Over the last half decade, Nana Richard Abiona – aka Fuse ODG - has shifted the direction of British pop music. When he first burst onto the scene in 2013 he was a trailblazer working in a genre that didn’t have a title. As his own name suggested, his music was a fusion, drawing on the sounds of rap, grime, bashment and house that he’d grown up on in Mitcham, South London, and the Afrobeat and Hi-life he would hear when his parents took him back to their Ghanaian homeland.
“In England I was doing hip hop and grime,” he says of those first steps. “Then I went back to Ghana and soaked up the culture, and I felt like I wanted to share my experience of Africa, I saw so much joy.”
In Ghana, Fuse linked up with production mastermind Killbeatz, and together the duo found a way to join the dots between Fuse’s influences. First the tunes they made flooded across the African diaspora. Then, with the song ‘Azonto’ (dedicated to the dance craze that was taking over Ghana), they broke into the mainstream. Through 2013 and 2014, Azonto was followed by a run of back to back top 10 singles; ‘Antenna’, ‘Dangerous Love’, ‘T.I.N.A’. and ‘Million Pound Girl’. This chart success was unprecedented for a modern African artist. It laid down the foundations for the rise of the Afrobeats sound worldwide, a style that has dominated popular culture since and inspired everyone from Beyonce to Kanye West. When Fuse started out, it was quite a different story.
“Afrobeats wasn’t something you’d hear on the radio,” Fuse remembers. “We had to fight to get on there. Even our radio plugger knew the song was banging everywhere he went, it was being played in all the clubs, but he was saying, radio won’t play it. He was scared to take it in! It was such a struggle – but now I hear afrobeats all over the place. It’s beautiful! To remember now that radio wouldn’t play the sound because it was alien to the audience is unbelievable – Afrobeats is doing damage all round the world!”
Fuse ODG
This hard won success was consolidated with the release of Fuse’s debut album, ‘T.I.N.A.’ An acronym for This is New Africa, T.I.N.A. was as much of a mission statement as it was a pop record. Conceived as Fuse toured the world (and Africa in particular), the record saw Fuse start on a conscious awakening that would see him splice his addictive dance tunes with social activism. He explains that this felt like a calling:
“I was able to tour Africa, which meant I could see the love I was getting from the people, and the natural beauty of the continent. I was also able to see the issues that we had on the continent. I said to myself, I’m from Mitcham, what am I doing in Liberia, looking at a whole big crowd waiting for me to come onstage. Why? It has to be for some reason, it has to be for more than music. I could create a platform to speak to the world about Africa, about the beauty, about the issues, and find a some solutions. I realised that my platform had been given to me as a way to create awareness, awareness of beauty and struggle. My travels through Africa really shaped me as an artist. It created my mentality and made me strong.” Fuse ODG
This new found awareness drove Fuse onward, inspiring him to speak out for a re-evaluation of Africa in popular culture. Famously this led to his turning down an appearance at Band Aid 30, despite repeated requests from Bob Geldof.
“Imagine me, only a couple of years in the scene, and you have Sir Bob Geldof on the phone – the pressure! I felt pressured to do it, but the movement, and our principles wouldn’t allowing me! It didn’t align with developing love for Africa, which is our mission. It was very clear to me that I couldn’t be part of crippling the continent. I’d rather people come on holiday here than feel sorry for Africa and giving it £2 a month. Band Aid’s technique benefits themself, not the continent. Of course Sir Geldof wasn’t happy about it, but that’s fine.”
Fuse ODG
Whilst many acts would be sunk by this refusal to play the industry game, Fuse’s stance saw him command respect for maintaining his integrity, and if anything this lead to higher profile collaborations. In 2015 international hit-maker Diplo asked Fuse to vocal the global smash ‘Light It Up’. A chart success everywhere from Russia to Australia, the track cemented Fuse’s reputation as one of the new wave of Afrobeats artists able to command worldwide acclaim. Collaborations came thick and fast, with work alongside EDM royalty Sigala, dancehall legends Damien Marley and Sean Paul, grime icon Big Narstie and many more. Of particular note was his connection with Ed Sheeran, the multiple-platinum selling songwriter flying out to Ghana to work on a number of tracks in Fuse’s home studio in 2016. The time was spent fruitfully, with Fuse co-writing the track ‘Bibia Be Ye Ye’ for Sheeran’s Grammy winning, record breaking album ÷, and Sheeran repaying the favour by working on the Fuse track ‘Boa Me’. By the time these dropped in late 2017, Afrobeats was a recognised international phenomenon – the seeds Fuse had sown in 2013 had flourished.
