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Peace Over Hype: The Focused Rise of Femi Jr

February 02, 2026 in Music

Femi Jr Is Choosing Peace — Even When the World Is Watching

By Afros in tha City

There’s a quiet discipline to the way Femi Jr moves. Not rushed. Not performative. Just steady. Like someone who understands that longevity is built in private before it’s celebrated in public.

Born in Nigeria and now rooted in Vancouver, British Columbia, Femi Jr’s journey has been shaped by one central realization: acceptance from the world is fleeting, but acceptance of self is transformative. That truth became the foundation of Peace & Love, his debut album. A project born from deep self-examination, spiritual grounding, and the emotional terrain of the last three years of his life.

“This project came from understanding myself,” Femi Jr shares. “Unlocking my full potential. Finding peace.”

Peace Is Not the Absence of Struggle

Peace & Love is not a polished fairytale. It’s a record that holds contradiction, serenity and chaos, faith and doubt, confidence and vulnerability. All at once.

The opening track, “Peace,” sets the tone with a reflective poem that transitions into song, tracing Femi Jr’s evolution from childhood innocence to adult reality. He speaks candidly about growing up, losing friends to distance and circumstance, and navigating the pressures of adulthood. Rather than resisting these changes, he names them and in doing so, finds peace through acceptance.

That honesty deepens on “Meditate,” one of the album’s most vulnerable moments. The track explores depression, suicidal ideation, and the suffocating weight of societal expectations. While the hook references meditation and marijuana as coping tools, the heart of the song is about survival where creating personal rules, staying true to oneself, and choosing life even when it feels heavy becomes a mantra.

Faith, Identity, and Spiritual Grounding

Spiritual awareness threads through the middle of the album, beginning with “OLÚWA LÓN SHÓLA” which is Yoruba for “God blesses.” Here, Femi Jr reframes everyday struggles through a lens of divine reassurance. The song acknowledges pain but refuses defeat, expressing confidence in how far he’s come and faith in what’s still unfolding.

That prayerful energy continues on “1 Life” featuring Pekeys, a track built around supplication and patience. Over soulful production, Femi Jr reflects on the long road of his music career, recognizing that hardship is part of the path God has chosen for him. It’s not desperation. It’s about readiness. A quiet ask for alignment, breakthrough, and fulfillment.

Then comes “Blame Skinny (Interlude)” a surprisingly sharp, braggadocious lyrical exercise that asserts place without apology. Rooted in pride for his Ibadan origins and his journey to Canada, the track is a reminder that peace does not erase competitiveness. It simply clarifies it.

ÓMÀSHE and the Discipline of Belief

At the heart of the project sits “ÓMÀSHE.”

Loosely translating to “it doesn’t matter,” the track addresses skeptics and distant critics looking to those who overlook the unseen labour behind the work but feel entitled to judge the outcome. While Peace & Love is anchored in calm and compassion, ÓMÀSHE draws a firm line: respect is earned.

But what elevated ÓMÀSHE beyond the song itself was Femi Jr’s commitment to it.

On TikTok, he showed up relentlessly and continues to do so. No viral shortcuts. No trend-chasing. Just repetition, belief, and process. He performed the song. Explained its meaning. Let it live and breathe across video after video. Even when momentum felt slow, he stayed focused.

That discipline paid off.

ÓMÀSHE became his most talked-about record, resonating across the Afro-diaspora and setting the stage for “ÓMÀSHE (Remix)” in 2025 — featuring rising Nigerian rapper OluwaMillar. The remix wasn’t a rework so much as a continuation, adding Yoruba-inflected lyricism, cultural depth, and spiritual weight.

“This remix isn’t just a new version,” Femi Jr says. “It’s the next chapter of the story.”

Pain, Politics, and Perspective

As the album moves forward, vulnerability resurfaces on “Pain” featuring Jasmin, a raw exploration of emotional exhaustion, financial pressure, strained relationships, and creative frustration. The hook feels like a quiet cry for help, reminding listeners that behind confidence often lives fatigue.

That introspection expands outward on “Count The Votes” featuring Lefty, a socio-political reflection on Nigeria’s realities which lets face it is steeped in corruption, neglect, and the frustration of citizens whose voices feel ignored. The track positions music as testimony, not just entertainment.

Then, finally, the album closes with “Love.” The first single released from the project, it completes the arc that began with Peace. After heartbreak, after solitude, after survival…love arrives unexpectedly, but authentically. The ending feels intentional: peace as the foundation, love as the outcome.

Focused, Grounded, and Global

Outside the album, Femi Jr continues to expand his reach with intention. His 2024 single “Focus,” featuring FAVE produced by Niphkeys, explores romantic vulnerability through a vibrant blend of Afrobeats and Afro-pop. Opening for Ruger in Vancouver and performing at the Black Block Party further solidified his presence as an artist bridging Nigeria, Canada, and the wider diaspora.

