Name: Keys The Prince

Where He’s From: West London

When He Started: 2020

Genre: Afro-fusion

File Next To: NSG, J Hus, Kojo Funds

Sounds Like: “I take a lot of inspiration from old-school rap and Nigerian music—which I’m sampling a lot of right now. I love Nigerian culture as much as I do London culture, and I’m all about marrying the two together.”

First Music That Inspired Him: “This guy’s cancelled at the moment, but it’s Kanye West’s College Dropout album. And when I discovered J. Cole’s music, his Friday Night Lights mixtape was mad inspirational for my journey, just being transparent with music and putting the story together. Kirk Franklin, Lauryn Hill and Chip have also inspired me along the way.”

Keys The Prince and I are sitting in a restaurant along the Coal Drop Yard in North London, accompanied by the heedful ears of his PR. But our conversation runs as freely as I’d hoped. “I started in school with music lessons, and everyone would rap in school as well,” he tells me when asked how his music story began. “I was in sixth form when I created my first song, though—it was called ‘I Wonder’. I also grew up in church; my parents were Sunday school teachers. I used to play the keyboard at my church and, later, I went on to play for other churches.”

It was through hopping around various educational, faith-based and social settings that David Oladotun Olubi was dubbed the name Keys The Prince. “I got the name Keys for playing keys; I would play it anywhere I could,” he admits. During adolescent years, many young people are still trying to figure out the blueprint to life, testing and trialling the tools presented in their palms. However, for Keys, he caught the gist quickly, having the ability to fine-tune the craft of music which is now yielding results. Over time, he would see how his music made a shift from ministering the keys to fervent believers in the church and intimate classrooms as a student, to picking up the microphone as an artist, blending African music styles and other genres. “I would probably say my music is Afro-fusion now, with a mix of UK rap, gospel and American hip-hop influences,” he explains. “It’s a real fusion of those sounds.”

The last two years have seen Keys’ music take root in circles that weren’t as readily accessible to him before; his COLORS performance of the track “Oshey” kicked things off, but it was the release of “Left, Right” that caught the attention of the African diaspora in cities across the UK. The sonic stamp of that track took elements from the popular Yoruba music genre Fuji, as well as Afrobeats, with the visuals seeing Keys dripped out in Nigerian traditional wear dotted around several different London locations. The lyrics of “Left, Right” put a spotlight on ‘lifestyle’, a topic that is repackaged and dished out in music time and time again. But what makes Keys’ comprehension of a “best life” so different from the myriad of artists across the world? “Living my best life is completely walking in my purpose,” he says. “My purpose is God-given.”

Our conversation then reaches an interesting dichotomy on a needed but controversial topic: God. What does God-given purpose look like? What’s the importance of church? Is your purpose God-given if your actions deter you from the standard God has sent? Does being radically obedient make you a Pharisee (a Jewish religious group known for their strict adherence to Jewish law)? “I go to church every single week,” he says. “We can call my pastor right now! But I don’t think going to church means you have a relationship with God. You can go to church and be the devil’s best worker.” We both nod our heads in agreement. I then push back with Biblical verses, such as Hebrews 10:25, which encourages us not to forsake the assembly of believers. We agree to disagree on a few things but what anchors our beliefs is that Jesus said in John 14:23, “Whoever loves me will obey my teaching. My father will love him, and my father and I will come to him and live with him.”

Keys grew up as a middle child, and there’s a common belief that middle children live their tender teenage years in a never-ending conundrum. Some are believed to be the most neglected in the family setup, while others feel excluded or completely misunderstood. But for Keys The Prince, it was none of the above. “Being a middle child is cool,” he says in a confident and assertive tone. “I was probably the most troublesome. I think I’m the most independent—my sisters might argue, but I’m the most different out of all of us.” Yoruba culture is a portion of his life that he doesn’t aim to shrink, broadening in his personality for all to be privy to see. “Yoruba people have a beautiful sense of pride,” he says. “We’re proud of our culture, our food, and I like to present that musically in a way that relates to the people of the diaspora.”

It is through the Yoruba tradition that the afrobeat genre has surpassed the nation of Nigeria to a scale that touches the four corners of the earth. The late Fela Kuti—arguably the founder of that genre, and also a revered political activist—has inspired Keys The Prince profoundly, as well as today’s Afrobeats stars such as Burna Boy, Wizkid, Asake and Davido. “I take inspiration from the greats, those who came before me,” he says. Following in the footsteps of the aforementioned talents, Keys The Prince aims to remain consistent with his musical output while putting his culture front and centre.