FUJI MOTO

FUJI MOTO

If there were ever a question about Seyi Vibez’s ability to make ambitious leaps with his sound, let FUJI MOTO be the young singer-songwriter’s definitive answer. The Nigerian street-pop innovator has never been one to shy away from stretching the boundaries of his artistic practice. But on FUJI MOTO, he leans into a confident mastery of fújì, the popular Yoruba music born in ’60s Nigeria, using the genre as a driver to travel into diverse soundscapes. “I fit sing like Africana/I fit sing like European/I fit sing like sing like Italian/I fit sing like French/I fit sing like I’m from London,” he brashly declares on “TORTOISE MAMBO.” From there, he lets his versatility do the talking. If taking a fújì and Afro-house-infused spin on Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do for Love” (“HOW ARE YOU”) wasn’t enough to make his case, then tapping Olamide for a shakuhachi-led dance-floor number (“FUJI PARTY”), or calling on American rappers French Montana, Trippie Redd, and NLE Choppa for three separate tracks adapting their respective styles, should be enough to certify his stance. By the end of the project, we pick up where we left off with Children of Africa EP as its four tracks, “MARIO KART,” “MACHO,” “SHAOLIN,” and “HAPPY SONG,” make the cut. Within the context of FUJI MOTO, they find new purpose as foundational pieces in Seyi Vibez’s journey toward proving his global ideation.