“Fire” is the latest single from Michigan-based Nigerian rapper Obie Iyoha—and we should add singer to that description. It is a hypnotic single about a seductive woman who the singer is infatuated with and he blatantly dismisses all the warning signs that make a relationship like this toxic. It's a soundtrack for the age of reckless youth when the summer heat takes over and decision-making becomes an even more volatile process.
“Fire” is an ear worm that can be played anywhere: a nightclub in Lagos, a bar in Brooklyn, a coffee shop in London. This is thanks to Obie’s experiences and musical exposure from visiting Nigeria and growing up in North Carolina and Michigan. He recently found a producer, Motorcity Mello, to synthesize his musical identity into a cohesive sound. This didn’t happen overnight. In an interview with Afropop this February, he said of his producer: “He's African American. I would send him music like Fela, Brenda Fassie, and we started listening to more '90s artists like 2Face and then newer cats out. I had to put him on, then he started to catch the vibe. He's a musician, he plays drums and when he started to add that to the songs, I was like, now we are really rocking! We've been working together for about a year and a half to two years and we're finally starting to cook stuff. It’s all coming from one producer so it's very unified.”
Listen to the Afrobeats, hip-hop, dancehall and pop track below and add it to your summer rooftop hangout soundtrack.
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