oSHaMO and the Revival of Fuji’s Street Soul
By extension of their parents’ influence, many artists have confessed to being heavily shaped by legacy genres like Fuji, Afrobeat, and Highlife. Yet, only a few have accepted the baton to build on these foundations and refine them for newer generations. Over the years, Fuji music—like other legacy genres—has seen several creative variants approach it in progressive ways without diluting its essence, thereby breaking the entry barrier that once made the genre difficult to access in its purest form.
It is on this progressive yet purist foundation, one that conveys the essence of Fuji, that oSHaMO has built his craft and continues to draw creative inspiration. Even when not intentionally creating a Fuji record, the genre’s glory—its rapid, polyphonic drumming patterns, call-and-response vocals, and vocal inflections reminiscent of Arabic-style singing blended with Yoruba poetic traditions—often seeps into oSHaMO’s work.
Building a community of fans who love this style and winning new ones along the way, oSHaMO follows up his 2024 debut project ‘First of My Kind EP’, expanding on the viral success of “Superfuji (Gobe)” with a new body of work titled ‘I D R I S’. The no-feature, 7-track EP, which runs for 19 minutes, showcases oSHaMO’s Fuji tendencies and inflections over Southwestern, swelling percussions—proving again why he’s one of the finest prodigies championing the genre and well on his way to becoming one of its defining acts of his generation and beyond.
The neo-Fuji project opens with the Fuji-leaning yet soulful track “Hallelujah”. Over soft piano keys, oSHaMO reflects with deep gratitude on his journey from rags to riches, his choral refrain of “Hallelujah” carrying that emotion forward. The second track, “Magba”, serves as a perfect pitch to hook listeners for the rest of the EP. With its upbeat mara music-style production by MyIzSpectrum and Skeelz, crafted primarily for the dancefloor, oSHaMO elevates Fuji into the realm of West African dance music, Afrobeats.
“Contour” follows as a midtempo song with Afrobeat influences, where oSHaMO pens lines of adoration and desire for his muse over minimalist percussions, shakers, vibrant pianos, and trumpet arrangements. Producer SKONDATRACK blends these elements seamlessly, creating a sublime soundscape that elevates oSHaMO’s delivery into the perfect love rendition.
The fourth track, “Adun”, as oSHaMO says in the intro, “this is a love song”, fleshes out the idea that “love trumps all” over a bouncy, shaker-driven Amapiano production. “Owo (Olomoge)” opens with shakers, percussions, and the progressions of a toned-down live Fuji rendition, gradually building into a robust rhythm powered by the talking drum and batá (the double-headed hourglass drum).
The EP nears its finale with “Shekere”, a neo-Fuji production by Thasoundz, featuring lyrics reminiscent of folk music. Here, oSHaMO sings about the alluring dance of a woman’s waistline and the seductive waist beads that accompany it. Within this vibrant atmosphere of cultural and social frolicking, he crafts one of the most sonically rich moments of his sophomore studio project, as melodies burst forth from the talking drum.
‘I D R I S’ concludes its mesmerizing experience with the viral “Superfuji (Gobe)”, closing with a cultural blend of raw Fuji percussion and Afrobeats melodies that birth an infectious, street-smart groove — a befitting closer for a project that consolidates his artistic identity.
In a time when Fuji’s influence often lurks beneath the surface of Afrobeats and street-pop, oSHaMO stands as one of the few artists audacious enough to wear its spirit openly. A blazing torchbearer in the neo-Fuji movement, he repackages heritage with swagger, giving Fuji a fresh, youthful pulse without losing its grit or roots
