The Game Assists TOBi With A Chilling New Verse To A Heartfelt Song About The Blues
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, MC/singer TOBi moved from Africa to Ottawa when he was 9 years old. There, the man raised as Oluwatobi Ajibolade began writing songs and poetry. As a teen, TOBi found his way into battle rapping. An old clip of TOBi battling a young Tory Lanez, who also soon found himself honing his singing and rapping skills together on wax, still floats around on the Internet.
In 2016, TOBi released his first EP, FYi. Last year, the African-Canadian dropped his debut studio album, STILL, via Same Plate Entertainment and Sony Music. One of STILL‘s standouts is the powerful, Soul-driven record, “City Blues.” The track boasts a somber, piano driven instrumental from production duo, Free n Losh. Lyrically, TOBi delves into the ships and struggles he and his family endured as a youth. Now, TOBi has enlisted the assistance of Compton’s The Game for a remix to last year’s original cut.
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To open, Ajibolade raps eloquently about navigating and surviving in the streets he grew up in. “It’s hard chilling with ni**as who only talk about bitches and never ’bout business / Misogynistic ’til they sisters get involved / Then it’s vengeance in the name of feminism, of course / Bragging ’bout who they piped down in high school, fool / What about right now? / Oh, you wanna fight, clown? / Want me to put the mic down / And leave me Mike Brown, light brown soaked in the concrete / Just beyond God’s reach? / So tell me what’s next? / Boys in blue paint the town red from all the bloodshed / Still interrogating myself / Tell me, how do crocodile tears fall from dry wells? / You can’t confuse fedora boy for a suspect.”
The Game follows with mutual intent, rapping methodically about overcoming adversity of his own. However, Game’s final verse that sticks to the ribs with a gut-wrenchingly unforgettable tale. The Doctor’s Advocate reminisces his teenage years, spitting about shooting his own friend to save another from getting raped. “Walking through the grocery store the other day / I ran into Tanisha, she was happy to see my face / Let me tell you ’bout faith / We was 16, tenth grade, murder was the case / She was datin’ Chico, we was at my grand-mama place / It was me, Tanisha, Chico, Dan and lil’ Trey / We was drinkin’, smokin’, I fell asleep / I woke up ’cause I heard Tanisha scream and so I peeped / In the bathroom door, Chico was just watchin’ her / While Dan and lil’ Trey was climbin’ on top of her / So I went and grabbed my pops gun / And this the part of the story where you grow some nuts, if you ain’t got none / I cocked that b*tch, then I popped / Everybody froze, then the ni**a Trey dropped son / I shot my own homie in the Grape’s, I just couldn’t let T get r*ped.”
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TOBi was also a featured guest on The Game’s most recent album, Born 2 Rap. The song “Carmen Electra,” also features fellow Cali native Mozzy and Osbe Chill. TOBi recently announced more music to come, exclaiming that he’s “going crazy all damn year” on Twitter.
TOBi press photograph provided by Same Plate.
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#BonusBeat: TOBi freestyles on Sway In The Morning: