Olayemi

Album ∙ Afrobeats ∙ 2025

Fido

“Olayemi, that’s my name,” rising Afrobeats star Fido tells Apple Music of his debut EP’s title. “It reflects on my journey from where I came from in Ogun State. All of these eight songs are about my journey from my hood to now; a famous artist in the global space.” When the singer first released “Awolowo” in 2024, he was a virtual unknown still bustling between Matogun—a sleepy border town in Ogun State—and Lagos in search of a breakthrough. The urgency of his condition animated the song, which plays as both plea to divine forces for success and tribute to the escapism offered by puffs of weed—a terse contradiction capturing the reality of millions of young Nigerians.

“At the time I recorded this song, I had no money, I was smoking, I was high, like ‘What’s next?’” he says. “The moment my producer just played the beat, I was like, ‘This is the sound!’ You don’t know the plans of God and the moment I dropped ‘Awolowo,’ God just said, ‘This is your time.’” Propped up by a speedy ascent that included heavyweight co-signs from Wizkid and Davido, the late-December 2024 release of “Joy Is Coming” felt preternaturally timed as an affirmation for listeners hoping to wipe the slate clean heading into a new year. On Olayemi, Fido continues to toe the line between the exultant and despondent, showcasing a clever mastery of the flows and melodies that helped break him through.

There is a soul-stirring dispatch about the despair of his struggles on “Lungu,” a sentiment that finds a resolution of sorts in the jaunty “Money Moves.” He sounds to be settling into this next phase of his life nicely across Olayemi, manifesting even more success with a deft blend of Yoruba and English on “Dollarpor.” Fido never strays far from matters of the heart though, making a declaration of romantic intention on the balmy R&B cut, “I miss you die.” By the time Kizz Daniel shows up on the remix of “Joy Is Coming,” we are well acquainted with both the hurdles and accomplishments of Fido’s life, and his understanding of either. “It feels like I am part of greatness,” Fido says. “I’m just so happy to be part of that journey and part of history as well—because when they list artists that have been doing great things in Afrobeats, they will list my name too.”