tw Hidden Gems: Tomi Thomas
Our talent for this week is yet another multi-talented artist with a new school sound that will change the game.
Our Hidden Gem for the week is Tomi Thomas.
Yes, yet another talented “Tomi” (Our Hidden Gems for the last edition was Tomi Owo).
Tomi’s “baby faced” look arrests you immediately. He always rocks easy “super cool” fashion pieces, and his signature locs are always dancing around his face, doing their own thing. But underneath his cool and calm demeanour lies a fiery passion for music.
Although born in Lagos, our gem was raised between his birthplace, Kano and Atlanta, which went a long way in developing his own unique sound. His love for music, performing arts and drumming led him to join LOS (Loud on Sound), a boy band, in 2010 made up of three other members, Bridge, Yung and Briss. The group went on to release songs like the mega hit BAD GUY P in 2012.
Now Tomi is doing music of his own. This growing artist fuses his Yoruba, Igbo and Brazilian roots into his eclectic sound. His genre ranges from Afrobeat, Hip-hop, Garage, Funk, Techno and Soul with a touch of Electro.
Tomi draws his inspiration from the likes of Mariah Carey, Bob Marley, Fela Kuti, Eminem, Akon and Bumi Thomas. He also lists GOD as his MUSE as well as his spirit.
Tomi’s debut EP, Patience, was released in November 2014. My favorite track from this EP is Ready Or Not. This song is a blend of House and Afrobeat, fondly called Afro-House, produced by GMK (Grand Master King). There is something about the juicy beat that just makes your body move, with or without your permission.
Tomi followed this up with the LP Black Couch Vol 1 released in 2016. There are 15 tracks on there, with a mixture of sounds for every music lover. I particularly like Waging Wars, produced by Tomi and featuring Santi. With an infectious reggae beat, the still song passes a strong message about the state of Nigeria today.
In June this year, Tomi launched a music session themed Higher Vibrations. It is streamed live via his Instagram. The first session featured Ozzy B, King Zamir and Odunsi. According to Tomi’s YouTube channel, “Higher Vibrations is all about the love for good music, expanding our consciousness and having a good time creating art with the amazing artists that come on the show.”
For those who don’t know this talent, I would advise that you make your ears happy today with a little bit of Tomi Thomas’ good music.
