From Niger to the Big Apple, there is only one step. Thanks to Fadimatou Mossi, better known as Fadi, this is possible through rap, and the permanent desire to make people talk about his country on this side of the Atlantic, by singing certain sounds in Zarma, the one of the languages of the country. Settled in the United States since 2011, the young artist has been gaining momentum recently, and is gradually making her place in the industry, having already caught the eye of artists like Tiwa Savage, Adekunle Gold and Dadju.
Irving Plaza, New York, May 29. The room is full to attend the concert of Dadju. The public heats up with a 24-year-old artist, who is not shy in the first part: Fadi. She puts her voice and her lyrics in Zarma for his flagship title Aban, the language of his country of origin, Niger, and thrilled the 1700 people present in the room. “It remains one of the best moments of my young career so far, because I was able to sing in front of an audience that was discovering me, and who liked my sounds, but also because I was able to perform in the “one of the best venues in town. I’ve been enjoying every moment since I’ve been an artist, and these kinds of opportunities also show that the work done so far pays off!”, she smiles at the memory of that evening. The long road of the young Nigerian to the mythical halls of the Big Apple was however not obvious for the one who wants to make a name for herself in the middle.
Born in Abuja in 1998, the young Fadimatou started her life in Nigeria, in a family where the father, a career soldier, was stationed there at that time. She spent the first five years of her life in the most populous country in Africa, and began her schooling at the French Lycée Marcel Pagnol. In 2003, the family moved to Niamey, and the young girl returned to the land of her parents’ birth, and learned about music at school. “We weren’t a family that listened to music all the time, we listened from time to time to a few CDs that my father brought back from his missions abroad. But I don’t come from a family of musicians”, she remembers. “Ma revelation for music came when I started my schooling at Lycée La Fontaine, in Niamey. I had to read a poem and sing it, and my sister said to me ‘but can you sing?’ in a joking tone, and I liked it! Since then, I haven’t stopped singing even though I didn’t know yet that I would become an artist”.
Fadi sings everywhere, when she can, and finds in this a means of expressing her emotions and feelings. She lived 8 years in “my country, my home” as she loves to say, then the family had to move again. The clan crossed the Atlantic and settled in New York in 2011, when the young girl was a teenager. Adapting to American life is not complicated for one who already has a good foundation in English after her first years in Nigeria. The creativity of the young African is more than ever stimulated. “BeauAfrican influences suddenly converge here. It’s a constant inspiration, and I mix that with Niamey and my Niger, which are also among my main sources of musical inspiration, because I never want to forget where I come from,” she describes. She sings and dances to the sounds of Nicki Minaj, but also Rihanna and Teyana Taylor, and began in 2016 to post covers of titles by several African artists on her Instagram page, including Tiwa Savage, whose attention she attracted and who sends him some words of motivation and praise on his voice and his talent.
Concert dreams in Niger
After attracting the attention of some great artists on the continent, Fadi decided to post his first compositions, pushed by his friends who “were fed up with my covers and telling me to sing my own songs”, she laughs. still today. In 2019, she wrote, recorded and mixed her first single, Slow Down, inspired by a sound of Wizkid, one of his idols. “I wasn’t expecting much, I had struggled with the process of achieving my title because it was a first for me, but when it came out, it was immediately a hit in Niger, and people started to know who I was in the country. It was a first satisfaction”, she specifies. She does not set herself a goal, makes music for the love of sounds and words, “without thinking, at the time, that I could become an artist and make it my job! So I continue on my way after the success of my first single,” she explains. The number of fans is increasing visibly, and she is gradually assimilating the tricks of the trade, she who has not attended any music school or conservatory or has never learned to perform on stage.
In 2021, one of his Ghanaian neighbors, very involved in the African artistic world of New York, manages to get him a date at…SOB, Sounds of Brazil, a famous venue in the south of Manhattan. “I told him he was crazy! For my first on stage, he gave me a golden chance, but in a very famous room, with an audience of great connoisseurs. I was a little nervous”, she recalls. “Je prepared like never before, I didn’t want to waste this opportunity and I wanted to show what I was capable of. It was a crazy night, people loved it!”. She receives very good reviews from music journalists, but also from fans, who let her know via her social networks. City College, then Adekunle Gold invited him to do his first part in the mythical Apollo Theater in Harlem. “I had no stage experience and I found myself in a few weeks doing SOB and Apollo Theater, it was just mad ! He had spotted me with the covers that I had done in the past, and he liked my voice, so he said to me, ‘let go!’, and I opened his concert”, he recalls. The young Nigerian listens to the precious advice of the artist from Lagos, who predicts a brilliant future for her and advises her to seize the opportunity given to her to settle permanently in the world of entertainment. advice from artists as well known as him, we just listen. I am always listening to opinions, to constructive criticism, because I want to become essential in the middle”, she specifies.
In August 2022, after several months of work, she released her first album Am ready, whose flagship title Aban was a hit on the east coast of the United States and in Niger. “Aban, which means ‘it’s over’ in Zarma, is a title that was close to my heart, because I wanted to pay tribute to my country, Niger”, she explains. “J’ai hallucinated, because the sound was listened to by everyone there. It warmed my heart to see that my compatriots appreciated him. I had a lot of very good feedback from American fans, even if they didn’t understand the lyrics!” she smiles. But five days after the release of the album, her older sister dies. She is thinking of ending his career: “I wanted to quit. It was very hard to live. But, I remembered his words of support. And the love of my loved ones, of the fans, that made me change my mind”. Invited to perform on the sets of the biggest urban radio stations, including Power 105, THE most followed station in New York, Fadi sees so his career took off, between collaborations and first parties: “I work on major projects and I would like to perform in Niger as well. I can’t say much more, but there’s a good chance that I’ll open for Rema, during his New York dates at the end of July…”, she slips.
Facebook / Instagram / YouTube
Fadi Am Ready 2022
2023-07-11 09:23:26
#Fadi #rapper #Niamey #shines #York
