Seyi Vibez

Nigerian singer, songwriter, and performer Seyi Vibez makes slick, danceable Afro-pop that incorporates fuji influences. Breaking through with several hits beginning in 2019, he released his debut album, NSNV, in 2021 and topped the Nigerian charts with Billion Dollar Baby 2.0 in 2023. Several more efforts appeared that year, with releases like Vibe Till Thy Kingdom Come leaning closer to amapiano rhythms. The brief Loseyi Professor was issued in 2024. Balogun Afolabi Oluwaloseyi was born in Ketu but was raised in Ikorodu, also a city in Lagos State. He began making music during the mid-2010s, and his debut single as Seyi Vibez, “Anybody,” first appeared in 2019. He continued to establish his Auto-Tune-heavy style of street pop influenced by Nigerian fuji traditions, releasing further singles like “God Sent” and “Catalyst.” NSNV (No Seyi No Vibez) appeared in 2021, and Billion Dollar Baby, featuring the hit “Chance (Na Ham)” (later the winner of an award at the 16th annual Headies), followed in November of 2022. The album received acclaim, with some hailing Vibez as the pioneer of Afro-Adura, a subgenre combining Afrobeats and street pop with Yoruban prayers. The record debuted at number two in Nigeria, and the subsequent deluxe edition, Billion Dollar Baby 2.0, topped the charts, eventually becoming the longest-charting number one album in Nigerian history. Vibez remained highly prolific throughout 2023, beginning the year with the EP Memory Card. This was followed in June by the full-length Vibe Till Thy Kingdom Come, which incorporated amapiano, apala, and sakara influences. The album was another chart-topper, and Thy Kingdom Come, a completely different full-length, was released later in the same month. Vibez rounded out his highly successful 2023 with the EP NAHAMciaga, and the appropriately titled single “Man of the Year.” Vibez was featured on 2024 singles by Young Jonn, Muyeez, YXNG K.A., and Ayra Starr, in addition to releasing his own singles featuring the likes of Tion Wayne, Bloody Civilian, and Tml Vibez. The singer issued the seven-song Loseyi Professor in July. ~ Paul Simpson