The alté pioneer on the laidback brilliance of his new album Gbagada Express
To be a musician in Lagos, it's important to have motivation and peace of mind. For Boj and many other alté musicians, that motivation is self-expression. In essence, Boj wants to tell stories about his experiences and create melodies that are born straight out of his soul. “I just make music that I enjoy and tell my experiences. And the only thing I want you to feel when you listen to it, is inspired. I want creative people to hear my music and know that they can do things their own way,” Boj tells us.
And this is exactly what it means to be alté, the term used to describe Lagos’ underground and genre-bending Afro fusion sound. The word was first coined in the 2014 song ‘Paper’ by DRB Lasgidi aka Boj and his school friends Teezee and Fresh L. “I can't remember who said it first but it just stuck. So, anytime we went out and saw somebody with the deepest kind of swag, we would just go like ‘Oh see that alté guy’. And then I said it in that song.” Since then, alté has been used to describe this force of new school artists across the African diaspora. “We knew that we were building a mad community and that we were inspiring young guys to feel free to do whatever they wanted to do. But we didn't know that the ‘alté’ word would later be used to describe the whole movement.”
Boj’s latest album ‘Gbagada Express’ is his first solo project since 2017. With heavyweight features from Davido, Wizkid, Mr. Eazi and Tiwa Savage, DarkoVibes, Enny, Fireboy, Obongjayar and Amaarae among others, the LP has been doing incredible streaming numbers. Using Tweets as a yardstick to measure which track has received the most love, the ‘Awolowo’ remix featuring Wizkid bags that award. This one, like all the other features, happened naturally. “That collaboration fell into my lap. I was just chilling one day and I got a call from DarkoVibes who told me Wiz wanted to jump on ‘Awolowo’. It literally blew my mind.”
This pioneer has kept fans waiting a long time for a new album but has spent that time discovering more of himself. He underwent two moments of self-realisation, the first in 2018 as a result of spending time with Skepta and his manager, Grace Ladoja. “These are people who are big in their field and the way they work inspired me. Anytime they think of something and believe strongly in it, they act on it immediately. They have humility too, in the realest kind of way. They put people on based on merit and not connections. They put me on ‘Like 2 Party’ simply because I had the vibes and talent. And that gave me a new ginger. After that, I dropped three amazing records including ‘Your Love’ with Tiwa Savage.”
The second moment of growth came during the 2020 lockdown, which lead to the birth of ‘Gbagada Express'. Boj found time to tap into his core and discover what truly works for him and the people he wanted around him. And unlike many other artists, Boj has never felt pressured to rush his creative process to keep up with other artists. “At some point, my team were confused as to how laidback I was about the project dropping, but the thing is that I just believe so strongly in what I'm doing and that everybody's journey is different. So long as I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I know that I'm headed in the right direction.”
“I want creative people to hear my music and know that they can do things their own way”
There have been debates about the fear that Africa might be losing afrobeats to global acts like Drake and Beyoncé, who have been credited for the widespread adoption of the genre. On this topic, Boj muses: “We can't do anything about our music crossing over and other people making their own variations of it. We only have to control the narrative and not let anyone tell our stories for us. I feel that's the best we can do. We have to own our thing, but it's okay if others want to make sounds similar to ours.”
Boj agrees that Western culture has influenced alté culture, including his own sound. “The UK might have influenced my sound. One of my tracks on the album is a drill record.” But when it comes to his personal style, he gives full credit to his girlfriend, fashion PR Dunsin Wright. “When you see me in some really clean looks, just know it's from her.” The artist, who takes every opportunity he has to flaunt his girlfriend on his social media, believes that he'll only feel optimum fulfilment in life through family. “I want to start a family at some point, be happy and have financial freedom. I already have freedom of expression, but I want to continue on that path without boundaries."
Discover ‘Gbagada Express’ here.