BRYMO

Brymo is the conscience of a Nigerian music industry that has forgotten how to sing. How to sing about things that matter. How to tell or recall stories that have nothing to do with brandy bottles, barely dressed women or misogny. The stories he wants to tell instead are about - shockingly for a Nigerian artist - taking precautions with one’s sexual proclivities, paying homage to a God-designed monument, Olumo and the people who make its home city, Abeokuta tick. The diminuitive rapper often defies easy categorization. Judging by his last album, you would not be wrong to say he makes folk music. Look further in the past you might call him an R&B or soul artist. While he may experiment and shape shift with genres, a recurring factor is a sound that is crisp and an artist who constantly seeks to provoke engagement (with his work) on his own terms. Earlier this year, he released a video for his song ‘Hey Ya’ wearing nothing but a thong, playing a grand piano under Third Mainland Bridge with the structure in the distance. No, it was not controversy for the sake of it. It was the calling card of an artist who has something to say and knows how to make us gather round