Scaling Mount Fuji
Afrobeats artists and producers unearth past Fuji records to create today’s hits.
In the quest to find the next sound wave, Afrobeats producers have been mining classic Fuji records to score the next big hit.
Uber producer Sarz's late 2024 single. 'C'mon Look' samples the vocals of the Fuji living legend K1 D Ultimate p/k/a King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall 1 (KWAM 1) off the track 'Won Tun Nna' off his 1999 album 'Fuji Fusion.'
It is not the first time Sarz has done this. In August, he co-produced Asake's banger 'Active,' featuring Travis Scott, off his third album, 'Lungu Boy.'
The hit single is a smorgasbord of sounds - Eurodance, New Orleans bounce, Amapiano and Nigerian pop.
The piece de resistance is Adewale Ayuba's sampled vocals stripped from the early Afrobeats classic/immortal party starter 'Raise Da Roof' by Jazzman Olofin and produced by the late producer, OJB Jezreel.
Even street pop's once golden child (now outcast), Zinoleesky, dropped 'Fuji Garbage,' which lazily interpolates 'Fuji Garbage Series II' by the genre's founder Sikiru Ayinde Barrister.
These breadcrumbs and Asake's meteoric rise point to the genre's influence in today's pop landscape.
Why is a genre created in the 1960s now a sampling choice and inspiration for our beatmakers and singers?
"Afrobeats aligns with the American hip-hop ethos of sampling. Golden-age hip-hop producers were crate-diggers sourcing inspiration from old and obscure records," says psychiatrist and cultural critic Dami Ajayi.
This statement is true. Afrobeats, even in its early stages, borrowed not only from Hip-Hop (its inspiration) but old Nigerian records. The scathing diss record ‘Omode Meta’ by Tony Tetuila featuring Plantashun Boyz and Ruff Rugged N' Raw features an interpolation of a Yoruba folktale song.
The producer of that seminal record, Paul 'Play' Dairo, the son of Highlife legend I.K. Dairo remixed his father's legendary record, 'Mo So Rire.'
As far back as 1996, Weird MC sampled Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's 'Look and Laugh' for her breakout single 'Allen Avenue.'
MOUNT FUJI
The truth is that Fuji has never been static. It has always been in transition. The genre's progenitor Barrister extracted Fuji from Were (way-ray), an improvisational style reminiscent of a Muezzin's call to prayer in Islam, popular in the 1950s and sung during Ramadan festivals.
From the 1980s to the 1990s, the rivalry between Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and his former childhood friend/nemesis, Alhaji Ayinla Kollington, spurred innovation in the genre.
Their battles created invigorating and progressive albums—Ijo Yoyo, Fuji Garbage, and Lakukulala.
While the Fuji gods continued to throw jabs, a former roadie and singer of Barrister, Wasiu Ayinde Barrister (to be later known as Wasiu Ayinde Marshal), launched his career in 1984.
His 1980 album, Iba, started his illustrious and legendary career*. KWAM 1 would seek innovative means to broaden the genre's mainstream appeal.
His 1989 album 'Fuji Rapping' reflected his recognition of Hip-Hop's growing influence on Nigeria's youth culture (even though there was hardly any rapping on it). His mentor Barrister loosely rapped on 'Fuji Garbage Series II' released in 1988.
Then came the swinging '90s. KWAM 1 put Fuji in the premier position with his 1994 album, 'Consolidation.' In 1996, his 'Legacy' album featured dancehall star Blackky, stretching Fuji's artistic width.
On the LP, KWAM 1 hailed himself as the 'Capo di Tutti' (the phrase is Capo di tutti capi, which means 'Boss of all Bosses in Italian).
While King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall asserted his dominance in the genre, three Fuji artists (Pasuma Wonder, Adewale Ayuba and Obesere) emerged to input millennial sensibilities.
Obesere was known for his risque content. Adewale Ayuba and his style of 'Bonsue Fuji' helped give the genre a clean, cut and professional image when many began to perceive it as music for street urchins. Pasuma Wonder was perhaps the most liberal of the trio, quickly embracing not only Hop-Hop but rising early Afrobeats acts as well.
He dubbed himself African Puff Daddy and released an album of the same name in the late 90s. He also featured on The Remedies’ single 'Jealousy' off their debut album 'Peace Nigeria.' This song started his long relationship of working with pop acts from Kween to Olamide.
AFROBEATS & FUJI
In the new millennium, contemporary Nigerian pop music emerged as the definitive sound of the youth, signalling the decline of Fuji music in the pop spaces.
Although KWAM 1, Pasuma Wonder, Obesere, Adewale Ayuba, and the hardliner Saheed Osupa remained as omnipresent as ever, their influence was (and still is) evident in the countless stickers adorning thousands of danfo buses across Lagos - the country's music capital.
