Nigerian born, UK based award winning musician, singer-songwriter, Limoblaze born Samuel Onwubiko, shares the Gospel through a unique fusion colorful sonics and themes of joy to bring a sound he calls Afro-Gospel.
Despite growing up in a predominantly Islamic part of the town, Limo and his family were Christians. He spent most of his formative years in church and when he wasn’t in church, he was in the streets sharing his music dreams with his friends who would often laugh at him in disbelief. “I grew up in the street, but my parents didn’t let the streets raise me,” shares Limo. “Most of the time I was performing in talent shows and at free local events, often with a live band which made my performances unique.”
Limo lists his earliest musical influences as Eminem, West Life, and Michael Jackson. His first foray into music was in 2014 where he recorded his first song, a rap record. Of his earliest recordings he says, “I had a false sense of loyalty to rap back then, so that’s what I was solely doing. Then, I realized more people around me were more receptive to Afrobeats after one or two afrobeats tracks I made, so I knew I had to switch it up if I wanted to truly reach people with my message.” He made this intentional switch in 2018 and since then he’s been focused on that sound.
”One of the leading singles from his new EP - Sunday in Lagos, “Jireh (My Provider) Afrobeat Remix” ft. Happi and Lecrae, was created after identifying a viral social media clip posted by Happi that featured an Afrobeat flip on the popular Maverick City single. The song became an instant hit across all short-form social media platforms with over 141,000 Instagram Reels, and thousands of videos created daily on TikTok reaching over 138,000 on the platform. The internet success led to a surge of streams that placed the song on Billboard’s US Afrobeats song chart peaking at #31, Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart peaking at #41, and Billboard's Gospel song chart peaking at #15. The Afrobeats singer has received much industry acclaim, and is now signed with Reach Records. He is a two-time winner of the African Gospel Music and Media Awards (2018, 2019), Crystal Awards Best International Act Award Winner (2019), Premier Gospel Best International Act award winner and most recently nominated for Jireh (My Provider) in the Dove Awards Rap/Hip-Hop Song of the Year.