Today we’d like to introduce you to Toju Agbeyegbe.
Hi Toju, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I always have been interested in music since a very young age. I grew up listening to a lot of rock music from the ages of 6 to 13. I listened to bands such as Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy & Greenday. I started getting into hip-hop at the age of 14. I hated hip-hop before 14 for some reason. The first rapper I really liked was Eminem, then I found Big L. I was listening to a lot of lyrical rappers at first. Later on, I started listening to Mac Miller who was popular at the time, Casey Veggies & Vince Staples. At 14 years old, one day, scrolling through YouTube when I came home after school, I found of video of Soulja Boy creating the beat for “Crank That” on Fl Studio. That inspired me to want to learn how to create beats. I downloaded the trial for Fl Studio May of 2012 and started teaching myself how to make beats. During this time, I found out about the underground rap scene and started listening to artists such as Lil B & Bones, Xavier Wulf, Chris Travis. I tried learning how to make beats for a few weeks, and I gave up because I found it too hard. The Summer of 2013 came, and I opened up Fl Studio, and I began learning how to create beats again, but this time I could not put Fl Studio down. I asked my father to buy the full version of FL studio, and he did. I fell in love with making beats & at 14, I had dreams of producing very big songs. The reason why I wanted to make beats was to give anyone that listened to my music that feeling of pleasure which was the same feeling I got when I listened to music I enjoyed. I realized when I listened to a lot of my favorite artists, such as Lil B & Soulja boy back then they allowed me to take a break from the very serious world and have fun, and I wanted to do the same with my beats. In 2013 I created a Twitter, and I used it to network and reach out to other producers and artists in the hip-hop scene. The first big song I produced was Philosopher’s Throne by the artist Xavier Wulf which happened in 2015. The song later appeared one year later on the show ATLANTA FX which is my proudest achievement. You can even hear my old beat tag in the show when they were playing the song. 2016 I also produced a song for Trill Sammy featuring Rich the Kid and Skippa Da Flippa on it. 2017-2019 I was working with local artists and small underground artists, but I was still building up my name and credentials in the hip-hop scene. 2020 when quarantine happened, I told myself I will take uploading beats on YouTube seriously, so from March 2020-Oct to 2021, I uploaded a beat every day on my YouTube channel and grew my channel to 1k plus subscribers. When 2021 started, I made it a goal for me to send my beats out to popular artists’ emails. I did that every day since January 1st, and towards the end of January, Lil Yachty responded to one of my emails and told me he was going to use one of my beats. April 2021, I Co-producer Lil Yachty’s song “Hybrid” Ft Baby Tron. 2022 I co-produced the song “Guitars n Melodies” for Summrs. Now I’m focused on producing a platinum-record song that people will remember forever.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road because when you have goals, there will be obstacles along the way. Sometimes you will not see any progress, but you have to remain strong and continue working towards your goals no matter what.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a music producer. I produce instrumentals for artists. I specialize in doing this for hip-hop artists. I’m known for my simple yet intriguing beats. I am most proud of having a song I produced when I was 17, being on the show ATLANTA FX. What sets me apart from others is that I keep my beats simple, but I make sure they still capture the listener’s attention and have them coming back for more.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I used to be an artist when I was younger. From elementary school to middle school, I used to draw something every day. I used to draw people, cartoons, and objects it did not matter. That was a significant portion of my early life.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialtoju/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/officialtoju
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OFFICIALTOJU?app=desktop
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/officialtoju
