WHAT IT IS: Emerging from the nucleus of Nigeria’s left scene, Santi, born Osayaba Ize-lyamu, first stepped on the scene in 2009 as a rapper. A 90s kid himself; the very artists Santi grew up admiring co-signed him from the jump. With Wizkid hyping his freestyle rap over Drake’s “Juice,” to frequent nods via Drake’s label OVO, the freewheeling, multi-genre independent artist is on the rise. Laden with guest features like Ghanaian R&B singer/songwriter Amaarae, South African DIY Hip-hop pundit Shane Eagle, Virginia singer/rapper DRAM and DMV-hailing Goldlink, Santi’s most recent album, Mandy & The Jungle is a deeply textured, flavorful body of work with unwavering allegiance to his Monster Boy crew, including producers Genio and GMK.
SINGLE: “Freaky”
INTERNET: 393k+ monthly Spotify listeners, 67.3k+ Instagram followers; 605k+ YouTube views on “Freaky,” 1.3m+ on “Rapid Fire”
PRESS: Vice, The Native Mag, Crack Mag, more
BOOKING: WME
MANAGEMENT: LVRN