THE HIP HOP PROP
Wasps star BIYI ALO is a big noise on the field AND in the recording studio. Meet…
Welcome to my other world,’ says Biyi Alo, as he stoops his head to enter the low-ceilinged, soundproofed recording studio.
With vinyl records from Kanye West, Snoop Dogg and Nas mounted on the walls, it feels a long way from the conservative lines of the rugby pitch. The Wasps prop is approaching one million streaming hits on Spotify and has just been working on his latest video, Chopper Sounds, set around a london estate.
‘People think you should do one or the other: music or rugby,’ he says. ‘You wouldn’t expect someone from rugby to go into music because it’s a public school, white, male sport. You wouldn’t really expect a black guy from london to be in professional rugby.
‘When I wrote my first song back in 2018, I just played it to myself because I didn’t want my team-mates to hear it. I’d been in love with music for a long time, mainly writing poems.
‘my worry was, “I’m a big tighthead prop, do I really want to come across as this guy with all these deep feelings?”
‘I had a couple of team-mates round for dinner, put my song on and left the room. I came back in and I realised most of my concerns were just in my head. I put my heart on my sleeve a bit and the guys quite admired it.’
Alo’s profile is growing in the underground music world, featuring regularly on urban music shows and collaborating with producers and videographers. And his songs are also growing in popularity with his most-feared critics: his team-mates.
‘There’s a whole diverse range of people in the changing rooms and guys I wouldn’t expect have come up to me and repeated lines from a song I have done,’ he says.
‘I would be like, “Hang on, you always play the Frozen soundtrack in the gym — I didn’t think my stuff would connect with you!”
‘There are still some guys there who won’t listen to anybody but oasis but rugby is seeing a lot more characters now. People are learning to be themselves more.’
one of his team-mates, Gabriel oghre, even asked to feature in his recent Blame Game video. ‘He curled his hair and wore his best shirt!’ laughs Alo. ‘He came all the way from coventry to Sussex so I was really happy to see his support.
‘We had an old white Ferrari for that video and I’ve only driven modern cars, like my Golf with its automatic handbrake. I forgot to lift up the handbrake so that shoot almost got written off!’ For now, rugby is still very much Alo’s priority. He once held the record for being the Premiership’s heaviest player, weighing in at 22st 7lb (143kg), but he has lost over two stone and is now focused on another play-off push with Wasps. ‘I’m in here whenever I get time off but the games have to take priority,’ he says. ‘I am 128kg (20st 2lb) now. ‘my life decisions now wouldn’t let me get back to what I was before. I was bingeing a lot or emotionally eating — eating when I was angry or annoyed and not thinking about the bigger picture. I would think, “This burger is nice, I will eat it”. Now I think of why I am feeling a certain way and I think I have grown up a bit. It’s about keeping everything in balance. ‘With Wasps, nothing is holding us back any more. everyone silently knows this year is big for us and wants to deliver.’ As for his musical ambitions, Alo has equally big goals. ‘I want to do tours and shows,’ he says. ‘I want people to come to see me playing at a festival. ‘I’d like to do songs that fit into games, fit into movies, fit into those spaces. I believe in my music and I want to connect with audiences. But the main thing is that I do it for the love of it.’ l WASPS have asked the RFU to rule on the acceptability of exeter supporters wearing Native American head-dresses, ahead of hosting the chiefs in the Premiership on Saturday. The coventry club have asked exeter fans not to wear the head-dresses for the match ‘because they have the potential to cause offence’, following a request from a Wasps fan group.