this record was slept on the project, but a lot of people reached out saying it was one of their favourites. We wanted to give it some new life and energy, and Flo Milli's been killing it so it made sense to get her.

Lyrics like “Society got me questioning my sobriety” very clever and reflective, talk us through where the lyrics for this track resonate from?

I wrote that part of the song years ago in a dark place mentally… it's interesting putting out something years later and you've grown so much in that time. It's an interesting feeling.

You’ve done a few collaborations thus far, as I am also a fan of your songs on Elements with Juls, ‘Dollas and Cents’. What do you look for when you’re choosing collaborators?

I care about producers who really care about the art. You know, the ones who’ve really studied music and they really love music and that shows in the work that they put out. So that’s what I really look for and fresh sounds too, because in return it pushes me to try something new and as an artist, it forces me to be creative and tell a story in a new way, that hasn’t been done before.

As a Nigerian yourself, who else are you loving, and will you be collaborating with any more afrobeat artists?

Yeh, so I Love Olamide, and of course, you know Wiz Kid the OG, I’ve been trying to get him on a job, so hopefully, we make that happen!

‘ELEMENTS VOL 1’ which is a beautiful collection of songs, you’re not calling it an album, but a project can you explain why that is? 

Yeh absolutely, so I’m calling it a project because the intention, is not what I have when I make an album right, I just had all these songs as I was working on all this music with so many different producers and I wanted to put it out as a thread, that can continue throughout my career as an artist, that’s lived in between albums. Hopefully, that makes sense, as it’s giving me the freedom to keep growing.

With that being said, was it hard to decide which songs made the cut?

Yeh it always a tough process you know, there are some songs that we all loved (me and my team) but it’s like “does it make sense for this song to come out at this point in time” and not necessarily also not every song an artist creates is going to become public, right so actually that is the toughest part, saying no, saying goodbye or not now to a song. Yes, it’s almost like they are your babies, (laughs) Your creative offspring!

With most rappers there is common conversation in the lyrics, however, you seem to have a lot more to say and are very open when it comes to talking through your culture, masculinity, and mental health. Why is it important to you to be so transparent? 

My relationship with music has always been transparent. Whether I'm talking about myself or a story I'm inspired/influenced by. Of course, there are moments of hyperbole, but I prefer keeping it thorough.

How old were you when you wrote your first piece of poetry/rap and what was it about? 

My first poem/rap was at age 8. It was a story about an alternate universe called "The Zylex", where I was the protagonist like Neo from the matrix. I don't know how or why I came up with that shit but it’s always been a creative outlet.

You dropped a zine as a visual attachment to elements, it’s incredible. I love that it’s highlighting people with extraordinary stories, tell us about one of them that you're excited for people to read? 

Absolutely, I will talk to you about Elsa Majimbo she’s a comedian from Kenya and I thought her story was extraordinary because she really came into prominence when everyone was home, during this pandemic feeling confused and unaware of what the future was going to hold. Through the uncertainty, she brought light to a lot of people’s lives with her humour and comedy. I used to just watch her videos on Instagram because they gave me joy and made me happy. When it just felt like I was being berated with bad news all the time.

Well, i think everyone can relate to that!

T - (Laughs) Yeah right!

So yeah I just felt like she would be perfect and I reached out to see if she would want to be involved and she was really excited, so that really made me happy. Our Intention was to get a wide variety of people involved, so we are showcasing 10 individuals, A comedian, media personalities, artists, photographers, and even a soccer player on there, who plays for Toronto Fc, we actually went to high school together, so it was really cool to put my friends in there too because these are people in my life doing cool stuff and inspiring me.

We’ve even got Masia One who is a dance – hall artist from Malaysia, west Indies sounds, we really went global with this and it was a team effort, as someone within my camp, came up with the original idea for this and I guess it sums up our ethos, as we look to be inclusive, we want to include people and share stories outside of our own, in our creative process.

Ok, I feel like your time in lockdown was really inspired and productive?

Lockdown was definitely an ebb and flow of creativity for me, I was pretty active the whole time really, whether it was with my music or working on videos and concepts. Which is a privilege and a blessing right, to say I was still able to have creative outlets. So yeah when I look back on what a year that 2020 was, it’s special to think how prolific we can still be when we are not in our day-to-day living. We are able to adapt and do whatever we want.

2021 what else can we expect from tobi? 

New Music, you can expect an album, definitely expect that, and it’s unlike anything I’ve done before!

You’ve mentioned before that your mum would always share yoruba proverbs, to get you through hard times, how about a proverb for the year ahead? 

Ok, I’ve got loads, but this is one that I think works…

Aki i bo sinu omi tan kan maa sa fun otutu

One does not enter into the water and then runs from the cold. (Precautions are useful only before the event.)