Nigerian-American artist Tobe Nwigwe has been on the scenes for years. His journey to making in the mainstream is comparable to the majority of independent artists. The grind is heavy.
Covid-19 meant that a lot of festivals were forced to cancel, while others exercised caution, choosing the virtual route. At The Crib Fest is “a free, live-streamed concert series featuring some of music’s buzziest names performing in their own spaces.”
Nwigwe buoyantly raps and sings over the no-frills instrumentals — and it is captivating.
Check out his Crib Fest set below.
Last year, Nwigwe gained a hoard of new followers when he released a track, “I need you to,” calling attention to the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and Colorado native, Elijah McClain.
“I woke up and, I promise you, God gave me a vision to do the song,” Nwigwe told NBC News. “I woke up and got a vision to do that song specifically in a public service announcement-type manner.”
The video was deceptively plain.
“I wanted to make people think it was going to be some sweet message and be really feathery and then I wanted to hit them hard. I wanted the beat to drop and for people to just really get the message,” Nwigwe said. “It’s the first song I’ve ever done with absolutely no rhyming words.”
The visual was reposted by several A-list celebrities, including Diddy, LeBron James, Madonna and Amy Schumer.
Earlier this year, Nwigwe teamed up with fellow Texan Erykah Badu for a new episode of “Forward: The Future of Black Music” on Facebook Watch, which paired an established artist with a rising artist in celebration of Black History Month.