But what defines Femi Jr most isn’t the stages or collaborations. It’s the restraint.

In a culture obsessed with immediacy, he’s choosing patience.
In an industry addicted to noise, he’s choosing clarity.

Peace & Love isn’t a moment.
It’s a mindset.

And Femi Jr is living it — one focused step at a time.

Tags: Femi Jr, AITC Feb 26
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AITC - October 2026

Featured
Cover.png
AITC October 2026 - The Currency of Time - Kardinal Offishall
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Rapsody Questions the Future of Hip-Hop Journalism as God Gotta Afro & Gold Hoops Challenges the Attention Economy
Entertainment, Hip-Hop, Music
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Entertainment, Hip-Hop, Music

Grammy-winning rapper Rapsody is raising questions about the future of hip-hop journalism and the shrinking space for artists whose work demands more than a viral headline.

In a 14-slide Instagram post, the North Carolina artist questioned why meaningful music often struggles to receive serious coverage, even when it connects deeply with listeners.

Her concerns extend beyond artists seeking publicity. Rapsody pointed to declining newsroom resources, fewer music writers, reduced print coverage and fewer opportunities for journalists to spend time exploring albums in depth.

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Inside Asia Clarke’s Braided Future
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Step inside Asia Clarke’s braided future, where Black hair, community care and science fiction meet. Inspired by African symbols and the bold styling of The Fifth Element, the multidisciplinary designer imagines a world where hair braiders shape new technologies through BRAID2BRAIN and Ama’s Salon.

Read the feature online now. Sign up for the Afros in Tha City newsletter to be notified when our October print issue is released.

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Freedom Is the Work: Spicey Landé and Jai Nitai Lotus Find A Way Through Mōnad
Dance, Hip-Hop
Freedom Is the Work: Spicey Landé and Jai Nitai Lotus Find A Way Through Mōnad
Dance, Hip-Hop

The Montreal artists bring Mōnad to Calgary’s Fluid Fest with a work rooted in hip-hop, grief, spirit, community and the freedom to show up whole. Alexandra “Spicey” Landé had one condition for returning to the stage.

“If I’m going on stage, I’m doing whatever the hell I want.”

It sounds like a declaration because it is one. After two decades of building choreography, teaching, mentoring and helping push street dance into spaces that did not always know what to do with it, Landé was not interested in returning to performance to satisfy somebody else’s idea of what a Black woman, a hip-hop artist or a contemporary dancer should look like. She wanted freedom.

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Dance, Hip-Hop
A Century of Faust: Silent Cinema Meets Live Music in Calgary
Film
A Century of Faust: Silent Cinema Meets Live Music in Calgary
Film

Released in 1926, Faust is among the defining works of German Expressionist cinema. Directed by F. W. Murnau, the film draws on centuries of European folklore and literature to tell the story of a man who makes a bargain with the devil in exchange for knowledge, power and youth.

The film stars Swedish actor Gösta Ekman in the title role alongside Emil Jannings as Mephistopheles. Through elaborate sets, visual effects and dramatic contrasts between light and shadow, Murnau created a world where the boundaries between good and evil, faith and temptation, become increasingly difficult to separate.

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Movie Stars Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman & Ibrahim Suleiman are headed to Calgary!
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Beyoncé Is Coming to the Symphony. Do You Understand What Is Happening Here?
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Beyoncé Is Coming to the Symphony. Do You Understand What Is Happening Here?
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Cover (1).png
AITC September 2026 - What Will It Take For Us To Feed One Another - Aquakultre

COVER STORY PREVIEW

Through 1783 and Matriarchs, Aquakultre is transforming family memory into a living archive while asking Black Nova Scotian communities to remember how deeply they belong to one another.

By Kimberley Dooshima Jev

Lance Sampson was standing in front of a video kiosk at the Africville Museum when a familiar name appeared on the screen. The woman speaking was his great-great-grandmother. Sampson had stumbled onto what he understands to be the only surviving recording of her voice.

His first instinct was reverence. His second was hip-hop.

“I immediately went into hip-hop mode,” he remembers. “Let me sample this right quick.”

That impulse sits at the centre of Sampson’s work as Aquakultre: find what remains, listen closely, then give it somewhere new to live.

Read the full cover story

Aquakultre covers the September 2026 issue of Afros in tha City. The complete story explores 1783, Matriarchs, the family histories behind the work and the moment Lance Sampson found his voice.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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How Springboard Is Building Calgary’s Cultural Ecosystem
Art, Contemporary Dance
How Springboard Is Building Calgary’s Cultural Ecosystem
Art, Contemporary Dance

Dance, public space, galleries and live performance become part of the same conversation when Springboard Performance asks what a cultural ecosystem can look like.

Through Fluid Fest and its wider programming, artistic director Nicole Mion is building connections between artists, audiences and ideas in Calgary while placing the city within national and international conversations about contemporary performance.

