TOBi is an artist I’m not extremely familiar with, but I’m realizing early on that I need to truly tap in as soon as possible because he’s unbelievably talented. I actually first heard of him when I saw he collaborated with Mick Jenkins on their song “Off the Drugs”. While this isn’t a surprise considering Mick has drawn me in through various other collaborations that have introduced me to some of the most remarkable artists in the world, so now that I know about TOBi, you can bet your life savings that I’m going to catch up on everything I’ve missed from him thus far.
Opening up with an incredibly soulful guitar riff in the instrumental, things are kept relatively simplistic with a fairly straightforward boom-bap-inspired beat that is an unbelievably serene foundation that both of these artists absolutely destroy. When TOBi goes in, his voice is so unique and almost indescribable in the best possible ways. He almost sounds like a robot that is singing underwater, allowing his words to rise to the surface within a plethora of bubbles that pop and release his thoughts.
At the same time, considering this description probably doesn’t do him justice, his natural talents and just smoothness on the instrumental is something to marvel at because he just kind of seems to let the beat take him wherever it pleases as he just casually trots his way to the end. When Mick comes in, though, his deep, buttery voice complements TOBi’s portions as well, and the slight melodic twang he uses within every word he spits is just the perfect addition to this already extremely expressive production.
All in all, the chemistry that these two artists share is abundantly obvious, and I still can’t believe this is just my introduction to the Canadian artist. At the same time, though, Mick seems to work well with anyone he collaborates with because he carefully selects the artists he gets in the studio alongside, so I’m not necessarily shocked that he puts me onto new artists fairly consistently. While I am certainly excited to see what else I’ve been missing out on in terms of music from TOBi, I am also super curious to see what else Mick Jenkins has up his sleeve moving forward throughout this year, so while we wait patiently and observe, make sure you don’t miss out on their latest song “Off the Drugs”.