Who is Ayodele IAFT?
Ayodele Odubanjo, better known as Ayodele IAFT, was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1992 on August 27th. He was raised in a Nigerian household, his parents migrated to America from Nigeria (Yoruba Tribe) in the 80s in search for a better life.
“Being the youngest out of 3 growing up wasn’t easy, but the love from my mother was priceless and still is,” said Ayodele. Going to church was a must in his household, not a Sunday was missed. Church is where Ayodele IAFT found his love for music from playing the drums, singing and even dabbling with playing the piano.
Growing up he listened to a lot of Nigerian Gospel music (Kalypso, High Life, etc.), Ju-Ju music (Yoruba tribe style of music). He also listened to a ton of soul music (Luther Vandross, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Sam Cook, Marvin Gaye, etc.), Reggae (Bob Marley, Gyptian, Movado, Vybz Kartel, Buju Bantan, Kranium etc.) and R&B.
In Nigerian households, education, culture and tradition is important. “So my parents made sure I knew where I was from while still allowing me understanding the America culture, which was a beautiful balance for me. I’m a creative junkie from designing cloths with Nigerian material, dancing and video production. Anyway I could express myself creatively, I just love creating. People around always called me different,” says Ayodele IAFT.
Being around music so much, Ayodele IAFT eventually wanted to create his own kind of music. “I enjoyed singing more than rapping, so I always told people I’m an artist not a rapper,” but with minimum knowledge of R&B, hip-hop and rap, he didn’t know how to approach the American market of music. Ayodele IAFT then started researching and studying artists who resonated with him that he could be inspired by.
He started listening to artists such as Chance The Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, ASAP Rocky, DMX, Jay-Z, Nas and Cassidy. These artists truly inspired him and influenced his style of rap and his approach to making music. He started studying all of these greats and after learning from them, he made his first album in 2013 in his home studio.
However, the UK culture and style of music was introduced to him around 2015–2016. Ayodele IAFT says, I remember the first song I heard was Shut Up by Stormzy and I was blown anyway cause no one was rapping on beats like that. I started doing my research and found the music genre called grime. I was familiar with sounds and beats because at the time I was heavily into dancing. The style of dancing was called FLEX’N which came from the Jamaican culture style of dance called BRUK UP. And the music that used to dance was the same type of beats UK artist used to rap.”
And just like his approach to the American culture, he then started studying UK culture to better understand their style and approach to music. He studied artists like Stormzy, Skepta, Wiley, Dave etc, which eventually inspire his today style of music. The type of music Ayodele IAFT makes is called afrofusion/afrobeats. “Everything feels natural when I make afrobeats, this is where I’m at my best. When I wanted to introduce this style of music to the world a lot of people didn’t think it could work in the American market. But as of late afrobeats has taken the American market by storm and I’ve got to credit Ayojay (Afrobeat Artist) for breaking the ice and getting the market familiar with his 2017 hit “Your Number” which was the first song playing on most major radio airwaves opening the door for Nigerian artists,” says Ayodele IAFT.
When asked which afrobeats artists have inspired him, he said, “I’m inspired by a few afrobeats artist like Ayojay, Gabzy, Buju and BurnaBoy. And appreciate these artists for getting the world familiar with their stylist approach to music which resonated with me a lot, given the fact that I always wanted to make this type of music and present it to the world. Now I’m able to make the music and present it to the people with an already acquired taste. I’m currently working on my latest studio album which will truly embody everything that inspired me up to this point in my life. It’s set to release late 2022 or early 2023.”
In five years from now, Ayodele IAFT sees himself inspiring the generation after himlike the generation before did for him. Opening creative doors, he wants to show them that they can be uniquely and unapologetically themselves. He also sees himself touring the world and introducing himself to many different cultures.
This is definitely an artist to watch and as he continues to make a path and name for himself, we can all say that we were here early!
🤳 Instagram: @ayodele_iaft
