Opjakes Has Stopped Waiting for Permission

For a long time, Opjakes was the guy helping other people sound good. Opeyemi Jacob Abodunrin has spent years moving around studios, live stages, and recording rooms, usually with a guitar nearby. His name is on Oxlade’s Oxygen, including Away. Then there is Adekunle Gold, Teni, D’banj, Aramide, Tomi Thomas. The Voice Nigeria. Nigerian Idol. P-Square, Niniola, Waje.

A lot, basically. And that is the funny thing about his career. You could have heard Opjakes plenty of times without ever stopping to ask who Opjakes was. For years, that was not really a problem. He was working. The phone was ringing. People knew what he could do. But eventually, being the guy everybody calls is not the same as having your own work in front of people. That is where Mospheric Vol. 1 feels important.

Released in June, Mospheric Vol. 1 is a four-track, mostly instrumental project that puts Opjakes directly in the foreground. The songs do not sound like they are waiting for somebody to sing on them. They already feel occupied. Wind opens like a soundtrack, with its melody moving over piano and bass drums. Piano Song is warmer, layering different piano sounds around a hopeful melody. Calm strips things back to bass guitar, piano, guitar, and space, while Lost carries a softer sense of confusion through its lo-fi production and shifting guitar melody.

That restraint probably comes from years of playing behind singers too. If you are a session guitarist, you learn quickly that every empty space is not yours to fill. Sometimes the best thing you can do for a song is leave it alone. Opjakes understands that. On Mospheric Vol. 1, the instruments are enough to communicate emotion without needing somebody to explain it.

The work behind the desk has not stopped either. Opjakes produced and mixed his own Still Love You, mastered Nova TF’s When She Left EP, worked on singles for Tony John, and has also done gospel sessions with Tolu Adeagbo and Pat Olisa. He is a guitarist, producer, engineer, bandleader, and now, more obviously than before, an artist.

Based in Essex, Opjakes has also become part of the UK African music circuit, with his July 2024 performance with Moelogo at the Africa Centre offering an example of the live spaces where his musicianship comes into focus. His experience as a bandleader also includes two years leading Waje’s live operation, further establishing the range of work he has done behind the scenes.

Opjakes is still the guy you can call for the guitar. He still produces, engineers, and leads bands. None of that has gone anywhere. What has changed is that more music is now asking people to pay attention to him directly. Even the beard has become part of the Opjakes identity at this point. The name has a face now. More importantly, it has its own records. For years, Opjakes made sense somewhere inside the credits. He is starting to look much better at the top.