SPOTLIGHT: Leye Fasasi, the Afrobeats singer on mission to join Nollywood

Leye Fasasi’s life has been melodiously intertwined with music since childhood. Born in Lagos in the early nineties, the fast-rising Afrobeats singer started as a drummer in the church choir and has continued to hone his craft, With eyes set on Nollywood, Leye shares his inspirations, creative process, and future aspirations with TheCable Lifestyle.

TheCable Lifestyle: What was growing up like for you?

Leye Fasasi: It was not nice like that because I grew up in a place where you need to hunt for yourself more than your parents, and so it is not easy. It is not fun but Alhamdulilah, we are here.

TheCable Lifestyle: Who were your biggest inspirations in music?

Leye Fasasi: Firstly, I will say Beautiful Nubia. Beautiful Nubia, 2Baba, and Davido. I would say Davido inspires me more because looking at someone from a wealthy family still pushing that hard gets me on my ten toes, and I was like, “I won’t relent on it.”

I got into music because it is in our family, so it is not like I just found myself there. My uncles, my aunts, my family. We grew up being church boys and all of that. So I played drums. From drums, I joined the choir. The choir was just a little thing; I didn’t spend much time there. So I developed this love for music generally, and I created my craft on it.

TheCable Lifestyle: What would you describe your music style as?

Leye Fasasi: It is Afrobeats. But sometimes I switch and mix a lot of from Juju and Pop, so I’m just trying to make things work out uniquely for myself, for me to just stand out there.

TheCable Lifestyle: Who are the artistes you feel like you’ll like to work with?

Leye Fasasi: Tiwa Savage, Davido. Out of the country, Fridayy, and there are many more artistes that I can’t start mentioning.

TheCable Lifestyle: What are your thoughts on some Nigerian singers saying they should not be boxed in Afrobeats?

Leye Fasasi: I would say everybody has their perspective or the way they do their thing, I don’t even know how to put it. But it seems like Afrobeats is now common, so they don’t want to be among the common group, so people are trying to pave another way for themselves.

And regardless, everyone is still coming back to Afrobeats. Because Afrobeats is bigger than we think and I think Afrobeats makes Nigeria more popular. Afrobeats has gone so global that no one can deny that we are all Afrobeats. They are just trying to coin out their own thing, but regardless, they are still within Afrobeats.

TheCable Lifestyle: What’s your creative process like?

Leye Fasasi: Yeah, basically I write [about] things around me—things I see, things I hear, and a couple of my other experiences and things I have been through. And of course, we learn daily, so things I see daily as well. It makes it easier to write, produce, and direct, and I do almost a lot about music.

TheCable Lifestyle: Do you write before you record, or do you just sing whatever comes to you?

Leye Fasasi: Basically, I write before production, but sometimes my producer could just send me a beat and I would use it. Like my recent release ‘Jamalo’, he sent me the beat, and for two days I listened to it and nothing was coming to my head. So on the third day, I just sat down and listened to it again and I was able to write something out of it.

TheCable Lifestyle: Some commentators, like Buju Banton, have criticized Afrobeats for its lack of substance. What is your view on the controversial topic?

Leye Fasasi: Obviously, Afrobeats is a vibe as he said. Afrobeats is a genre of music that brings you life and more and is a genre of music that helps you eradicate your sadness. But then, I believe it depends on how you want to write.

Reggae people believe they are the ones who speak more of truth, more of realities, more of life because they have time to vibe too because they are on the high side, they don’t sing ordinarily. But Afrobeats can do that as well, can deliver messages, can pass messages… You know, something can still come out of nothing. So, I’m not in support of that. Afrobeats is as cool as reggae, as other genres.

TheCable Lifestyle: Do you have a preference for vibes or are you more focused on passing a message, whether cultural or political?

Leye Fasasi: Yeah, that’s me. Regardless of my song, regardless. Sometimes I do godly songs. It’s still Afrobeats but I make it godly. Sometimes, it could be worldly, but regardless I just make sure that any kind of song I’m putting out there has a very particular point.

Sometimes, I do pick a topic or title before writing. Like my previous EP, I had 9 songs on it. So, before writing those songs, the titles that came to my head, I listed them out. I didn’t have any idea of how I was going to write, I just listed the titles and I sat back and wrote on those titles. So however I’m putting out my music, it’s going to give a little bit of message. It could be godly, it could be worldly.

TheCable Lifestyle: What is your relationship status?

Leye Fasasi: That’s quite difficult for me to answer but then, I’m married. I am blessed with three kids.

TheCable Lifestyle: Where do you see Leye Fasasi in the next 10 years?

Leye Fasasi: Next five or ten years, I think maybe I will probably have to retire from music and be in Nollywood. But I think by God’s grace I should have been able to achieve all my aims in music.

TheCable Lifestyle: So you also have a flair for acting, or you want to produce or write and what type of movies interest you?

Leye Fasasi: Write and act. I’m still going to be in that lane of doing cultural movies because I love culture a lot. So I intend to do it not even in Nigeria alone but by going into other African countries, filming them, and putting them out there.