It was late May or sometime in June. I was scrolling through Instagram when something stopped me. The protests for Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor were in full effect and I was stopped in my tracks by a video of a man dressed in an off white “suit” and gold fronts on his teeth hoping that his peoples get home tonight. Then in July, another video was released on the gram - same dress and now he was demanding justice for Breonna Taylor and Elijah McClain, but in a song. I watched the first one repeatedly. Each time floored. Each time the message so clear and obvious. Each time frustratingly crying. I didn’t know who Tobe Nwigwe was, never heard of him, but now I’m glad I was stopped in my tracks.
Tobe was a former division one football player who got injured and pretty much ended his football career. Tobe is also Nigerian American. His name Tobe is short for “Tobechukwu,” the Igbo word for “Praise God.” With a career in football all but gone he turned to hip-hop. In 2017 he dropped “Tobe from the Swat” then over the course of the next few years he released singles and a series of albums “The Originals, Three Originals, More Originals, and Fouriginals.” Each one, for me, more interesting than the last. And Interesting is putting it mildly. What he does is put words over beats created by his producer Nell, and when I say words that’s what I mean. Tobe is not doing typical hip-hop. Or hip-hop that would be expected. While he can do that, and has, there is something more unique to his style. Something that in terms of cooking: sure, you can season with pepper and salt but try paprika occasionally or cumin. Nell and him, along with his wife Fat (and no I’m not being rude that’s what Tobe calls her), are adding the paprika or cumin to their music. More plainly it is funky, and different. Which is what reeled me in.
The uniqueness to what he and Nell are creating is something to behold. I’ve never truly heard anything like this. But I can tell there is a lot of inspiration that they probably draw from. And, every musician or artist, is a product of those that inspired them. Whether it be that one song they heard that one time, or that one artist that whenever they put out a record you are buying it. Or singing in a choir or picking up your brother’s guitar for the first time, whatever it was that inspired you, you are a product of that. Those are the obvious, but it is what Tobe and Nell do with that inspiration that is so unique. His delivery on “The Pandemic Project” is slow and methodical. Purposeful with each word delivered. While Nell lays the sonic foundation for which Tobe can draw from. I’m taking a little artistic liberty with that last statement because I’m not sure how their music gets created. Everyone’s process is unique to them, and maybe it is as simple as Nell looping a beat and Tobe finding the right words. Regardless, however that process takes shape what comes from it is what we have, and what we have are six songs that are powerfully poignant.
The songs are honest. The six, technically five songs, are powerful. The project is short. Being so I was able to sort of live in it. Get myself inside the songs which is fun for me. Listening repeatedly. Having the music and words seep into my bloodstream and infect me with delicious emotions. That’s what I love. I could go track by track, and there is a standout track that was the reason for this whole me wanting to write about this. But rather than mention it you the reader should take the half hour or fifteen minutes and just listen to it. Music is a different experience for each listener. Rather than leave you hanging also the track is “Make it Home Tonight (featuring David Michael Wyatt).”
In the vain of these songs I would be doing an injustice to the ones that need justice for those who have been taken from us. George Floyd, Elijah McClain, Vanessa Guillen, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. And, those are just the ones we know. The album concludes with “Pandemic Outro” where Tobe, his wife Fat, and Nell have a conversation about the album. It is a peek behind the curtain that we don’t often get. When has an artist on their own album ever had a discussion with the people that helped produce the album on how the songs get made and even the meaning behind some of them? That is just one part of the outro. And said outro was funny and cool to listen as well.
I just want you all to make it home is a sentence that lingers inside me throughout the listening to the album. This album drives home the systemic change that we need to have happen. I’m tired of seeing my brothers and sisters of color being killed for some truly dumb reasons. And I say brothers and sisters because we all bleed red and because we are all of one race, the human one. I’m tired and I’m not a person of color, I’m not a brother or uncle or father to any of the people that have been killed. I can’t imagine how the black community feels or any of the communities where this is happening. I try to though. I will continue to try, because I will sleep when I die.
I am grateful to have found Nell, Fat, and Tobe’s music. For saying things that are in my head. For putting out something musically that isn’t hard to grasp. And for one simple word it is just, awesome. Listen to Tobe and Nell. Give them the time. Much love to you all. Arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor.