Tobi Lou

With a playful and open-ended approach, the singer, rapper, and songwriter Tobi Lou shaped a hybrid sound that supported his floating vocals and raps through mellow, organic instrumentals. The Chicago-based artist started uploading tracks to the internet in 2015, drawing a much wider listenership after teaming with director Glassface for inventive clips tied to “Game Ova” and “TROOP,” the latter featuring Smino. Following a trio of well-received EPs in 2018, he moved into full-length projects with that year’s Cult Classic and its 2019 successor Live on Ice. Following an extended series of standalone tracks, Lou issued Non-Perishable in 2022.

Born in Nigeria, Tobi Lou spent only a short time there before moving to Chicago as a child. Immersed in the Windy City’s environment, he drew influence from the rap and pop luminaries it had produced, frequently naming Kanye West and Common among his earliest points of reference. He cultivated a colorful and somewhat childlike aesthetic, handling much of his own production on beats built around laid-back organic instruments and samples. A sustained collaboration with Glassface yielded multiple viral videos that matched Lou’s lighthearted and nostalgic textures to whimsical visual concepts. Momentum from this exposure carried forward with three EPs released in 2018, each heightening anticipation for a full debut slated for October of that year. The resulting album, Cult Classic, carried executive production credit from Chicago hitmaker No I.D. The July 2019 single “My Party” set the stage for Live on Ice, which included appearances by Erica René, Rockie Fresh, Facer, Vernon, and additional guests. Further singles arrived in the form of “Endorphins” and “Student Loans” in 2020, succeeded the following year by “Gucci” and the Jean Deaux collaboration “WIDE Open.” Both the latter track and the T-Pain-assisted “2hrs+” appeared on Lou’s 2022 album Non-Perishable.