Foster Nnamdi Chima stage name Fozter had a good 2020 with his debut project, Pops, a 7-track EP. A couple of songs on the EP, How, Bei, and Nico did well to introduce him to a larger crowd. Since then, he’s churning out covers and challenges using trending beats, with his deep voice, grammatically ebullient lyrics, and versatility. Attributes he flaunts effortlessly on Pops.
Here’s his R&R® JJC feature.
FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH HIP-HOP
You know, Hip-hop music is the music I grew on. Like literally, the first song, in my mind… Like, the earliest memory I have of a song is, 50 Cent‘s Many Men. And it’s not that I heard the song, but I remember my elder brother singing the song ‘Many Men’ [scoffs].
You know. It was beautiful, like. So since day 1! Since Day 1!
WRITING HIP-HOP
I started writing rhymes down in 2012. Yeah, two thousand and twelve. And, well, the artiste. The number 1 artiste that influenced me to start was Eminem. Top!
The Number 2 was Tech N9ne. Because, YOOO! That was the first time I was hearing about Tech N9ne, and that was… That was when I heard, errmm, Worldwide Choppers. That shit was MAD! I was like ‘YOOOO!’ it’s not like I could do what he did, but I loved it!”
“Both of them, they inspired me to start writing, and I did, you nah-a-mean (you know what I mean)?”
FROM HIP-HOP HEAD TO HIP-HOP EMCEE
Sometime in 2011, my Producer, Kranki. He got this particular program called FL Studio, yeah? He put it on his laptop. Cos’ back then, our neighbour he said ‘Yo! I know you guys like music, so, why don’t you get this?’ And then, we didn’t know what it was exactly. So we got the program, and Cranky installed it on his laptop. Then he started playing around with it.
Kranki knew what he wanted, yeah? So he started making incredible tunes. [clears throat] That sh*t was in his blood, you nah-a-mean (you know what I mean)? So, he did that! Whipped up incredibly tunes. Some of which we murked (murdered). But they were actually freaking nice! Very freaky nice! Then f*cked around, f*ck around.
Kranki, now laid his hands on it, yeah? Then he whipped up this particular beat. And then we were like, ‘Yo! this beat is mad! This beat is mad!’ So 2012, we wrote to it. And We recorded… The recording was garbage. We didn’t go to a studio, we didn’t… I don’t even remember… We did it on the laptop! We used the laptop’s microphone. That was what we did. [clears throat]
The title of the song was Word, and that was back then. [laughs] Omo, e don tey o! Anyhow sha! [laughs] Sh*t was garbage. But back then, a couple of friends came over, yeah? They heard it. It was never really released, they just came over, they heard. They said ‘Yo! this is nice! This is Nice!’, because, yeah, they’re trying to encourage their friend. Later on, we found out it was garbage, but, we thought it was nice back then. So that sh*t motivated us to continue. So, yeah!
Recorded first time 2012, rapped first time 2012. I guess, more or less. I’ve been rapping other people’s songs, but the first time I rapped something I wrote was 2012. From there, you know, due to the motivation and everything. We just continued doing what we were doing and producing new tracks. You nah-a-mean (you know what I mean)?
YOUR MOST SLEPT ON SONG OR VERSE
Bro! I mean! How is like my f*cking favourite track. I’m like ‘Why, in the hell, are you guys not jamming how as much as you’re jamming NICO and Bei?. I’m like ‘Yo, what’s happening?’
How. [clears throat] How, is like, me expressing myself. I feel like people are sleeping on that shit too much. I don’t really get that sh*t. Cos’… Cos’, I really went, all out on that track. You nah-a-mean?
[Sigh] It’s weird. It’s weird.
YOUR WORST SONG OR VERSE
Aight! Well, there was this one track I did with my bro bro, ermm, Charlamagn3. I mean…, it’s not like I put out bad stuffs, you know, that often. But amongst the stuffs that have been put out, I feel like that is the worst on my side. he did incredible, on his side. But I feel like I didn’t do justice to the stuff he asked me to do, you know. Then again, we have more work, you know, more work that is yet to come out. so, yeah!
The worst track of mine… Or worst verse, anyways, of mine, is the verse on Coming Through, that Charlamagn3 put me on. It’s Charlamagn3‘s song, not mine. You nah-a-mean?
PLAN
Well. The plan is… You know, for now. That’s the first half of the year. Covers! People should expect covers from me, yeah? But just normal covers, nothing serious, yeah? But the second half of the year, that’s when the big collabs start rolling in, You nah-a-mean?
That’s when everywhere starts getting hot, then a couple of things will drop. Stuff I can’t talk about right now. I’d like for it to be a surprise.
You nah-a-mean (you know what I mean)?
Fozter is currently a 500level Mechanical Engineering student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UniZik). He is an independent artist and hasn’t even begun digging into his bag of hit songs.
We wish him all the best in his endeavours.
