Odunsi (The Engine)

“hectic” was interesting because the first part of it was just 234jaydaa. I was just recording with her, and we were

trying some stuff. I wrote that part, but I wanted someone else to sing it. We were also trying to work on another song,

that’s why, if you notice, at the start of the song, she says, “I’m just gonna read it,” but the recording already

started. She was reading and singing it and it just sounded so beautiful. I was thinking of making it a full song, then

I made this other song, “hectic.” I sent it to Amaarae, and she just slides on it. It was the kind of R&B stuff I grew

up on. For me to hear myself making music that sounded like what I grew up on, it just gave me confidence that it was

what I was meant to be doing. It sounded like the quality level that I admire. At that time, Solis was already sending

me demos. She used to sing covers on her webcam. She was just coming up and making lo-fi pop vibe, and I thought she’d

do well on it.

I always wanted to make a song that was neo-soul but had an afro bounce to it. It didn’t exist at that point, so I was

like, “I wanted to make one.” In my brain, I just knew that it was possible to do it. I used to think about it all the

time because I love neo-soul. So, I would always think of a way to do it with gbedu. When I did the chords and put the

drum pattern together, I was like, “Yeah, this is it.” It was exactly how I imagined it. I sent it to Tay after a while.

I already had the song for a bit. Tay and I were exchanging music. We have so many songs we’ve not released. One day, I

just sent him “green light.” I wasn’t sure he’d like it that much, but he sent it back right after, and I was like,

“This is perfect.”

This one is very interesting because I was making that beat for Santi. We were all in the crib in Magodo (Lagos), and I

was in the studio cooking up. This was a period when there was a series of nights out, and I just made the beat off of

that energy, and I had Efe Jazz come play that guitar riff that’s now become super popular. At that time, Ifeanyi

(Nwune) was managing Runtown, and Runtown was in Los Angeles. Ifeanyi told me he’d send the song to Runtown, so I sent

the song to him. I wasn’t thinking much about it like that, and then, one day, I got a FaceTime video call from Ifeanyi.

He just has his phone up and he’s smoking a blunt. He was in this studio that’s like an open studio, and Runtown is in

the back, and I’m hearing Runtown’s verse. I’m telling myself that this is the craziest Runtown verse I’ve ever heard. I

was like, “Yeah yeah, this one is perfect.” I didn’t even hear the final thing until later, but just off that phone

call, it sounded great.

I like this one a lot. I made it one week after I made “wanted you,” and I was like, “I want to do more of that” because

I had so much fun making “wanted you.” Off the confidence of how “wanted you” sounded, I knew I wanted to make something

like that again. While making it, I wasn’t sure it was going to be on the project, but it made it.

Nasty C was in Lagos, and we met up. That was actually fun because we would go around Lagos at night, and I was with

Santi and one of my homies, Genio. So, we met up with Nasty C, and we made that song. It was a very interesting one

because at that time, South African-Nigerian link-ups were very popular, but there wasn’t anything really happening in

the underground like that. Working with Nasty C and having Santi on it was very important.

“take a break” and “outcast” were made around the same time, maybe between two days. I was just realising that I could

say things, like I could say what was directly happening to me. I had just gotten off the phone with my mum because I

wasn’t really seeing my mum a lot since I started working on music. I was just able to put the feeling directly into the

music. I just had to figure out that I was talking to myself. It feels harder when it feels like I’m talking to people.

When it’s just a self-dialogue, it gets easier without knowing that I’m making a song for people or that they’re going

to listen to it.

I love “angel,” this is my second favourite song from the album. It was an interesting song to make because at that

time, I was conceptualising the idea of an offspring, and I was thinking of what song I would like my kid to hear from

me if I had a child in the future. In my head, “angel” was that song, and that was the concept behind it. Duendita was

an artist whom I had found at that time, whose voice was very special to me. I just messaged her about the song, and we

made it.

I don’t remember the era I made it, but I was getting very bold because I remember making it, and GMK was in the

bathroom. He came out and was like, “What the fuck are you doing? This is weird,” and I was like, “Yeah, I like it.” I

remember making the beat separately and recording the song later that night. I was just super inspired by the ‘80s

classics by Bobby Brown and Ralph Falcon, just that smooth ‘80s programmed drums, reverbs, and snares. That was what

motivated that one.