In How Springboard Is Building Calgary’s Cultural Ecosystem, Afros in tha City looks at the systems behind the art, the importance of circulation and the artists using movement, theatre, music and visual art to create new ways into performance.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Art, Contemporary Dance
What Sugar and Indigo Remember
What Sugar and Indigo Remember

Sugar, indigo, family photographs and the Atlantic carry histories that are easy to overlook until someone asks us to look again.

At Dalhousie Art Gallery, curator francesca ekwuyasi brings together Stina Baudin, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Bushra Junaid and Christina Leslie for Burnt Sugar Blue, an exhibition examining colonialism, Black diasporic memory, family, spirituality and the histories embedded in everyday materials.

In What Sugar and Indigo Remember, Afros in tha City looks at how these artists turn materials and archives into something living, while Roger Mooking’s SoundBites continues the conversation from across the gallery.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Roger Mooking Is Building Beyond the Algorithm
Roger Mooking Is Building Beyond the Algorithm

Roger Mooking is thinking beyond the algorithm.

With SoundBites, the Canadian multidisciplinary artist is responding to streaming culture, shrinking attention spans and the rise of AI by asking a different question: what happens when technology distributes the work, but does not define its value?

In conversation with Afros in tha City, Mooking talks about the state of the music industry, the value of slow creative practice and why the future of music may look a lot more like a campfire than a platform.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Alberta Doesn’t Have a Talent Problem. It Has an Access Problem.
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Alberta Doesn’t Have a Talent Problem. It Has an Access Problem.
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Talent, ambition and strong ideas are not always enough when the people with the power to finance, develop and distribute them are somewhere else.

At the inaugural TIFF: The Market, Creatives Empowered brings Alberta creators Sandra Bueckert, Tobit Luyeye Lemba and Flordeliza Dayrit into conversations with producers, buyers, distributors and other industry decision-makers from around the world.

In Alberta Doesn’t Have a Talent Problem. It Has an Access Problem., Afros in tha City looks at what meaningful industry access can mean for creators working outside Canada’s largest production centres, and why visibility only matters if the conversation continues after the festival.

The full web exclusive is available now on Afros in tha City.

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Prismatic Is Thinking Beyond Representation
Prismatic Is Thinking Beyond Representation

Prismatic Arts Festival has spent nearly two decades creating space for Indigenous, Black and racialized artists. For Executive and Artistic Director Raeesa Lalani, the conversation now goes beyond visibility to sustainability, power and what artists need to build lasting careers.

In our September 2026 issue, Afros in tha City looks at the festival’s history, its place in Canada’s arts ecosystem and the artists shaping Prismatic 2026, including Walter Borden, Tara Taylor, Bageshree Vaze, Tania El Khoury and Dee Hernandez.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Timeless: 100 Years of Oscar Peterson Extended at Studio Bell
Timeless: 100 Years of Oscar Peterson Extended at Studio Bell

The National Music Centre’s Timeless: 100 Years of Oscar Peterson has been extended at Studio Bell through January 3, 2027. Originally opened in July 2025 to commemorate the centenary of Peterson’s birth, the exhibition brings together instruments, archival materials, awards, personal artifacts, interviews and multimedia installations to tell the story of one of Canada’s most important musicians.

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Saul Williams Still Believes Art Has a Job to Do
Saul Williams Still Believes Art Has a Job to Do

With Leap Life and Songs My Mother Taught Me arriving eleven days apart, Saul Williams turns sound and page into one argument about art, memory and responsibility.

There is something almost unreasonable about the amount Saul Williams still expects from art. Nearly three decades into a career spanning poetry, music, theatre, film and literature, Williams has not arrived at the comfortable conclusion that art should simply entertain us. Within the span of eleven days this summer, he released two projects arguing that culture does much more than that.

His album Leap Life, released August 28 on Big Dada, moves through spoken word, hip-hop, jazz, ambient composition, African rhythmic traditions and improvisation.

On September 8, Haymarket Books published Songs My Mother Taught Me: Why the Artist Must Take Sides, a political memoir tracing the people and experiences that shaped Williams’ understanding of art as power.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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July 2026 - The Omnibus - Print July 2026 - The Omnibus - Print
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July 2026 - The Omnibus - Print
CA$50.00

The Summer Omnibus is our most ambitious issue yet. Bringing together seven months of journalism, photography, and storytelling, this special collector's edition celebrates Black arts, business, fashion, music, and community across Canada and the diaspora.

Featuring exclusive cover stories with Judith Demosthene, Funmi Osatuyi, Adrianne Williams, Nancy Nixon, Ayokunle Akinsebikan, Femi Jr., and more, this 70-page volume captures the people, ideas, and conversations shaping culture today.

Beautifully printed in limited quantities, the Summer Omnibus is designed to be collected, shared, and revisited long after publication.

Limited print copies available.


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