He regards himself as an Alternative Hip-Hop act but Inart dives in and explores genres as he releases his debut studio tape, “Meraki”.
We spoke to the cool-as-ice artist in a highly revealing 1 on 1 session.
Join us as we Inart takes us through a journey and help us see life via his lens.
(Interviewer = Bold, Inart = Italic)
Hello Inart, How are you doing? It feels good having you speak to us
Thank you A-T, it feels great talking with a platform that focuses on pushing young emerging artists like this.
Inart, Briefly tell the readers about your background
My name is Oghenetega Ovbagbedia Ahweyevu, professionally known as Inart .I’m an alternative hiphop artist from Delta State, the southern part of Nigeria.I’m a graduate of Electrical Engineering and just after my graduation is when I started music professionally.
Amazing stuff! What type of music do you make and what inspires you to do it?
My core sound is Afro-Swing, an afro fusion genre that can be traced to the UK mostly. But it’s worth noting that I’m not an artist bound by genres, I tend to do music as I hear it and sing back to the beat whatever I hear from it. I have an Emo Trap song that happened literally out of no where.
My music is mostly inspired by real life events and you can tell from some of the titles off my project “Meraki”. Songs like “Long way From Home” literally telling you about me leaving home or “Big Black Sienna” telling you about how the failed Nigeria Police system is every young Nigerian’s nightmare every single day that they live on this green earth. The more I go through life, the more music that comes to life through me and it’s why most of my close friends are intrigued and interested in my music cuz it’ll most of the time contain a story or memory that we have together and it’s always just a moment for us to reminisce and laugh sometimes or just enjoy the moment. Me doing Afro Swing is partly as a result of being heavily influenced by artist like Burna Boy, J-hus , Wretch 32 ,Mo Stack.
Very Insightful, Inart. Your new EP is titled “Meraki”. Firstly is it your debut studio project?
Yes I dropped a 5 track EP on the 16th of June , titled “Meraki” and yes this is my debut project. I’m hyped to finally be able to properly introduce the world to an artist they didn’t know they were missing !
You’ve chosen “Meraki” as the title for this one, any insight as to what it means?
Meraki [may-rah-kee]. This is a word that modern Greeks often use to describe doing something with soul, creativity, or love — when you put “something of yourself” into what you’re doing, whatever it may be. This is what “Meraki” the EP is to me , this a body of work that I have put all of me into and would still give more if I could.
One of them deep meanings. Readers that have yet to listened to “Meraki” want to know what to expect if they do
I’ll urge them to expect something they haven’t heard out of Nigeria before. Something that would leave them excited like they haven’t been about music in a while. Music that’s actually worth the hype. A smooth blend of several genres evenly balanced out, a very genuine sound so natural it’s too good to be true.
A project with a sense of balance to it , that takes you through a complete story/journey of myself or every young Nigerian
Creative that can relate to these stories, the ones that can see beyond these songs as just music but an actual reality of day to day living as a youth . Be excited!
Perfectly laid out Inart. I’m sure anybody lucky enough to come across “Meraki” would have the times of their lives.
Inart’s “Meraki” album has just reached a new peak and is the #2 Album on NIgerian iTunes Albums chart.
It is definitely worth the hype. The numbers do not lie.
Album Talks™ 