NL premiere

Rapping in both English and her native Yoruba, Nigerian sonic trailblazer Aunty Rayzor, aka Bisola Olugbenga, brings her exhilarating mix of Afrobeat, R&B, hip-hop, pop, grime, and experimental sounds to Rewire 2024. Delivering commanding, vibrant, and unrelenting rap verses one second and riding catchy pop hooks the next, Aunty Rayzor’s music is hard to pin down, but some things are a constant: exuberant bass, playful rhythms, and incomparable energy. Following her breakout in 2020 with “Momo” and then “Kuku Corona,” Aunty Rayzor has only gone from strength to strength. Her immense and diverse talents can be heard in full force on her debut album Viral Wreckage (2023). Its first single “Nina” blends trap snares with a percolating techno foundation that clears the way for Aunty Rayzor’s vocals to guide and take the listener into new sonic territory. The danceable neo-baile sounds of “Bounce” are met elsewhere on the album with the vintage Afrobeat sounds of “Fall Back” and the funky Nigerian guitar loops and pop harmonies of “Sise.” The gritty “Murder” recalls the wandering synth melodies and highly swung beats of late UK garage and early grime but turned up to 11 – aka 160 bpm. “I let my identity match my stage name,” Aunty Rayzor says in an interview with 15 Questions. “My pen is my razor and the razor is me.”