From his incipient, unofficial attempts at doing music while he lived with his grandfather in Lagos, DOTTi the Deity has evolved to embrace a self-styled music culture that is flavoured with Jazz, Yoruba Folk, Soul, and Pop. This evolution would give him an all-in-one identity in his romantic hankerings. He was only six years old at the time he showed the earliest signs of his musical inclinations, and fate has been kind enough to sustain him along that path.
Born Oladotun Okeowo Alani, DOTTi the Deity launched his music career officially in 2019 with the single Jolly Christmas. Next came his debut extended play, Songs in Isolation, inspired by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and produced the same year. Having graced a number of live shows in 2022, he released another single Forever Sweet, a widely received received hit crafted as a toast to pure and ageless love. In his sophomore EP, For You Knew Me, which is the latest inclusion in his oeuvre, DOTTi the Deity incorporates vocals from Olabiyi Julius and Kingdom, bringing to our psyche, culture-inspired and universally friendly music in seven tracks.
The EP begins with Deja Vu, highlighting a love triangle. From a choral chant to initial gentle guitar pickings and soft traditional percussion, the song takes on a more expressive aura. Here, a male persona vies for the heart of a lady who has already been swept off her feet by her current boyfriend. However, positioning himself for a romantic takeover, the persona labels the unnamed rival “bobo yen abelejayan”, which is an attempt to discredit the veracity of the supposed boyfriend. Abelejayan is a Yoruba descriptive term for someone who deputizes for the real lover, such that the stand-in is not to be perceived as an indicator of genuine affection.
The second track, Abeke, uses both English and Yoruba to deliver a slow-rocking narrative with poetic grandstanding. With the artiste being emotionally vulnerable, he shows that he is willing to shelve his standards to win the love of Abeke Omo Balogun. In Pamisaye, the artiste longs and appeals for the return of a departed lover. The song is empowered by jazz drums as it captures the idea of estrangement and the consequence which could be tantamount to partial death.
Good Times travels down memory lane in a richly personal reflection. What makes the song more aesthetically satisfying is its effusive combination of elements: bass deliveries, choral vocal support, moderate percussion, and the superimposing trumpet sounds of Olabiyi Julius. In Akoya, the artiste is, for once, not romantically driven to act. The impulse is rather acrimonious. With the song stylized in a call-response fashion similar to that of traditional moonlight tales, the artiste delivers a tirade on an ex-lover remembered for terrible, manipulative acts.
DOTTi the Deity returns to doting ways in Time Heals, as he talks about being pained from a failed romance. Tinged with regretful nostalgia, the song samples a viral sound effect from an Asari Dokubo video as it fuels a campaign against simping. The artiste, then, settles for soul in the final track Goodbye as he takes a similar thematic route as Time Heals. At least, there is a roughly discernible pattern of growth on this album: the transition from a glamorous zeal for romance to an anticlimactic letdown.
Juggling traditional folk, Soul, and modern Jazz, DOTTi the Deity masters impressive hi-fi sounds in such a manner that reminds one of the legendary Beautiful Nubia and highlife-RnB artist Adekunle Gold. Yet he comfortably walks the line between traditional and modern appeal.
Over the years, DOTTi the Deity has created professional relationships with top dogs in the entertainment space, including Omawumi, RotimiKeys, and Cobhams Asuquo. Utilizing his songwriting skills and vocals, he has made jingles in radio and TV advertisements, with some of his popular works being GTBank Quick Credit advert & British American Tobacco Foundation campaign song Wealth is here. It is little wonder that his versatility, the potential for a wide range of experiences, surfaces in his current project.
An ingenious artiste with enrapturing, timeless narratives rendered predominantly in Yoruba language, DOTTi the Deity veers away from mainstream Afrobeats and finds home in a contemporaneous folk realm. With his songs picking cues from moral pedagogy and Yoruba cosmology, the artiste appears to be perpetually set on a progressive and transgenerational musical course at a time when many artistes would rather pander to the gallery with mundane, stylistically unoriginal sonic quickies.