The affinity towards suits was a functional thing for me early on because I was thrifting at secondhand shops, and it was also initially a way of grieving - my father had passed, and he used to wear suits all the time.
Every single place that's brushed upon me has made me the artist that I am - from Nigerian Highlife music and the vocal melodies that I grew up on when I would be sitting with my father and his fellow chiefs, to the funk and freeness of the Bay Area groove, to L.A.'s smooth G-funk legacy, Brooklyn's lyricism, and now Atlanta's trap history.
Jesus' birthday is commercialized, so of course, Black History Month is commercialized.
My father raised me to build computers, hardware. Literally, as an 8 year old, I had a soldering iron and circuit boards, and this was in neighbourhoods that wouldn't have a whole lot of money or anything. And I figured out ways to just hustle.
While the majority of my childhood memories are beautiful, I also have experienced the challenges that Nigeria has faced since independence.
Swanky means classy and funky.
There are always pluses and minus to commercialization. It broadcasts something to the masses. So that's the plus. The minus is it may lose some of its meaning if you dilute it.
I've always been dabbling in suits, but like a lot of people in the neighborhoods I grew up in, I had my snapback; I had my v-neck. I still got them in the closet. I got my J's, my Forces; it was standard.
If we can believe in our own value, then we won't try to denigrate and diss and just roast women all the time.
I think one of the things that I picked up from Nigeria is the constant pressure to be excellent. Parents drill in this responsibility towards family, but also a responsibility toward making sure your family name is heralded.
I'm the guy on the corner that is slightly peculiar but fun and funky.
I don't have one geographic location that I'm exclusively loyal to.
I work predominantly with tailors from Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal.
America is haunted by an apparition steeped in slavery, and I wanted to remind everyone that, 'Yo, we've got to handle this.'
When I originally came to the U.S., my mother came with a couple hundred dollars to her name. I didn't know we were struggling because she hid that from me. But it was definitely a struggle to get through life and get through school.
The trick of Afrobeats is it doesn't just move your upper body, it moves your hips as well, and I think that's what people have been missing in popular music for a while. I think that's what people need around the world.
A classic man is a distinguished man. He cares about taste and his craft. He's all about the simple model that I live by - eat, drink, be swanky, and have fun getting the job done. He makes sure that he's excellent in all things and that he cares about his neighborhood immensely.
It's better to do your purpose imperfectly than to do someone else's purpose perfectly.
For me, it's important that as you're introducing yourself, you show different dimensions.
My style is not specific to the antebellum South, but it's heavily inspired by the Jim Crow era.
