TMXO: Designing the Future of African Sound

By

Joseph Dike Abiagom

TMXO builds music the way an architect designs a structure -with balance, precision, and purpose. His work doesn’t rely on spectacle or hype; it relies on craft. On Adekunle Gold’s Fuji, that craft takes center stage. Each record on the project feels engineered, not just produced -a deliberate alignment of rhythm, melody, and emotion that reveals the producer’s obsessive attention to design.

Across Big Fish, Love Is an Action, Attack, Oba, and Believe, TMXO stretches the sound of contemporary Afropop into new territory. His fingerprints are subtle yet unmistakable textured basslines that move like heartbeat, clean percussion that breathes between notes, and synth arrangements that feel alive. He understands that rhythm can be emotional architecture, that production can hold meaning beyond tempo.

Big Fish captures that philosophy perfectly. The beat feels kinetic and alive, driven by a Fuji-inspired groove that TMXO sculpts with electronic polish. It’s local and global at once -a sonic conversation between street heritage and digital modernity. Adekunle Gold’s vocals glide through the mix with charisma, but the real story is underneath: a producer shaping chaos into coherence.

Oba follows like a moment of reverence. The production feels ceremonial -choral, deep, and spacious. There’s a sense of history within the sound, yet it feels built for the now. TMXO layers chants and percussion with minimalist precision, creating something both spiritual and forward-facing. It’s the sound of tradition evolving, not repeating.

Then comes Love Is an Action, a record that showcases his instinct for balance. It’s lush but not crowded, soulful but not heavy. The rhythm swings between Afro-house and R&B, carrying the warmth of a Bobby Caldwell interpolation and the smooth touch of 6LACK’s performance. TMXO turns genre into gradient -everything blurs into one emotional hue.

This approach isn’t new to him. Over the last decade, TMXO has quietly shaped the direction of modern African music. His catalogue reads like a map of innovation: Burna Boy’s Different featuring Damian Marley and Angelique Kidjo, Tiwa Savage’s Celia, Oxlade’s Want You, and the Pheelz and Davido collaboration Electricity. Recently, he’s taken that sound global with Cassanova for Mr Eazi and his One Call (TMXO Remix) for Spinall, Omah Lay, and Tyla, a track currently in Grammy consideration.

Yet even with all these credentials, TMXO’s artistry resists formula. His evolution has never been about reinvention; it’s about refinement. From his early experiments on TMXO Presents: Making the Mavericks to the atmospheric storytelling of TMX001: Alàdélobà and TMX002: X & The Machine, his discography feels like a continuum of ideas, each project expanding his vocabulary rather than changing it.

What makes TMXO unique isn’t just his technical range -it’s his philosophy. He treats music as structure and emotion as foundation. Every frequency, every silence, every bass note is intentional. Working with artists like Adekunle Gold, he doesn’t just contribute; he co-creates, building sonic spaces that let the artist’s identity live and breathe.

There’s no rush in his process, no noise in his approach -only intention. TMXO designs sound that lasts, sound that travels, sound that feels built to withstand time.

In a scene driven by speed, he remains the one thing the music industry rarely allows: consistent, deliberate, and timeless.