Canadian Musician - September/October 2020 | Page 45

An undeniably gifted writer whose
poetry predates his musical output,
TOBi built his lyrical foundation by writing
honestly and impenitently about
what he feels in any given moment,
so maybe needless to say, he’s had no
shortage of emotion and experience to
draw on through the first half of 2020.
But while some of those subjects may
be penetrating the wider public consciousness
for the first time, he can’t
help but feel somewhat pessimistic
about any lasting impact.
“The truth is, I think a lot of the
social injustices we’ve witnessed in
the past couple of months, it just feels
more pronounced because we’re all
stuck inside and see it every day on
camera, but it’s been happening for
years. It just ‘feels’ more urgent now
because we don’t have many distractions;
we don’t have festivals to go to
or movies to go watch to distract us.”
That’s understandably frustrating
for someone who’s been delving into
these issues long before they might
have started trending on Twitter. “It’s
like, when does it stop? When does
a real change occur where you don’t
have to keep putting this message out
into the world? That’s probably the
toughest part of it.”
But as a person and artist, TOBi
resents being defined by his struggles
or pain, and so much of Elements
and the music he’s been writing more
recently focuses on the positives – not
to dilute or sugar-coat anything, but
in essence, to highlight Black joy as a
type of resistance.
“My family, my community of artists,
my community of friends… They’re
people who really bring hope to the
world based on their actions, based
on their initiatives,” he enthuses. “I’ll
always retain hope. Always. I believe
there are more people willing to make
this world a better place than not, and
that’s really inspiring and it’s hopeful.”
Indeed, there’s plenty of hope and
inspiration in his impressive rise over
the past 18 months or so, for himself
and others looking to follow his lead,
and reaching its peak – that primary
objective of global recognition – will
take hard work, focus, and of course,
great music; basically, more of what’s
brought him to this point thus far.
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of
Canadian Musician.
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 45