{"id":129740,"date":"2025-03-25T11:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T09:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=129740"},"modified":"2025-03-25T11:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T09:58:17","slug":"dj-tobzy-cruise-beats-fully-unloaded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/dj-tobzy-cruise-beats-fully-unloaded\/","title":{"rendered":"DJ Tobzy, cruise beats fully unloaded\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One day we will find the tools to perform an archeology of the internet. For now we are stuck with the primitive magic of divination and search engine algorithms. When it comes to phenomena like cruise beats, our understanding is twisted in a bundle of mystery and ethernet cables. Although there are a few apostles whose memories and hard drives hold the bits and binaries of these digital artifacts. Among them is DJ Tobzy Imole Giwa, a 23 year old producer born in Ondo State, Nigeria and resident of the Iju Ishaga neighbourhood of Lagos. Tobzy is among the hundreds of millions of young people (yes hundreds of millions) grinding it out in Nigeria, a country where things don\u2019t come easy and poverty is in the kitchen. \u201cNo work and no food,<\/em>\u201d Tobzy confirms. Yet he\u2019s found a way to live creatively. Since 2021, Tobzy has become an architect of the emergent musical trend called \u201ccruise beats\u201d; a wacky, sample heavy form of musical humour, ripping cheeky voice samples and placing them atop sped-up Were music, Afrobeats, and amapiano fusions. These \u201cjokes\u201d or \u201ccruises\u201d are injected into TikTok to dose users with one part jiggle, one part giggle. \u201cThat\u2019s why they call it a cruise beat, because the voice is the cruise. Cruise means something that is funny or something you want to play back to back,<\/em>\u201d Tobzy explains. At its most highbrow cruise can rise to irreverent social critique, but mostly it\u2019s a jam for legwork dancers and those looking to vibe out to something quicker and catchier than Nigeria\u2019s standard Afrobeats.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Under the wing of YK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was very hard in the beginning. I thought making a beat was easy, but it turned out to be very hard,<\/em>\u201d says Tobzy of his music making debut. \u201cFor people to use it\u2026 that is the hard part.<\/em>\u201d Since Day 1 there\u2019s been a new topspin to the physics of Tobzy\u2019s music production and distribution. TikTok. For this young digital native, the beaten paths of artist residencies, release strategies, PR templates, and industry promo are lost relics\u2026 Instead, Tobzy has always thought of his music in relation to his audience and how they can use <\/em>it. Music ripe for comedians, dancers, and \u201cusers\u201d who want to join in on the fun. It\u2019s likely a form of \u201cdigital leapfrogging\u201d that others will catch up with. Music for TikTok\u2026 huh, who\u2019da thunk? [que lightbulb over Gen Z A&R manager]. And so, from the start, Tobzy learned to build a sound that attacked the attention of users glued to the glossy and fast-paced medium. The Feed\u2081. To do that, you need to be wild. Out there. And it helps if someone shows you the ropes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a year or so of making music on TikTok, Tobzy reached out to another cruise beats pioneer, DJ YK Mule, the self titled \u201ccruise beats originator\u201d. Tobzy found YK\u2019s WhatsApp number on social media and asked if he could help him learn to produce. YK accepted, but for a fee. \u201cWhen we\u2019re talking about the beat lord in Nigeria, YK is the part,<\/em>\u201d Tobzy says with respect. In early 2021 Tobzy saved up enough money to catch the bus to YK\u2019s place on \u201cthe island\u201d i.e. the upperclass section of the overpopulated economic capital of Nigeria. There, YK taught Tobzy how to use the infamous FL Studios (a DAW omnipresent in developing countries thanks to unlimited trials and simple interface). \u201cBefore I went to YK, I did remixes in Serato,<\/em>\u201d explains Tobzy, who used the DJ mixing software to speed up and tweak tracks in the past. \u201cYK showed me how to play flutes and some piano stuff on top.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TikTok viral sounds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harbouring his newfound ability to compose and propose music all his own (though continuing to have a deference for sickly remixes) Tobzy entered a new era of his career. With unmatched velocity, Tobzy produced and dropped song after song, tagging dancer friends like Teee Dollar, Bhadboi Sbm, God over everything, Skilo Richie, and Vicson to help promote the tracks with fresh choreography. The mechanics go something like this: find a funny \u201ccruise\u201d or clip that makes you laugh, sample the vocal, chop and screw it onto a fast, dance-ready beat, release it, tag all your dance friends, watch to see if it catches fire, repeat. It\u2019s a system reminiscent of reggae\u2019s B-Side or \u201cversion\u201c culture, where producers printed an instrumental cut for the block party MC\u2019s to make their mark. Among cruise beaters in Nigeria, it\u2019s the \u201cdance versions\u201d that take precedent. Tracks are thought up in terms of footwork rather than poetics.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A dance from @holuwarquizymih01 to Tobzy’s “Opayan Opadun” with over 20k likes and 1 million views on TikTok. One of the essential ways for Tobzy and other cruise beats producers to promote their sound. <\/p>\n<\/div>