Obongjayar is the moniker of Nigerian-born, London-based artist Steven Umoh.
With afrobeat, soul and hip-hop influences, Umoh has created a bold, genre-defiant musicality. His debut full-length, Some Nights I Dream of Doors, released in May 2022, represented an exploration of everything from familial expectation to self-seeking politicians. Growing up in Calabar, Nigeria, OB remembers his first love was US hip-hop. ‘Kanye, Lil Wayne, Nelly; everyone wanted to rap. I could always sing but rap was the cool thing and I never questioned doing anything else.’ Aged seventeen, he moved to London to be reunited with his mother. He continued making music, but after a few years, realised something wasn’t right. ‘I didn’t know why I was doing it, I just clocked; I am not American, so why am I rapping? That’s not my background, that’s not where I’m from and it’s not at the core of who I am. I had to find out what my own form of expression was.’
At 21, OB left London to move to Norwich. ‘If I hadn’t gone, I’d be making drill or rap now. Instead, I worked in a shop and I met DJs who listened to soul, afrobeat, all this Detroit cool shit; I listened to Radiohead, Billy Bragg, Fela Kuti; I fell in love with musicianship, I didn’t want to just rap over the PA, I realised I could be myself, experiment, do my own thing, and Obongjayar became a blend of everything; the singing, the spoken word, rap would come into it but it wasn’t the singular thing I was doing.’ Ever since working out his formula, he continues to experiment, while accolades and co-signs continually rolled in -early guest spots on Richard Russell’s Everything Is Recorded project (alongside the likes of Damon Albarn, Giggs and Sampha) and contributions to Detroit rapper Danny Brown’s 2019 album, U Know What I’m Sayin?. But it was his own EP, Which Way is Forward? that cemented him as one of the UK’s most exciting artists: ‘God’s Own Children’ won ‘Best Song Musically And Lyrically‘ at the 2021 Ivor Awards.
Obongjayar is prolific and unstoppable. In 2021 he went back to Nigeria and teamed up with Afrobeats producer Sarz on Sweetness; a four-track EP that reflects on the early stages of romance. Full of eighties-influenced synth-heavy pop songs, it’s like nothing he’s done before. In 2022 he featured on Pa Salieu’s ‘Style & Fashion’, as well as lending vocals to Little Simz’ ‘Point and Kill’. Both are zeitgeist setting collaborations, but for Some Nights I Dream Of Doors, OB kept the features to a minimum. “I’ve just got so much to say” he explains, “if that connects with other people, then cool, but as an artist, it’s my duty to express the world in the way I see it. I don’t want to make motifs, I want to make music that is relevant and timeless.”
Some Nights I Dream Of Doors received accolades from fans and critics alike, including a Best Album nomination at the 2022 Ivors. From there, the only way has been up for Obongjayar, from selling out shows in the UK, Europe and Australia, to collaborating with Fred Again on the 2023 hit ‘adore u’. His 2023 ‘Just Cool’, made in collaboration with Karma Kid has featured in a Google ad and the Amazon Prime series The Power, and follow up ‘Who Let Him In’ has equal staying power.
PRESS FOR OBONGJAYAR:
“Across a career that’s taken him from lowkey Soundcloud uploads to collecting high praise from critics and revered cultural institutions, Obongjayar increasingly appears to be among the most engaging voices of his generation.” Loud & Quiet (8/10)
“Rather than rush out what we might have expected on his debut, Umoh displays the mark of an artist growing in confidence: the capacity to try something exposing and uncertain. Thankfully, he succeeds.” Crack (7/10)