Blaq O2

Blaq O2 told us up front, in his intro to the music scene "I'm a superstar." The metaphor wasn't about dominance so much as it was about flamboyance, O2 represents a generation fluent in fashion and social media, not just a recording artist but a kind of creative director whose personality and sense of world-building comes through almost as loudly as the music. That he could turn a line as bleak as “Burst/Connect (“First two singles”) into a sing-along only made them more vital-here was a person feeling the pain and packaging it in style. So, a superstar yes and definitely sensational in the Afrobeat Game.

Born in benin city, Edo State Nigeria in 1998, O2 first started singing to one of his a classmates, quickly making the leap to national relevance through moving to Lagos while building a tight-knit collective of producers and collaborators. Like other afrobeat artist, O2 is a distinctive singer (the stage name was given, not taken), but the key to his sound is melody, mixing candied hooks of pop punk and neon surfaces of EDM for a style that splits the starkness of modern hip-hop into prismatic color. It is not surprising that he choose a pen and paper to channel his creative energy while on his quest to self-discovery and expression; he uses music to connect with both himself and people who are drawn to his style of music “my goal is to show the world what a blessing it is to be able to do what you love” He says.