Afropop star Oluwatosin Ajibade, better known by the stage name Mr. Eazi, will launch his latest album alongside an international exhibition of African art entirely commissioned by him.
Each song on the album has been transformed into a work by one of 13 artists representing a total of 8 countries on the continent. These include Contonou artist Dominique Zinkpe, Edozie Anedu from Lagos and Cameroonian artist from Texas Sesse Elangwe, who is one of two artists to have produced a work based on the debut single from the scrapbook. Chop Time, no friend.
Elangwe’s the way i see it (2023) is a mixed-media collage work sticking into headlines from Ajibade’s non-musical career and personal life, including his work with Hugo Boss and his partnership with Ghanaian betting firm Bet Pawa (the partnership is later became company property, before Ajibade would have became a major shareholder in the parent company of the UK-based organization earlier this year).
The project is funded by Choplife IP, the Ajibade company that was founded to invest in African culture; music in movies.
The idea for the exhibition – which will travel to Lagos, Accra, London and New York – was created at a time when Ajibade did not feel inspired by his work; “I was tired of making music,” he says The arts journal. He was recording for the album in Benin in 2021, staying at the Maison Rouge hotel in the capital, when he came across the work of Cotnou-native Patricorel. Seeing the artist’s irreverent, skeletal prints in the exhibition held at the hotel “was the first time I really realized that certain types of art appealed to me,” says Ajibade.
From there, the musician realized that he wanted to collaborate with artists on his next album, Patricorel included. Later, however, with the help and guidance of Sotheby’s Head of Modern and Contemporary African Art, Hannah O’Leary, and Director of the Noldor Artist Residency in Ghana, Joseph Awuah-Darko, the idea from a traveling exhibition was born.
Ajibade will also collaborate with the founding director of contemporary African art fair 1-54, Touria El Glaoui, as the fair hosts the London portion of the exhibition as part of its special projects section in October. “Mr. Eazi is currently one of the biggest Afrobeats artists in the world…So we were thrilled when his team approached us to collaborate on the London iteration of his exhibition and listening experience,” says El Glaoui. “For me, it’s exciting to see an internationally renowned musician showcasing the work of emerging African artists,” she adds.
Setting up the exhibition also gave Ajibade the opportunity to break into the African art scene. Since work on the project began, he says he has collected “more than 50 pieces”. This year he visited Cape Town Art Fair, accompanied by O’Leary, and bought works by artists including Paris-based Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux. The fair is also where Ajibade met Zimbabwean artist Kufa Makwavarara, who is now involved in the album project.
The exhibition will also be accompanied by a listening evening. The Lagos and Accra iterations will be particularly focused on showing the work to people who don’t usually see it: “It’s more for my fans and the music industry and bringing them in in this world,” says Ajibade.