While Fuji did not have a bonafide breakout star during this period, the genre's influence on quintessential tracks like 'Yahooze,’ 'Pere' and 'Raise Da Roof' was hard to miss.
And Fuji popped up in unexpected spaces. The classically trained Darey featured Gospel Fuji act (I know it sounds weird) Dekunle Fuji and rapper Ikechukwu on his pop crossover attempt - 'Fuji (Dance).'
Dekunle Fuji brought the genre into the church with hits like 'Mo Like Jesu Gan,' which resonated with younger Christians and became part of the new-age Christianity that appealed to millennials seeking to balance the freedom of youth with the constraints of religion.
This new-age gospel kicked off by Kirk Franklin bringing Hip-Hop energy into the House of the Lord was cultivated locally by KUSH (originally a three-women group of Lara George, TY Bello and Emem) and the rabble-rousing duo of Roof Top MCs.
Made up of So Kleva and Soul Snatcha, Roof Top MCs were particularly gifted in fusing genres of music, especially Fuji, rap and rock music. Blessed to have worked with one of Nigeria's most gifted producers, Cobhams Asuquo, the rap group crafted the head-scratching and instantly catchy singles - 'Lagi Mo' and 'Shock Therapy.'
'Shock Therapy' from their sophomore album, 'Shock Therapy Upgrade: The 2nd 1st Impression,' channels the rage of AC/DC and the 'agbero' swag of Fuji.
With 'Lagi Mo,' Kleva and Snatcha adopted Linkin Park's acid rap template to create a more successful single, bolstered by a captivating Fuji hook.
Despite these Fuji influences, the genre has not produced a sensational act in three decades.
The artist LKT tried to add a contemporary twist, but his presence became minimal after the release of his debut album. Dammy Krane, a once-promising act, couldn't quite grasp the skills needed to pull it off.
For tastemakers, the reason Fuji hasn't churned out young stars by the boatload is simple - Afrobeats.
"Since 9ice, at every point in Afrobeats history, there have been one or two musicians who are capable of singing Fuji but do Afrobeats instead. Olamide would kill a Fuji set, ditto for the late Mohbad. Seyi Vibez and Asake, too" offers Dami Ajayi.
Pasuma Wonder who celebrated his 40th year on stage told Punch, in 2020 that, "It is sad that budding fuji artistes now prefer to sing Hip-Hop. After Shanko Rasheed and his set, we have yet to find other young artists doing fuji music."
From 'Pakurumo' by Wizkid and 'Alaye Mi' by LKT to 'Ashimapeyin' by Wande Coal, Afrobeats incorporated Fuji as a stylistic crutch rather than embracing it as a standalone genre.
Even the voice of the streets, Olamide used Fuji to double down on his street cred. Check 'Omo Anifowoshe' featuring the vocals of KWAM 1 off his 2013 album - Baddest Guy Ever Liveth, and 'Oga Nla' featuring Lil Kesh and Pasuma from his 2014 album 'Street OT.'
A MASQUERADE, A PEACOCK AND AN OPERA
In the year of the pandemic, K1 D Ultimate released 'Fuji: The Sound,' an EP featuring remakes of some of his classic records. The track 'Ade Ori Okin' became a runaway hit and a mainstay of parties and wedding receptions outside the South-West bloc.
SIDE NOTE: Abisagboola Oluseun (Bankulli), formerly of Mo' Hits, served as A&R and co-executive producer on Fuji: The Sound. Bankulli would be instrumental in influencing Wande Coal's penning of Ashimpayeyin, an interpolation of 'Eyin Mama E Sempe' by KWAM 1 when he managed the pop singer.
Earlier in 2020, social media exhumed Obesere's hit record, 'Egungun Be Careful' and used it as a humorous warning not to try anything stupid. The track's resurrection sparked interest in 'Omo Rapala's career and led to a remix with rapper/Street-Hop act Zlatan.
However, before this mainstream fascination in 2020, the alte sub-culture championed Obesere for his counter-culture and cross-dressing antics at the peak of his career.
With his androgynous garb, Obesere also shocked Puritans when he featured the top-heavy C-list actress Cossy Orjiakor in the music video collection of his 2001 album 'Apple Juice.'
Who would have known that almost two decades later, 'Papa Tosibe' would inspire a subset of Gen-Zs to colour outside the lines of popular convention?
Interest in Fuji went beyond one individual who featured an actress with city-girl aesthetics in his music videos. Young Nigerians were hungry for Fuji, and this was indicative of the success of Fuji: A Opera.
