Plantain Papi: "I think we’re all healing from something. The world is healing"

Fostered by the diverse sounds of hip-hop, gospel and afrobeats, Plantain Papi is the latest in a stream of rappers and producers to make their mark on Ireland's ever-diversifying music scene.

“It’s bubbling here man, everyone’s really hungry this year,” says the Nigerian-born, Irish-raised artist. “All the different things people are doing and all the different sounds coming from the underground scene, it’s really having a new kind of renaissance.”

A homegrown artist with a wealth of big-stage experience, Plantain has been seen headlining Dublin’s Academy, lighting up Longitude Festival, and entertaining large crowds all over Ireland, from Trinity Ball to The Button Factory and the 3Arena.

Raised in the image of Nigerian icons Burna Boy and WizKid, the Dublin-based producer and vocalist is quickly shaping up to be the pair’s Irish counterpart, expertly fusing pop and rap as he crafts increasingly universal music.

Plantain Papi released his debut project Still Healing earlier this month, navigating self-discovery, internal turmoil, and emotional growth through the lens of Nigerian-inspired afrobeats, pioneering a genre deeply rooted in his family and heritage while adding his own unique twist.

“I think life in general inspired Still Healing,” he says of the new project. “I think we’re all healing from something; the world is healing. That's the stage I’d reached in my life, so I felt that that would be the most fitting title for the music.”

While work on Still Healing officially began during July of last year, a handful of the album’s tracks were written in 2021, in the midst of lockdown.

“During the pandemic, Pirate Studios opened in Dublin," he recalls. "It was still really fresh and clean, and it was just a really cool place to go and record. Me and F3miii used to go there pretty much every day because there were no jobs, no work… I feel like that was a really pivotal moment, you know? Obviously the pandemic was awful, but for us, our particular experience helped us create more.”

Despite an instinctual gravitation towards afrobeats, Plantain is adept at tailoring his delivery to best showcase the emotional core of a piece, effortlessly switching between genres.

Navigating an R&B-adjacent sound for the album’s lead single ‘1942,’ Plantain allowed the fragility of his emotions to shine, resulting in a diary-like musing on love and heartbreak that quickly defined the ensuing record. However, despite a surface-level exploration of breakups and lost romance, ‘1942’ dives deeper into the emotional impact of loneliness, creating the perfect gateway into a record about inner healing.

“I had a breakup last year," Plaintain explains. "Obviously, with the title of the album, everyone would be like, ‘This song’s about his ex, definitely.' But I didn’t want it to be like that. I actually said to my manager, ‘I don’t want it to sound like this guy is really heartbroken. There’s more topics to take from the tape than just that.’ So I initially wanted to shelve it, but it ended up glueing the whole tape together, so I’m actually really happy that I put it up.”

With an overarching goal of propelling the Dublin scene towards a modern Golden Age, Plantain’s influence within the industry has quickly stretched beyond his solo projects. As co-founder of the independent label collective PlantainSound, alongside his manager Joy Nwagiriga, Plantain Papi has been immersing himself in the intricacies of developing and promoting new talent.

The Irish collective currently comprises homegrown artists F3mii, B4bzy and Sophie Jane, alongside Plantain himself.

“We’re a small collective at the moment, and we’re just trying to bring out the best in Irish music,” he says. “It’s mainly music at the moment, but we’re gonna branch out to other things – like TV, acting, and content creation as well.”

When asked about the collective’s plans for the future, Plantain responds: “I want it to be a staple in Irish culture, urban culture, you know? Like if Drake is coming to Ireland, and he wants something to happen with someone from Plantain Sound…"

"Growing up, I looked up to the Irish label Diffusion Lab, and how they were able to build and grow artists," he adds. "It inspires me – so it's kind of like a second coming of that.”

With another project already in the works and a potential release coming this winter, fans of the Irish-Nigerian rapper will have a host of new material to look forward to.

“I want to drop another project in the summer, and then maybe a Christmas album, but that’s a maybe,” Plantain reflects. “We’ve definitely got some stuff coming up, and in the next couple of weeks announcements are gonna start coming out...”

Still Healing is out now.