OFFICA

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised in Drogheda, Ireland, Offica draws together strands of disparate culture in thrilling, previously unimagined ways. From his debut single, the 2019 underground smash Afrodrip, he used the sonic palette of UK Drill to deliver an onslaught of bars that flipped between languages, jumping from Yoruba to Gaelic to English in the space of a couple of lines, all delivered in a stop-start, boisterous flow, heavy with swagger.

It was with his follow-up, Naruto Drillings, that Offica blew up. With a beat constructed from anime samples, and lyrics that recast the characters of the classic series Naruto as drill rivals battling over heavyweight basslines, Offica appeared in the video sporting a distinctive naruto mask and dancing like a wild Yoruba spirit unleashed on the dilapidated medieval architecture of Drogheda. Quite unlike anything else in the drill scene, the video went viral, and international Youtube sensation KSI jumped at the chance to get on the remix.

A run of classic tunes and freestyles have followed, with party jams such as the Fizzler featuring Skiddibop alternating with more introspective cuts such as Face Reveal, where Offica finally showed his identity to the world, with his lyrics grappling with his status as an immigrant in Ireland, who was representing the country abroad.  

In mid-2020 he started to bring through his crew of friends, fellow Nigerian teenagers who were growing up in Drogheda. Collectively known by the name A92, they featured alongside Offica on the track Link Up, an instant hit that suggested there was way more talent in the Irish towns than anyone would have guessed. The crew were invited to drop a freestyle on Fumez the Engineers tastemaking freestyle platform Plugged In - and the results were sensational. With Offica joined by three other crew members; Ksav, BT and Dbo, A92’s Plugged In was 4 minutes of pure heat and the response was phenomenal. Spreading across Youtube and Instagram, over to Tik Tok, then onto Spotify viral charts, the tune became one of the sleeper hits of 2020, breaking into the official Top 40 in both the UK and Ireland, hitting viral charts in over 20 countries worldwide, and going on to hit UK silver certification within a few months of release - an almost unimaginable feat for an independently released freestyle featuring a crew of Irish-Nigerian teens.

Undaunted by the pandemic, Offica has continued his run through 2021, recording further freestyles for Kenny Allstar and Charlie Sloth, and dropping further tracks that draw on his fusion of Japanese culture, Yoruba mythology, Irish energy and UK sonics. Bearing his soul on charlie Sloth’s Fire in the Booth, he discussed being an outsider breaking into the inside - likening himself and his fellow MCs to the noisy neighbours, making too much of a commotion to be ignored. With a further Naruto referencing track Obito going viral once more, and the release of his first Afrobeats record ‘Kolomental’ featuring A9Dbo and Darkovibes he’s been getting himself ready for a debut mixtape that will cement his reputation as one of the most exciting artists of a generation.