As a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist with an eclectic style, Emeka Jeremiah Nnaji (better known as E’major) is influenced by several different genres, like pop, R&B, hip hop, highlife, and contemporary gospel.
But the Minnesota resident holds fast to the music and culture of his native country, Nigeria.
E’major describes his sound as Afro-fusion, combining Afrobeats, popular contemporary West African music and other African styles, with all those genres that he had the opportunity to learn about and sing over time.
“I’ve had people tell me that I should call it ‘Afro-major’ – because I really make it personal to me when I’m ad-libbing the vocals or when I’m singing a particular hook,” he said. “With my background, I can decide to come at it from a reggae perspective – even though its Afrobeat – or I can come at it from an R&B perspective or from a hip-hop perspective. And of course any one of those angles will create a different sound.”
Many of those influences are featured in the artist’s latest single, called “Bolo.”
According to E’major, Bolo is a Nigerian slang word for the head or the brain. Taken further, he said Bolo is often used to replace expressions like ‘This is bursting my brain’ or This is driving me crazy.’
“In the song, we’re using it to say that this girl is bursting your brains, making you crazy, driving you wild,” he said. “It’s a flirtatious way of saying that you are completely taken by this person.”
E’major is currently in Nigeria on a promotional tour for the song. Right now, the music video for “Bolo” can be seen on YouTube, MTV Base Africa, and other networks.
From there, he has more singles coming out in November and December, along with plans to release an album based on his body of work sometime in 2025.
In developing “Bolo,” the artist worked closely with renowned Nigerian music producer Masterkraft, who E’major credits with crafting the beat that served as the starting point from which the finished song was built upon.
“When you start off with a really good beat, all of a sudden you find yourself singing one line with a hook that keeps building on from there,” said E’major. “Then it sounds so good that everyone in the studio starts going crazy – and you keep building the themes and the lyrics until you have something that everyone can be proud of.
“So having a good beat like that just drives you crazy in your bolo.”
.png)
.jpg)
