Like most artists, Rema started his musical career at a really young age, with rap as his preferred genre. The earliest evidence of this is found in multiple videos of him making freestyles in a car in 2019, which led to the eventual release of his eponymous EP ‘Rema’. This project was his introductory announcement to the world of who he is, and interestingly features what would become his breakout song; Dumebi. This was an emo-driven project, an experiment which appeared new to mainstream afrobeats at the time, and like any novel endeavor, was met with backlash from listeners, and cheeky conversations about him sounding “Indian”.
Regardless of this, he continued to explore other areas of his creative spectrum and released a subsequent EP titled ‘Rema Freestyle EP’, where beckoned on yet another side of his multifaceted personality, and gave listeners a new side of him, and what I love to identify as the ‘Trap Rema’. This project was an evident display of a trap maestro exploring his genre, while surprisingly gaining listenership from mainstream afrobeats audience. This was a first of some sort, as prior to the release of this project, the Nigerian music industry hadn’t witnessed a Nigerian artist appeal to a large number of listeners with trap music. Yet, it was an easy game for Rema because he found ways to constantly connect with a lot of young people who often saw him as their hero, and a true representation of themselves.
With a strong community of young vibrant youths under his belt, two solid EPs & an amazing mixtape, Rema decided it was time for a debut album, and in 2022, he released his musical debut, Rave & Roses. Already a staple at this point, the cover art for the album was once again the reflection of where he was, in his musical journey. The album cover had a graphical representation of a church burning upside down, and in usual fashion, this came along with criticisms from listeners. He eventually said in an interview that he has always been intentional about his artworks and he likes the fact that people are now speaking about it, even though they spoke about it from a critical point of view. He later revealed the actual meaning of the artwork at the listening party of the album.
Later that year, he released the remix of his hit track, ‘Calm down’, featuring the American sensation, Selina Gomez, which became the game changer for him and provided him with access to a wider audience. This song has since broken multiple records. In 2023, with the announcement of the Ravage EP release, Rema opened a new phase of his artistic career and was well on the way to becoming afrobeats’ Batman.
Why is he the Afrobeats batman?
Rema fits perfectly the description of the American fictional character, Batman, because of the literal and figurative similarities that exist between them. Batman is popularly known as a genius who most times enjoys doing things his own way and getting the work done. Rema toes this same line as a genius, and interestingly shares the usage of the bat sign akin to the identity of the Batman, as his creative symbol. He has exercised this level of intelligence from the start of his music career till present day, which is evident in how he pays attention to every detail of his music, including art representations, lyrical content, and his overall branding.
The Batman effect also lies in his ability to be abreast of the challenges facing people around him, whether those pertaining to his age group, tribe or even his country. He continues to address these challenges in his songs, using himself as the talking point and a reflection of the same fate shared by his age mate or others. Some of these songs include Hov, where he walks down memory lane to talk about the struggles he faced at a young age, which he highlights in the opening lyrics ‘I don hustle sha / my leg don do plenty waka, e reach to call me oga’. He touches on this challenge again on ‘Charm’, where he says “Because I wan feed my family / na hin make me thief my own guy laptop”. These lyrics provide clear indications that he understands the challenges plaguing people around him and constantly finds ways to speak on them.
Rema, like Batman, knows when to close a particular aspect of his creative journey and open another, to achieve greater results. He has constantly done this throughout his career, with instances of how he has over the course of his creative journey moved from rap, to trap, to Afrobeats and currently champions in what he likes to call Afro-rave. From the rollouts of his surprise EP Ravage in 2023, Rema took on this new persona, with the bat insignia as his anchor. This symbol, which we now understand exists as an emblem of his tribe and homeland, Edo state. He also revealed that the bronze mask which has become an important part of his personal branding and given him an actual resemblance to Batman, served the purpose of highlighting essential aspects of the history of his people.
It is important to note that although Rema has often been criticized at various points in his musical career for his style of music, he has constantly found ways of turning every ridicule to an opportunity for him. At the start of his career, as earlier discussed, it was a ‘funny’ thing to say he sounded Indian, but instead of feeling sad about it, he took it as an avenue to explore that sound and gain fans from India, and in 2023, his dream came to fruition when he successfully sold out his concert in New Delhi, India.
There were also conversations about him sounding repetitive, yet, he has continued to maintain this sound to a large extent, and have struck collaborations with some of the biggest music superstars including Skepta, Chris Brown, Selina Gomez, 6lack, amongst others. Finally, with the announcement of his feature with Selina Gomez for the Calm down remix in 2022, there were several opinions on why this was an unnecessary gesture. Yet, that song has gone on to become a global hit song, winning multiple awards and recognitions.
Rema, fully aware of his current state as the Afrobeats Batman is now set to release projects, with the symbolic bat aggrandizement. In the single preceding this new phase, Benin Boys, he taps his tribesman Shallipopi, to talk about his closely knitted affiliation with his people. Also, In a snippet off another song on this project titled Hehehe, Rema is seen singing and talking really fast, in a way that the average listener could easily conclude as utter nonsense, but in his usual fashion, it is just another opportunity for him to re-emphasize what he has always said over the years, that he is different from the rest and cannot be put in a box. A solid reminder that HE IS.
Chukwuebuka Mgbemena is a writer focused on the Nigerian & African entertainment industry. He loves fashion, art and is a staunch chess player.
