Native records sign Smada, Odumodublvck 

Barely three months after they announced their new joint venture with US heavyweight Def Jam records, distinguished Nigerian record imprint, Native Records, have signed two new artistes into their roster. Tapping the Abuja-based rapper Odumodublvck and the Lagos pop-fusion maverick, Smada, the new record label has debuted in the music scene with a vibrant takeoff. 

Known for a lifestyle of uniqueness and originality, founders of Native Records Teni ‘Teezee’ Zaccheus and Seni ‘Chubbz’ Saraki, the record company is heavily respected among the alternative and pop music communities. Already, their unique branding and marketing choices, which includes futuristic and heavily experimental music or teaser videos, creating a kidnap hoax to unveil an artiste, as well as premiering a music video – Odumodublvck’s Picanto – in Silverbird Cinemas, have shown that the record company is here to stay, and on their own terms. 

Notable for his ‘Igbocentricism,’ which he flexes through his urban-cultural fashion choices, and his free-spirited personality, Odumodublvck is among the most exciting voices to emerge from the Nigerian capital in the last decade.

Whilst being a pioneering voice of drill music in Nigeria and recently co-signed by UK grime legend Skepta, he operates under a self-defined genre he calls ‘Okporoko rhythms’ a form of hip-hop that takes influences from grime, Afrobeat, and progressive RnB. 

Smada is a Lagos-based singer, and his most recent release is dubbed Ye Anthem. He is unique for his creative fusions of RnB, Soul, Pop and Electronic music.