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When you were in elementary school, what kinds of hobbies did you have? Were you into sports? Dance? Video Games? For some people, the love for music stems all the way back to childhood. For someone like Yugo, the passion for music goes all the way back to his days in primary school.
18-year-old Nigerian artist Yugo, birth name Mgbeoji Geoffrey, began experimenting with music at around 8 or 9 years old. The genre that swept him away the most would be none other than rap:
“...back then we had Eminem, Jay Z, you know(...) that was what you hear on the radio and when you turn on the TV.”
Eminem is one of the artist’s favorite rappers, among many others. From then on, he experimented with trap, and later would dabble around in Afrobeat.
For him, Afrobeat was about staying true to his West African roots.
“Growing up, I figured out that ‘Okay, afrobeat is my country. It's my (place). It's from Africa, it's from my, you know, my place, you know what I'm saying?”
The young artist says he has “to represent; no matter what”. Being a man of his own culture is vital to Yugo, and helps him navigate about his career as an artist. Yugo gives his flowers to Burna Boy, Wizkid, and other artists as they have served as inspiration for him.
Though he tends to do rap, trap, and Afrobeat, he wouldn’t mind collaborating with artists across the gamut.
“From The Weeknd to Travis Scott, to Burna Boy, Wizkid, Rema, Ayra Starr, back to the U.S. You know, (...) it's a lot of people that I’d love to collaborate with.” And collaboration would be Yugo’s rise to notoriety.
The 2022 hit song “Hours”, featuring Yugo and others, would bring him attention at a rate to which he had never witnessed previously. He saw the numbers soar before he even had a chance to launch promotion for the song itself.
It wasn’t long until Yugo would begin getting recognized by Recording Academy executives, who administer GRAMMY awards. Being an Afrobeat artist, he was actually struck with surprise when he started getting recognition in the U.S.
“It dawned on me that people like you, people in the US, actually enjoy Afrobeat music,” he said. “It’s actually making you all dance.”
The artist has dreams of topping charts and being as big The Weeknd – or, even bigger. With the love of Afrobeat growing larger and larger, it may not be long before Yugo’s dream becomes reality.
Yugo's Socials and Music:
If you want to learn more about the origins of Afrobeat check out the docu-series Afrobeats: The Backstory on Netflix!
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