Polaris Music Prize finalist Tobi reflected on race and identity while reading the Yaa Gyasi novel Homegoing
Tobi is a finalist for his album Elements Vol. 1
Toronto rapper and singer Tobi is on the shortlist for the 2021 Polaris Music Prize with the genre-bending sophomore album Elements Vol. 1.
The Polaris Music Prize annually celebrates the best Canadian album of the year, awarding the artist $50,000. There are 10 albums on the shortlist. The winner will be announced on Sept. 27, 2021.
Elements Vol. 1 is an eclectic mash-up of various sounds including hip-hop, pop, afrobeat and R&B. The album features tracks that incorporate old-school soul and modern-rap styles and won the 2021 Juno Award for best rap recording of the year.
Born Oluwatobi Feyisara Ajibolade and known professionally as Tobi, the artist released his debut album, Still, in 2019. Tobi was named by Complex Magazine as "a top artist to watch" and has received critical acclaim from Exclaim!, Pitchfork, Vogue, Billboard and Rolling Stone.
Lately, Tobi has been reading the bestselling novel Homegoing by Ghanaian American writer Yaa Gyasi.
A powerful book about identity and belonging
"This novel is a historical fiction tale that tells the story of two half-sisters Effia and Esi born in Ghana during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Their lives follows drastically different paths as Effia marries a rich Englishman and Esi is captured in a raid and sold into slavery. The book follows the lineage of both sisters across eight generations until the present day.
"It displays the experiences of Africans and African Americans over time and the effects of enslavement on both sides of the Atlantic. It was interesting to see how cultural identity mutated in each subsequent generation via language, food and mannerisms.
"There was a point in Esi's lineage where her descendants no longer identified as Africans in America, but rather as African Americans. The limbo phase of cultural grappling is similar to many first generation Canadians who feel as if they are caught between two worlds.
"A powerful quote from the book is from the character Yaw on the power of storytelling reads: 'We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must ask yourself, 'Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth?' Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.'
I often wrestle with what being a Nigerian truly means, as it was created in the mid 20th century as a by-product of imperialism.
"The awareness and lucidity of the characters spoke to me as a Nigerian Canadian who has tried to understand what my identity means as a person born in a post-colonial British state. I often wrestle with what being a Nigerian truly means, as it was created in the mid-20th century as a by-product of imperialism.
"I question the weight placed on national identity for many reasons, firstly being the recency of these established entities and secondly, the context by which they were created; mostly for economic purposes rather than cultural preservation and community."
WATCH | CBC Music profiles Tobi
