The intro lures you with its soothing hums and percussion. ‘Only you dey view the whole world from your rear view,’ Sami Omoh’s solemn reflections on the opening track ‘God’ set the pace for a wholesome and didactic spin on the album.

Dubbed, Light and Good Energies, this 8-track record rehashes the Nigerian pop maestro’s sonic brilliance that was captured on his earlier releases including the Odumodublvck-assisted bop, ‘Oh!’ From slow-burn love jams like the trio with Susss and LT-fire dubbed, ‘Less Talk’, to other faster-paced jams like ‘The Bag’, Sami Omoh leaves nothing to doubt concerning his lyrical efficacy.

Based in the capital city of Abuja, the young musician chats with Guardian Music, exploring his inspiration behind the record, as well as his creative process, come-up experiences, as well as vision for his career.

So, let’s talk about your music. How does it feel for you dropping that body of work for you now, in your career?
It was becoming like it was not becoming. So, I had to just go against all odds and make sure that the songs are out there for the listening pleasure of everybody. I couldn’t just continue listening to all those songs all by myself everyday, in my house. I knew it was about time I let them out.

Okay. So, how long have you been working on the project? 
Yeah I think it was since 2020, yeah 2020. Some of the songs were recorded in 2020.

When did you start the project in 2020?
It was around the lockdown you know. Prior to that time, I had been involved in a couple projects with some senior colleagues, the likes of Erigga, he had featured me with yung6ix and then he featured me with MI. And his album, the two albums you know, the balls were just getting higher and then, the coronavirus lockdown came up. I was at home. I have a home studio, I have my friends that are around. So, we just started seeing mehn, we just got a record project that would drop, you know. And then I started making the songs, but along the line it took much longer than I had just expected. You know because I was just looking for those songs that would actually stand out and serve the purpose of the theme of the project.

What was the message of this project for you? 
It’s all about calmness you know, while showcasing life. It’s all about positive vibe, it’s all about like I said calmness.  Those positive outlook and lovely melodies that would, resonate with people’s mind and yet leave them blessed and refreshed after listening to them.

So, you have another interesting new release dubbed, “Most high”. What inspired that song as well？
I recorded most of the time around 2021, 2022. It was the first song I made, when I started working with one of my closest producers, he is called Maxi spite. You know it was a very first song we did, when we said okay let’s start making songs that we would put out. And you know, let’s collaborate, let’s put our head together. And most times it’s just like me, trying to express how grateful I’m to God for everything he has done in my life. Looking at where I’m coming from, all those and hassles that I have encountered. You know in my life, family and everything, and most times in my place they say, appreciation is an application for more. So, most time it’s just an appreciation to God for all he has done, you know I’m still thanking him for every other thing he is going to do in the nearest future. You know part of the song I said, “for all the things wey you don do, and all the things you go still do”. You know for all the things he will do, for the life that he give us. And then, I had a near death experience sometimes around February. Six days after I dropped”Light and good Energy “, and so, while ni was going through all those trauma I said, the next song I’m dropping is most high. I was going to thank God, it was supposed to be on this light and good Energy project, but due to some decision, between me and my manager we decided to let it come as single. So I said yo, it’s about time we put it down, so it’s gone out a couple days ago.

So, let’s switch up to when your interest in music actually began.
I started way back in secondary school, I think it was around my jss 1. I met a couple of guys that were also very very kind, and gentle. At that time we were just singing popular records, and during break periods you know, we would vibe to popular records at the time. And you know along the line, we discovered that we could actually make up our own melodies. And put lyrics that we have been singing. So, we started a music group. It was called “Tripled thread”, it was the three of us. Frank was the singer and I was the rapper in the group, then we had another guy Jay. Jay was also singing and rapping you know. So, when we were in SS2, they called us saying they wanted to appoint a prefect, and they said they wanted me to be social prefect. The fact then that at SS1, I was already coming out for social gatherings to do our, songs that we have recorded. And so I got used to being around a lot of other creatives, you know showcasing the art. So, when I became the social prefect, I was very invested in it. Because every Friday, we would have to organize a social gathering, and I had to make sure that it came out nice.

There have to be performances, dance, drama, music, and I was actively involved. So, when I got to the university, it wasn’t very easy for me to navigate myself, in making music. But I still found time, once once, engage in recording while I was in school. But I wasn’t actively involved, but I was still making music. So, I think it all started from the secondary school group, with  my friends. So, fast forward till after university, I made up my mind that I was going to own a studio, because it was becoming hard to get to record songs. Because of the outrageous prices,  I  started getting equipment that I knew that I could get in my studio. Slowly, I would get a speaker. It will take me like another two months to come with a microphone, but I will just wait and slowly I was able to get all my equipment.

And I had a studio, I made it commercial, so I had other artistes come to record. We had like four to five producers, and then I was making music from then, and I encountered some certain challenges in that process. Because there were a lot of other people coming to make music at the studio. Most of the files were not properly stored, and along the line we would hear that, we have lost this file, we have lost this record file. So, I told myself I wasn’t going to make it a commercial studio anymore, I wanted to make my music, just my own music. So I moved the studio to the house, and it’s been amazing since then.

What do you want people to perceive, whenever they hear your music?
The goal is to find people who will connect with the message, find people who will feel blessed whenever they hear a record from “Sami omoh”. Because my music point across to various age groups and various age grade. The other day on my Facebook, a woman about fifty or sixty, said she likes one of my song, she said wow cute song. You know there are people around the age of seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty. That have songs inside my project, that they would vibe to songs that “let’s talk”, “Give thanks.” So, the message is just leaving a foot print in the hands of man, that whenever they hear my record, they stay blessed, and they get the message.

Finally, how would you describe your artistry? 
I call myself a pacesetter. Yeah because, there is a lot of people who look up to me  where I’m coming from, the city of Portharcourt. And city of Asaba in Delta, this places are my home. I’m from Delta, I was born in Portharcourt, a lot of upcoming artiste, they look up to me. They see my songs and they are motivated, they know that they can get stuff done for themselves. You know with little or nothing, all your need is the strong headed essential and the determination, you putting effort into stuff done. You know, and collaborating with other creatives.