How long does it take Tomi Thomas to write and record a tune? Half an hour. “When I’m feeling it and in the zone, it takes me around 30 minutes,” says the R&B singer coolly, running through his routine of layering down beats, hooks and verses. Do the maths, and he can record an entire album’s worth of material in a single session. “My record is 12 tracks in a day,” he adds with a smile.
It may be no coincidence that Thomas's first single took a little longer. While the basic track to Ready or Not was done in minutes – one of five songs to emerge from a four-hour session – 10 weeks went by, and 17 verses were chucked out, before the 22-year-old Nigerian completed a lyric sheet he was happy with.
The hard work paid off – Ready or Not has been sitting at the top of the Soundcity Africa's Top 10 Nigeria Countdown, a chart based on votes, requests and social-media posts.
“It feels amazing, I’m so blessed that my music and sound is appreciated,” says Thomas.
“It’s a new sound back home, we like to label it Afro-house, and people are really vibing it.”
Not at all bad for a full-time student – Thomas moved to the UAE two years ago to begin a Bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations and screen production, at Murdoch University Dubai.
“It’s a balancing act,” says Thomas. “In Dubai, September to December I’m a student/artist – when I’m in Nigeria, in December and January, I’m a full-time artist. There’s an order to it.”
As if to prove this last statement, he proudly announces his grades are “HD”, or high distinction. “And I try to keep that up,” he adds.
Thomas has some experience of what it takes to make a hit. At the age of 16, he joined L.O.S, a Nigerian teen boyband who released about 20 tracks and achieved mainstream domestic success. Within a year, the group had performed to crowds of 25,000, and played opening sets for Chris Brown and Rick Ross.
L.O.S is still a going concern, with a debut album in the works, but with the quartet now spread over three continents, each singer is taking time to work on his own material.
“We all agreed that we are all very talented people, and we need to do our own thing – but that we are strongest together,” adds Thomas.
Originally released back in April, Ready or Not is the first video single from Thomas's debut release Patience. Follow-up video Renaissance dropped last month, and Thomas's team are preparing a further three releases from the 15-track set, a diverse and mature work that mixes R&B with elements of Afrobeat, house, neo-soul and more.
“I love house and trance, obviously I love Afrobeat, hip-hop, R&B and funk – I steal from everything, and force it all together to create something new,” explains Thomas. “Which, at the end of the day, is why I love music.”
Looking further ahead, Thomas has already finished recording another release, titled The Black Couch LP, and is plotting a big headline gig entitled The Tomi Thomas Experience, in February. First comes another new, non-EP single, the moody, minimalist Not My Bae, set to drop on Saturday.
“In two years time, I pray that I will be a totally established international performing and recording artist,” says Thomas. “And also have a bachelor’s degree – and a couple of Grammys.”
• Patience is out now on iTunes. Find out more from www.tomithomasmusic.com
rgarratt@thenational.ae
Scorebox
Dubai Sports City Eagles 7 Bahrain 88
Eagles
Try: Penalty
Bahrain
Tries: Gibson 2, Morete 2, Bishop 2, Bell 2, Behan, Fameitau, Sanson, Roberts, Bennett, Radley
Cons: Radley 4, Whittingham 5
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The squad traveling to Brazil:
Faisal Al Ketbi, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Khalfan Humaid Balhol, Khalifa Saeed Al Suwaidi, Mubarak Basharhil, Obaid Salem Al Nuaimi, Saeed Juma Al Mazrouei, Saoud Abdulla Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Zayed Saif Al Mansoori, Saaid Haj Hamdou, Hamad Saeed Al Nuaimi. Coaches Roberto Lima and Alex Paz.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29
The Baghdad Clock
Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld
