This week’s Hot New Local Single is “If I Do My Own,” a song that melds the James Brown-inspired vocals of Obi Original with the insistent Afrobeat energy of the Minneapolis-based group Black Market Brass. The music is energetic, exciting, and makes you want to get out of your seat and dance with abandon!
Obi Original, born Obiora Obikwelu, is a Nigerian producer and artist, guided by the mantra that “Africa is the home of music.” He formed the collective Ozone Creations to facilitate a variety of collaborations fusing strains of African music with various other genres. You can check out several of his projects here.
Black Market Brass have brought their exciting brand of Afro-beat to the Twin Cities for more than a decade, and they have collaborated with Obi Original in the past. Last March, in fact, Jazz88 spotlighted the song “Battle Ready” as a Hot New Local Single. Listen/ read about that tune here.
There are plans to release the B-side of this week’s single in November. Another thing to watch out for is a concert featuring Obi Original and the Black Market Brass on Friday, December 5th at the Cedar Cultural Center.
Jazz88’s former music director Sean McPherson spoke with members of Black Market Brass and Obi Original earlier this year, and you can find that conversation in our archives here.
Listen to the single here:
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