Conceived by Bobo Omotayo, in its maiden edition, Fuji: A Opera "explored the music genre and its sub-culture through archive footage, costume, memorabilia, and imagery."
Fuji: A Opera has gone on to have successful editions and concerts featuring the genre's biggest stars and legends.
"I ONLY LISTEN TO FUJI, GOSPEL, BADDO AND MYSELF"
'Lagos Island' is the name of Sikiru Ayinde Barrister's 2001 album. Alhaji Agba named this LP after the former capital of the state, a place renowned for its economic, historical, and cultural significance.
It is the heartbeat of the city with its narrow streets and roads crowded with 'danfos', motorcycles, and pedestrians. Boasting an urban landscape of colonial-era structures like the Brazilian Quarter, traditional Yoruba architecture, and modern high-rises, Lagos Island never sleeps.
During these nocturnal moments, it is more likely that you will hear a Fuji song coming from one of its claustrophobic streets.
Ahmed Ololade was raised in Lagos Island and was six years old when Mr Fuji dropped his album named after this part of Lagos.
Ololade, who later adopted the stage name Asake, showed almost no signs early in his career that he would become a neo-Fuji star. Listen to his 2021 single ‘Yan Yan’ and hear him flexing his Fuji chops.
In 2020, his surprise hit single 'Mr Money' positioned him as a likely future candidate for a one-hit wonder.
Even his breakthrough 2022 EP, 'Olalade Asake,' put him in line as the next star to emerge from the inner-city areas of Lagos using the same regurgitated template of materialism, consumerism and hedonism.
Then Asake dropped 'Palazzo' on our headtops. And the game was never the same.
Today, after three successful albums, he stands as an attestation of Fuji's strength to adapt to modern music trends.
Even though Asake laces his Fuji style with the schizophrenic (Amapiano-influenced) production of his collaborator Magic Sticks, he has never shirked away from being called a Fuji artist.
"Omo, me I be Fuji artist o. I only listen to Fuji, Gospel, Baddo and myself" he told The Native Magazine in its December 2022 edition. "I use actual musicians the same way Fuji artists do their thing; I'm just making my own more presentable to everybody," he stated.
On 'Lungu Boy', he paid homage to Fuji with the LP's closer, ‘Fuji Vibe’ which ended with a pulsating charge of drums (albeit mixed too cleanly for live Fuji album standards).
Wizkid, who Asake featured on 'MMS' took an interesting route by opening his latest album 'Morayo' featuring the vocals of K1 D Ultimate, when he performed at his mother's burial ceremony last October.
Even the prima donna, Ayra Starr took a slice of the Fuji action on 'Birds Sing of Money' the first track on her sophomore effort, 'The Year I Turned 21.'
Producer turned singer Pheelz interpolated Adewale Ayuba's 'Ijo Fuji' on 'Majo' off his 2024 EP, 'Pheelz Good II'. The Fuji elder statesman's career has flourished among the Afrobeats crowd from samples, interpolation and his 2021 record single 'Koloba, Koloba' becoming a hit in 2023.
The Fuji fixation might surprise people who think it is a genre for louts better known as 'area boys.'
"The Street Hop subgenre has always kept it real with Fuji. It is the upper echelon's mainstream’s turn" explains Ajayi about the recent fascination of Fuji by a certain 'elite' class of music listeners.
A sceptic might consider the digging Fuji crates as nostalgia bait.
Dami Ajayi counters this. "The 30s and 40-plus Afrobeats listeners can trace the music back to their origins. The teeming majority of Afrobeats (Gen Z) listeners and the Afrobeats to the world audience come to the sound fresh-eared and fresh-eyed."
WHAT'S NEXT FOR FUJI?
With an act like Tems refusing to be absorbed into the umbrella (but limiting) Afrobeats appellation and standing out as an R&B/Soul artiste and The Cavemen emerging as a Highlife band, we might soon witness the entrance of a stand-alone young Fuji act.
As for the sampling of Fuji records, is it a fad or is it here to stay? Dami Ajayi shares his thoughts, "It is a cautious yes, and here is why: for music to move forward, it must reflect backwards. Afrobeats musicians have not touched the treasure trove that is available to them. The music is genre-bending and just amazing. Our producers are getting better at their craft."
Mount Fuji will always be a destination for producers and singers to get inspiration. We are waiting for a Gen-Z undistilled Fuji act to climb down and make us dance.
Mount Fuji Playlists
*An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that K1 D Ultimate’s debut album was Talazo ‘84. It has been corrected to Iba released in 1980
Mr AOT2! This was a fantastic read. I’m a big fan of Dami Ajayi’s work so I was elated to see his name plastered across this article. Kudos to you and thanks for educating us on the history of Fuji 🤗
This is a brilliant read.