Tobi (musician)

Oluwatobi Feyisara Ajibolade[1] was born in 1993 in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to Ottawa, Canada with his father when he was 8 or 9 years old. He first began writing lyrics and poetry around that time.[2][3] Ajibolade grew up largely in Brampton, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto.[1] As a teenager, he engaged in rap battles, including one with a pre-fame Tory Lanez.[4] He later attended Wilfrid Laurier University where he studied biology and psychology.[2]

In around 2015, Ajibolade began releasing music using the stage name, "Tobi Aji".[5] In 2016, he began using the moniker, "TOBi", and independently released an EP entitled, FYi.[6] The collection featured the songs, "iNDECiSiONS" and "Deeper".[7] A music video for the latter song was released in November 2016.[8] The following month, TOBi released the single, "LiBRA".[9]

In September 2017, he released the song, "Hidden Fences", which appeared on an episode of the HBO series, Insecure.[10] Another song, "January December", was released in January 2018.[11] Beginning in 2019, TOBi began releasing several new tracks, including "City Blues",[12] "Sweet Poison",[13] and "Werking".[14] Those three songs served as the singles for TOBi's debut studio album, STILL, released in May 2019 on the Sony Music imprint, Same Plate Entertainment. The album also featured a guest appearance from VanJess on the track, "Come Back Home".[15]

In an interview with AFROPUNK, TOBi cited the work of Gil Scott-Heron, Frank Ocean, Marvin Gaye, Eartha Kitt, Florence and the Machine, and Andre 3000 as inspirations for his own work, particularly his lyrics. [16]