First, he was the leader of the Maffians. Then, he became the Prince of the Street. Now, with the most recent of four 2026 singles, street hop act Ayo Maff, is set to stake his claim in the year of the stars—think Ayra Starr’s Starrgirl and Victony’s STARLIFE—with his sophomore album, HIGHSTAR.
When Culture Custodian sat with the young Bariga starlet in 2024, he was a 19-year-old who had just traveled out of the country for the first time, taking the stage at Asake’s 21 September O2 Arena concert. His Fireboy DML-assisted hit, Dealer was on a fabulous run and would conclude the year as the most streamed song on Spotify Nigeria. The ‘Prince of the Streets’ tag was starting to stick, predating his June 2025 debut album of the same name. Commentators on social media and elsewhere applauded his raw, melodic laments of innercity life. A teenager on the verge of accruing more fame, heralding what many wrongly termed ‘Afro-Adura.’
Since then, he’s established himself as a consistent voice in the Nigerian street-hop scene. Records like Panic and Realness (feat. Chike) and standout features on others such as Blaqbonez’s Louder (feat. Bella Shmurda) and Shoday’s CASABLANCA exemplify this. His debut album had a stacked guest list, including South African duo, JAZZWRLD and Thukuthela, BNXN, and Seyi Vibez. While not as critically acclaimed as his debut EP, it did draw praise for some quarters. Ayo Maff notably extolled his fellow Bariga boy and major inspiration, Olamide, on Baddo’s Song, a reworking of Baddo’s Yemi My Lover in the vein of Fireboy DML’s wande’s bop and Ayra Starr’s jazzy’s song.
Ayo Maff leads the way to HIGHSTAR with his latest single, Malaria. The Zinoleesky-featured track expounds on the virtues of letting love lead. He addresses young men who have been sold an idea of stoic masculinity despite feeling deeply attracted to their crushes, encouraging them to let love win.
Ahead of the forthcoming album, we had a chat with Ayo Maff about his career post-Prince of the Streets, his role as a leader of new school street-hop, inspiration behind Malaria, what drives his collaborations, and dealing with criticism as an artist.
Malaria explores love and the ‘hard guy’ persona many young men put on when it comes to love. What inspired the track and how did you decide on Zinoleesky as a feature?
I recorded Malaria sometime around last year. That was where I was mentally. Like I said in the song, guys act with the format that “we no get feelings.” At a point in our lives—even married men too—there’s a time where people would say if you fall in love, it’s dangerous and all that kind of stuff. And at the end of the day, they don’t know when they will just find this amazing looking person, swimming in the ocean of love. I’ve seen that happen too many times. I’m also a victim of it. So, I decided to make a song about it. I was in a session with Kizz Daniel and I played him this particular record. I had Zinoleeskyi in mind before and he also mentioned that he would be the perfect person for this record. And that’s how we made it happen.
You’ve had about four singles this year across multiple genres. Malaria is midtempo Afropop. Lifestyle (YA MAN) released in July had a reggae influence while Attack was 3-step. Tell us about your process.
I don’t have any pattern of making my songs. Sometimes I write without a beat. Sometimes, I record on beats. Sometimes we make the beats from scratch. It just depends on how the vibe is at that moment. I don’t have one particular, creative process. I just do my thing the way it comes. As long as the music is sounding good, that’s just how I do my thing.
On Attack, you called yourself a reincarnation of 2Baba and D’banj. As a leading voice of your generation of artists, what do you think not enough of your contemporaries are doing, and how do you feel about how your generation is celebrated?
To be honest, at the moment, that’s a very deep question that I can’t figure out. But I’m sure there are a couple of things that aren’t celebrated enough. I think my fans celebrate me enough for that. They are an amazing set of people. But generally, I think because people don’t get to see the back end, we get overlooked with our art, especially with all that’s happening from the state of the country to what happens in the world. I wish they could see our struggle. The process of putting music out these days is a lot of work. They think we’re just flaunting the money on cars or other stuff. They don’t know the work is four times extra than all of these things they see out there. So, maybe that part is not celebrated enough.
To follow up on that, you’ve received quite your share of criticism about your themes and style. How do you navigate such comments?
To be honest, I don’t pay attention to those things. I don’t even get to check my comments most times. Do you understand? I dwell more on real life than the whole Internet. I just come and do my thing, drop my music, feed my fans as much as I can. So I don’t really pay attention to those criticisms and comparisons.
One year after Prince of the Street, how do you feel about the album’s life span so far?
Prince of the Street is this amazing body of work. I’m super surprised by the way they accepted that particular project. Till today, I’m glad that when I come online, songs from this particular project are still being celebrated one way or the other and people connect to [them]. I meet people in real life and they tell me this or that is my favorite record from your project. And it makes me feel satisfied and like I outdid myself.
Is there a particular song on the project whose performance you’ve been surprised by either because of reactions or how it has been used?
Basically, I wouldn’t say surprise, I’ll just say, maybe, I didn’t see it coming. The record is Oshimiri featuring BNXN. When I was in Canada, I met a lot of people who kept telling me that’s their favourite track and it speaks to them. I didn’t know how powerful it was until I started meeting people.
If you could speak to young men about masculinity and romantic relationships, just as you have on Malaria, what would you tell them?
That’s a very tricky question. I don’t know. I just want you to listen to Malaria. I know that some people have that particular heart, trying to portray being a hard guy no matter what. There are so many beautiful girls in this world and one would definitely catch the soft part of your heart one day. So, just understand that a boy needs peace sometimes and you can’t be a hard guy for life.
From your viral Life is Slo II verse to Bank Alert with Muyeez, Zerrydl, and Famous Pluto, you’ve had a busy year of features. Walk us through your process of deciding collaborations.
I don’t get to choose [per se]. If I meet a creative like me, and the music is going, the relationship is going, we just make music. Music no need permission to enter body now. There’s no particular process of choosing this or that one.
You’ve had a busy year so far. Should fans be expecting an EP or an album anytime soon?
Yes, a couple of singles before the year runs out, probably. Maybe my album before the year runs out too. But trust me, I’m dropping my album real soon, HIGHSTAR, an amazing project. I’ve never recorded as much as on this particular album. I’ve been doing a lot of work and I can’t wait to share this amazing body of work with everyone.
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