So with this one, I woke up from one of those naps where you’re sweating. You just took an evening nap, and you wake up,

and it seems like a war just happened. I see like seven missed calls on Snapchat, and it’s from Tycoone, who’s David’s

creative director. I hit him back, and he’s like, “Where are you? David wants to see you.” I’m like, “What the fuck?

Alright, bet.” So, I pull up and we go to this place called Shisha Lounge back then. David has this whole entourage, and

there were so many people around him. I think Peruzzi was with him at that time, and this producer called Fresh. I

wanted to sit on the other side because there were so many people, but Davido called me over to sit right beside him. I

was nervous as hell. I was very antisocial at that time. He then told me to start playing music, and I played “outcast,”

then I played “falling,” and he said, “Them go love you for Yankee.” He then asks me to play him stuff I’d not worked

on, and I had the beat for “divine” from Hvrry, the producer. The beat only played for three seconds, and he was like,

“Yeah, this is the one.” That was the first time I’d ever seen someone do that; he hadn’t even heard the beat for long

enough, but he was just like, “Let’s go.” So, we got into the cars and we went to Eko Hotels. He rented out a suite, and

we set up there to work on the song. He kind of added some production stuff; it was the first time I’d seen him work in

person, so it was interesting to see how involved he was in the process. Later on, I found out that he used to produce

music. Working with him was interesting. I feel like if life permits it, and we work on music together again, it would

always be interesting because there’s a certain understanding of production.

“outcast” is very inspired by my life experiences up until that point, when I was working on the album. I had a very

interesting self-perception where it felt like I wasn’t really fitting into places as naturally as I would have liked,

even if I tried to. It was reflecting on the light that came on me, so that’s why that song was a very interesting point

for me. I remember making it and knowing that I know how to express myself on songs easily without saying too much. I

had just started recording music properly, like one and a half years prior. So, I was getting better as the second

passed and it’s a song that made me feel that I could say things easily. I was at Magodo (Lagos) in GMK’s house when I

made “outcast.” It’s where I made most of the songs.

I started this one and sent it to Hamzaa, and I was like, “Yo, just go crazy,” and she did. I feel like she’s one of my

favourite vocalists that I’ve ever heard. She’s one of the earliest people that it’s been super easy to talk to about

music because she really loves soul music, and I love soul music as well. She just understood certain things I’d say and

be interested in, and she has a great voice, too. When she sent “take me there” back to me, I was like, “Woah, this is

such a big voice.” I loved it because I knew I wanted this song. At this time, I hadn’t even thought about sequencing or

anything, but I just knew that this song was needed because it had this kind of transitional feeling towards the rest of

the project.

There wasn’t anyone around me who influenced me or this sound. I was really just interested in ‘80s pop music at that

time because I was revisiting some Nigerian classics and some TV shows that had dropped at that time. I found out Chris

Okotie used to make pop music, and the quality of the music was great. There was William Onyeabor as well. It was nice

to see people who experimented with synth music who were from where I’m from and looked like me. Making “falling” made

me realise what the project was supposed to sound like. I teased it the night I made it, the video is still somewhere on

my Twitter (X), and from the response I got, I was sure that this sound was where I wanted to go. I was able to

communicate as naturally as I could, but it still had all the elements I liked.

I was actually devastated around this time because I had just lost my laptop. I was working on a different album, which

I thought was going to be my first album. Something happened to my laptop, and I sent it to someone to fix, and they

just ran away with it. So, all the music I’d been working on up till then was gone. I had to start from scratch. “Rare”

was one of the last songs on the album. I had this guy called DAP The Contract help me on that. He’s very great at

arranging. I had met DAP through another friend, Seni Saraki. DAP and I would exchange music all the time, and I saw how

mature his perspective was. That was good for me because at the time, I didn’t have too many resources to see all the

people I was studying on a global level, but he gave me the same kind of feeling that I would have expected from those

people because of the understanding he had, and he was also close to home. He helped with the arrangement of “rare.” The

song started with me hanging out with Hamzaa one day, and she was playing the piano. I sent a voice note to her a few

days prior, just saying those words, and she sang it that way. That’s how that came together, and we eventually got DAP

to do some additional vocals because I wanted it to sound like gospel or a choir.