Bimbi Phillips: Telling the story of an exiled African warrior through music

After his education, Bimbi knew in himself that music was his calling as he has always been in love with theatre, house music and most of all, afrobeat music. With this passion burning so brightly in him, Bimbi took the plunge and started recording music for real. In the year 2016 he released his self-titled Single It’s Bimbi which took the music hemisphere by storm and launched him into the consciousness of Nigerians and the world as a whole. He has not looked back ever since. The song enjoyed massive airplay on local and international radio stations with BBC Radio almost putting the song on replay. The song caught the attention of UK’s kissFm disk jockey, DJ TS7, who has worked with top artistes on the international scene, he remixed the song and injected his lines and version, and the song became even more successful.

Following the huge success that Its Bimbi recorded, Bimbi did not rest on his oars as he has gone on to release more popular songs like the hugely successful Lamba, Duro Dada, Wakanda, Love Reign, Worry Me, Hustler Anthem and Django. He has also released an album titled “Go Getta”.

Bimbi’s style of music has been dubbed as a blend of a Youssou N’Dour, Angélique Kidjo and Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti. His musical dexterity is also noticeable as he is blessed with a soft, slightly effeminate vocals that are vaguely reminiscent of Justin Bieber. He draws his musical inspiration from a vast source, hence, his vocals are rooted within the tunes of Fela Kuti, with his melodies taking inspiration from R&B duo P-Square. His musical bounce has been compared to Wayne Wonder’s easy flow, while he never fails to entice the international market by carefully infusing Electronic Dance Music, EDM rhythms from the likes of Major Lazer, DJ Snake, David Guetta and Calvin Harris. He conveniently marries traditional musical instruments while incorporating elements of house and modern EDM in airy, clean production, synthesised basslines and energetic dance steps. His musical videos are eye candies to say the least. In the “Lamba” music video, he transited from a grey city street to a lush forest, snowy peak and fire-lit log cabin while in the recently released Worry Me video was shot is the beautiful city of Johannesburg, the video was directed by Luke Biggins and the song was produced by DJ Coublon.

For his hard work and focus, nominations and recognitions has been coming in for this silky singer. In 2018, he earned an international award as he won the Abryanz Style And Fashion Awards (ASFAS) for the Fashionable Music Video of the Year for Duro Dada. In 2016, he was also nominated by Top Naija Music Award for Best Foreign Based Nigerian Artiste which he narrowly missed.

In July 2019, Bimbi took the whole of London by storm when he held a concert tagged Exile of the African warrior. The sold-out show which took place at the Great Hall, Kensinton and Chelsea in London was jam packed with a mixture of audience from various backgrounds, race and age. The concert blended traditional African storytelling style with complete vibrant costumes, powerful vocals, African instruments and percussion, energetic dancing, humor and captivating characters. The concert told the story of an exiled African warrior, inspired by the native Nigerian style of storytelling, and the legendary Yoruba deity Odùduwà.

Like every true artiste who is truly worth its onion, Bimbi used the opportunity of the concert to announce to his teeming fans that he will be embarking on a European tour later this month. Bimbi’s acceptance is also vastly growing as he has shared the stage with major acts including Adekunle Gold, Falz, Mr Eazi, Wizkid, Simi, and many more at London’s prestigious venues such as the Apollo, O2 Indigo, O2 Islington and others.