Okay, so right here is one thing the Nigerian music trade has by no means seen earlier than: an artist who didn’t discover a style; he constructed one. Tudac, born Oghenevwogaga Daniel Ekwekere in Ughelli, Delta State, has achieved what no artist of Urhobo origin has tried at this scale: he coined Urhobo Afro-Pop as an actual, named, fully-realised style, a fusion of the traditional rhythmic traditions of the Urhobo individuals and the worldwide sound of recent Afrobeats, after which proceeded to construct its total basis himself, brick by sonic brick. His debut album Evolusion (2024) was already being referred to as the primary full Afro-Pop venture ever recorded solely within the Urhobo language. Then got here the follow-up, Epicfany, and with it, monitor six: Our Father: the music that’s quietly approaching 100,000 streams throughout all digital platforms and making a really robust case that the Delta just isn’t ready for permission anymore.
And this isn’t a sudden in a single day factor; this man has been cooking since 2007, when he first began producing music in his remaining 12 months at FUTO. He spent over 16 years behind the boards, mastering sound, earlier than stepping ahead as a solo artist in 2023, the identical 12 months he accomplished his MSc in Environmental Sustainability at Keele College within the UK. That endurance? That precision? It reveals in each bar. The Impartial Nigeria Information Platform described him as a drive reawakening Nigeria’s hip-hop scene, whereas Every day Belief Newspapers referred to as his rise the pioneering emergence of Urhobo Afro-Pop, noting his skill to mix Urhobo cultural heritage and trendy Afrobeats in a manner that has merely not been achieved earlier than. Erigga, Yung6ix – nice artists, all of Urhobo heritage, however none of them constructed a whole inventive world within the Urhobo language. Tudac is doing precisely that. He has in contrast his mission to what the Maori Haka has achieved for indigenous New Zealand tradition on the world stage: carrying a individuals’s id someplace it has by no means been taken earlier than. Huge imaginative and prescient. And the receipts are coming in.
Now, Our Father, the music that’s pulling the numbers, is one thing particular. It takes the Lord’s Prayer and brings all of it the best way into 2026 Afrobeats: a person calling God on the cellphone, asking Him to lastly choose up, telling Him the tables have been turning for too lengthy, and this must be his flip now. It talks about changing sweat into wealth, about every day bread, about attempting to forgive others within the streets whilst you’re nonetheless discovering your individual footing. It’s religious. It’s private. It’s deeply, unapologetically Nigerian. And the truth that practically 100,000 individuals have chosen to stream it tells you that this style Tudac invented, this Urhobo Afro-Pop, just isn’t a distinct segment experiment. It’s a actual cultural motion within the making, and he’s its solely founder. You’ll find every part: Evolusion, Epicfany, the standing single Ododo Me, and Our Father on all main digital streaming platforms. Comply with @Soundsoftudac throughout socials. Belief us: you wish to be on this wave earlier than it will get to the highest.