Whilst Fuse was making these musical connections, he was also putting his money where his mouth was by ploughing time and funds back into Ghana. Establishing a permanent base in Accra, he built a primary school (which Ed Sheeran donated a bus to), made a run of Afrocentric children’s toys, opened a studio for local musicians, worked alongside Ghana’s president as a trade ambassador, and pulled together a music festival in January 2019 which destined to run annually.
All of these activities fed into his urge to change tack musically. Whilst his first album had predicted the afro-dance trends that would dominate global culture for the next 5 years, he felt like a new era demanded a more explicit message. Titling the new project ‘New African Nation’, Fuse determined to make something that could draw together the infectious groove of his previous work with the conscious messages of previous black leaders.
“Before I kept it light, now we’re at a stage where there are enough proud Africans to fight for Africa - it’s time for our generation to carry the torch...! This is something you have to be willing to die for. You have to be willing to die for something if it’s truly worth fighting for. I’m OK with fighting for the continent, and people not liking it. I’m OK there being a clearly ‘for’ gang and a clearly ‘against’ gang, because I know what I’m doing is the right thing. I’m promoting self-love.” Fuse ODG
This commitment to imparting a message comes hand in hand with a desire to reshape his musical landscape.
“There’s enough other Afrobeats artists singing about girls or cars or whatever – the moment for this album is now. After this album, every other song I make I’m putting out straight away, but this moment needs to happen where we dive into the topics fully.” Fuse ODG
This urge to transmit a message kicks in from the first track, ‘Bra Fie’, Fuse’s collaboration with Damien Marley.
“This intro tune lets you know what the whole album is about” he insists, “I had a long conversation with Damien Marley before we even got into making a song – it was so deep I was learning so much from him. I was out in Jamaica - we want people from Jamaica to be able to freely travel to Ghana or Nigeria, but they can’t come. They have to get visas from the UK or USA. How does that make any sense! We’re blocked from connecting to each other, even if mentally we’re prepared to come back home, logistically there is a barrier. As well as a spiritual barrier to reconnecting as people, we have actual physical barriers. And this opening song is a message to African’s around the world that it’s time to come home, mentally, spiritually, physically.” Fuse ODG
Elsewhere Fuse deals in self-empowerment, using the song ‘Quality’ to elevate his listeners “It talks about our history and how powerful we are... I talk about the legacy of Kwame Nkrumah, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, there’s a shout to Fela Kuti as well.”
He also proves that the dancefloor and the mind can meet on jams such as ‘Attention’, where a shuffling, futuristic Afrobeats rhythm made from cascading drums carries lyrics that exhort suffering black American’s to come back to Africa. Sounding quite unlike anything else out there, it satisfies both his reputation as an artist who creates innovative party jams, and his new found commitment to conscious messages.
“Musically we’re doing things that are very alien,” he agrees “– but they’re not gonna be alien in a few years from now. This time the message is working hand in hand with music that makes you dance. I’d like this to be a classic album; every song we made on this album, it was magic. I know it’s going to be appreciated, for the music and the message, and that we’re thinking ahead sonically,
and with the content.” Fuse ODG
And, if anything, it turns out that ‘New Africa Nation’ has already got one fan – even if he also contributed to the record... “I played all the new stuff to Ed and he said ‘wow, this is the best I’ve heard you. I feel it!’” It would seem, as he releases ‘New Africa Nation’ Fuse is set to shift the sonic paradigm once again.
Tracklisting:
Bra Fie (Come Home) [feat. Damian JR GONG Marley]
Thinking About It
Boa Me Ft. Ed Sheeran, Mugeez
Quality
Interlude Ft. Suli Breaks
Attention
Outside Of The Ropes (CLEAN)
Red Rose
All Night Long (feat. SteffLon Don)
So Many Ways
Asem Aba (Issues)
One Day (Bonus Track)
Sweetie Adjoa (Bonus Track) [feat. Sarkodie & OTWoode]
Fuse ODG ‘New Africa Nation’ is OUT NOW via Off Da Ground Records
