February gave us WeTalksSound’s LOFN4: A Collection of Love Stories filled with ballads in a coordinated body of work. The project featured artists from the creative community with their various stories and inspirations. Divided into two parts, this piece tells the stories of who these artists are and the process behind the songs on LOFN4.
AndreMussic music started to gain recognition at the University of Lagos, following the release of his EP, Alive. Since then, he’s organised his own show on campus, and explored the music scene outside of school, performing at various music festivals. Working on a follow-up EP in 2019, Lale developed from AndreMussic working to incorporate the Trapsoul sound into his musical arsenal.
“I want people to be able to get through whatever and also feel something with my music, that’s why when creating Lale, I recorded the melodies first before writing, cause I didn’t want to write off beat and melodies play a major role in passing a message through music.”
AndreMussic
Mo’Believe considers himself as the “Cul” in “Culture,” creating urban folk music with his sultry weaving of Yoruba words and melodies. He’s influenced by Ebenezer Obey, Fela and Orlando Owoh, inspired by melodies from Maleek Berry and Burna Boy’s versatility. His old school influences seep into his search for love but that doesn’t come without trouble.
“I wrote the song right after I had a fall out with a really religious lady I was trying to be with. I think the beat had already been made, I recorded the song, sent it to Kayce and we made a few edits before submission.”
MO’Believe on creating Trouble with Kaycekeys
D.W.M.T’s Afropop melodies needed a verse from Joeboy to complete it in time for Ihcego’s upcoming project. But the verse was taking a while to come in, so she decided to send it along with a couple of other songs when she noticed the call for submission to LOFN4. Talking about how the creative process for D.W.M.T, Ihcego says:
I got a beat pack from a good friend, Ybthewildyouth early in 2020. I made rough recordings of melodies and flows that could go on the DWMT beat. I had it recorded weeks later at TheMasterMix ‘s studio in a few takes. I wrote the verse in the studio from the ideas in my rough recording. It is one of the shortest songs I have written so it didn’t really take long to create.
Bunmi Africa’s spoken word poetry usually possesses her strong socio-political opinions. Her interest in musical collaborations has seen her feature on Paybac’s Headies nominated Cult and Mo’believe’s Ariwo Eko. Working alongside producer Furli Bay, O For Orgasms came about towards the end of a recording session for her spoken word album.
This was quite different, I was trying to have fun with this short poem I had written randomly, it sounded simple and sensual and I didn’t think much of it. I had totally forgotten about it until Furli Bay sent me the finished work a few weeks later and I completely loved it. Submitted it on the last day of 2020 for LOFN4 and luckily, it got selected.”
Bunmi Africa
Omotayo delivers a style of R&B he has perfected from years of listening to R&B classics. Blending Yoruba phrases and his distinct Afropop vocals, Fallin is passionate with heavily descriptive songwriting on Omotayo’s helplessness with love.
For me the quality of my sound is most important and I have the gift of putting different pieces of sound and ideas together creatively. The song was produced by Banyjr, the beat inspired the writing, Cheqwas added the icing for me with his mixing.
Omotayo
For Longtime, the Ignis Brothers (made up of Dwin, The Stoic and Ruka) “wanted to make a groovy Caribbean inspired song that spoke of love from the person who wasn’t loved back by the person they loved.” Working with Rhaffy who produced their last project: The Cost Of Our Lives and Dwin, The Stoic’s songs for LOFN2 and LOFN3, Dwin had an idea for the song and started the composition with Rhaffy, before Ruka and Dwin worked on their verses and recorded the song.
“I like the singing part. You do something random and it comes out great and people dig it. The best part is listening to the work and thinking, “I did this. I like it.”
Ruka
I would say composing is my favourite part. I could spend hours in the studio just working on harmonies and trying out new melodies or new instruments. The best part is hearing people tell you how your music made them feel. Not a lot of things top that.
Dwin, The Stoic
Quizzy’s career as a hip hop artist out of Jos went on an upward trajectory after emerging as a finalist in the 2019 Hennessy Artistry VS class competition, which led to collaborations with Terry tha Rapman and Bella Alubo.
The initial version of Distraction was basically like an acoustic-type record, but then TM, my producer thought it was too bland so we added drums. I shared the idea I had with Jvsh and he sent the hook a few days later. Called my engineer Bauckz, and after a few tweaks, the final version of Distraction was birthed.
Quizzy
Serving as the outro to LOFN4, Distraction is meant to serve as an icebreaker to Quizzy’s forthcoming projects.
With over twenty artists and producers working on the fourth instalment of WeTalkSound’s LOFN: A Collection of Love Stories, the project shows the beauty of creative communities, well-executed A&R, and producers at every level cohesively composing various creative process.
Taking the works of various creatives across different genres and compiling them into a musical anthology of love stories told through the eyes and ears of a generation.
