When a Nigerian producer features on a song for the new Black Panther film’s soundtrack you would expect him to be in a hurry to capitalise on the opportunity. But Le Mav is taking his time with his next project and mastering the counterintuitive art of making progress by standing very still.
by TOBE OTUOGBODOR
It’s a Friday night in Lagos. It’s the middle of December, the party month of the city. Everyone is everywhere. But at the beginning of our interview Le Mav is sitting in his bedroom waiting for a fast food delivery.
“I’m sorry I might have to hang up when this delivery guy gets here.” His voice is polite but vague in a way that suggests he is still not entirely sure what he is doing on the phone with me. We decided to jump right into the interview and the vagueness in Le Mav’s voice contrasts with the depth and specificity of answers he gives me.
“I’m not trying to rush anything man.” He has just been featured on the soundtrack of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a film that will be seen by a billion people. “I’m happy and like, it paid well but I don’t want to make a mistake.” The song in question, Anya Mmari, is a modified play on already established African sounds and is very much in keeping with the sort of music in Le Mav’s already impressive oeuvre. However, the producer doesn’t know how the link-up with the song’s artist CKay came about. “I got a call that said I should be somewhere, I went there and that was that.”
Le Mav always knew he was a musician. He started playing piano at age four and excelled at it. At a point he had a whisper of an inclination to pursue classical music but almost immediately abandoned that dream much to the dismay of his instructor. “He was so disappointed, man. I wish I could do his voice because he sounded so sad. I have to work on that impression for my next interview.”
By the time he was in high school, Le Mav had learnt the guitar, the flute and the sax. He started a band with his friend called J-Street. “It was so razz. We were trying to do rock and soul and sometimes jazz. But it was so bad. We even tried to rap. I can’t find any of our songs. Thank God.”
Le Mav’s music still carries much of the influence he found in high school. And it was this shared influence that bonded him with his most frequent collaborator, Nigerian singer Tay Iwar. “I think it was 2017 when I first met Tay. I was in Abuja and someone introduced me to him and, no joke, we talked for five hours. We liked exactly the same type of stuff. And I just felt like I had known this guy forever.”
His food arrives at this point in the interview so he hangs up. I use the time to organise my thoughts. Le Mav is not what I expected and I am trying to figure out how to get to the middle of that. When he calls me back he’s delighted. “I just had the best burger man.” He clearly loved his meal even if he doesn’t remember exactly from where he ordered it. “I won’t lie to you man, I’m stoned.”
We return to the subject of his working relationship with Tay Iwar. Their song “Heat” put them both on the map but it almost didn’t happen. “Tay’s A&R hated that song. They didn’t even want it on the tape. But we knew someone who knew someone who could get the A&R guy to back off.”
This experience taught him a lesson that he is enlighteningly philosophical about. “The Nigerian music industry is about who you know. So playing the game is important. There are people who only want to hang out with you for what you can do for them and I’m fine with that. Because maybe I can get something out of you too.” He explains how he figures out the people he is able to tolerate. “Not everyone is like you. But some people are really not like you.”
When Le Mav got to university he met different kinds of people. Some people were just studying things that they thought would get them jobs. And others were following their hearts. But it seemed, to him, like everyone was doing whatever they were doing with passion. And he had an epiphany. “I said to myself that I was going to do music full time”.
The road hasn’t been easy. But his commitment to realistic self- improvement has served him well. “From the beginning I said I needed to learn how to balance the technology of music with music theory with the music business side. Too many people don’t even really know what a producer is. And I’m talking about other producers. I didn’t want to be like that.”
I ask him his dream collaboration and he says Kaytranada in a heartbeat. I ask his favourite video game and he says Fallout. And as our interview draws to a close I ask him what inspires him.” What it be okay if I say I don’t know”. I assure him that it would. “Okay, I actually do know but I don’t want to say so let’s just say I don’t know.”
