Tell Them, I'm Here: Exploring Sound and Self with Ife Ogunjobi

Our conversation started by finding common ground and discussing my not-so-new personality trait for the remainder of year: Glastonbury Festival. My experience as a 2025 newcomer paled in comparison to Ife’s, as he visibly flicked through his memories to find his answer, “This is like my… Fourth of fifth time playing there”. Whilst the instrumentalist graced the Other Stage this year with Ezra Collective, his previous visits speak volumes of his individual accolades. 

“Every time I was there, I was performing with different people. So when I was there with Burna Boy, Wizkid as well it was a completely different thing. And each time has just been beautiful in its own way.”

The impressive list of collaborations doesn’t stop there, adding names like Dave to the repertoire. The Grammy-award-winning trumpet player, composer, and producer has many notches in his sonic belt, playing some of the biggest festivals and venues across the world. And with an ocean of experience comes waves of different genres and sounds that influence his personal style. When he said “my music is predominantly rooted in African and Black culture”, he uttered such a powerful statement that explores the Black experience within music history with so little words. Black culture and the evolution of music have such a symbiotic nature, and in studying and understanding his craft, Ife fuses the likes of Jazz and Afrobeat, alongside Hip-Hop, RnB and more to create something truly unique. 

From inspirations to the upbringing, we meandered through the generic questions every interviewer asks an artist to break the ice. Although Ife’s answers were more than satisfactory, it was the way in which he spoke about music, with the warmth and compassion you’d extend to a friend, that really intrigued me. 

“My life is always about making music” 

And that much is evident. Ogunjobi has been making music for as long as he can remember. From the age of 4 he was playing recorder, before moving onto the piano and graduating to the trumpet at 10 years old. It’s safe to say he doesn’t know life without music, a conclusion I stand by after Ife jokingly nicknamed the combination of headphones and Spotify as “the soundtrack to his everyday life”.

Where the titles of producer and instrumentalist may look like a contradiction to many, the sweet spot between both artforms is where Ife Ogunjobi is finding solace. Playing the trumpet and other instruments is heavily associated with live performance whereas being a producer required an entirely different set of skills. That being said, for someone like Ife, merging the two was a matter of stepping outside of his comfort zone on his latest project, Tell Them, I’m Here.

“The whole project was pushing me out of my comfort zone. Unlike my last EP (Stay True) this project is less live music and more produced which pushed me a lot. It was something I wanted to do. That’s why working with Gaetan [Judd] was very special..”

After getting the encouragement he needed to blend what he listens to, into the music he is used to making he sat in a new lane which he described as “liberating”. The 5 song EP acts as a musical snapshot for where Ife is in both his personal and professional life. It highlights his growth as an artist and maps out the steps he’s taken from his last release to his latest. Experimentation is at the forefront of Tell Them, I’m Here with the sense of joy and curiosity of someone who has made a discovery or better yet, that ‘lightbulb’ moment.

Tracks like Cali (featuring Samm Henshaw) and Don’t Leave were tinged with familiarity but there was a distinct feeling I couldn’t shake about both numbers. I took the query back to the source and Ife’s response can be summarised under “reimagination”. 

The feeling of familiarity came from my own understanding of music; the genres I was used to hearing and hearing them through conventional means and structured patterns. However, Ife’s objective was to take what we know as avid listeners and sonically interpret on our behalf. For example, Samm Henshaw, who is the only feature on the EP, is known for his RnB sound as well as his soulful and sultry voice. But Ife was excited to get Samm to rap on this track, exclaiming that he was able to get something different out of him compared to other instances where we’ve seen the South London singer. When we dug a little deeper, Ife professed that “Cali was two London boys’ take on a LA, Cali beat”, taking what they knew and adding their own twist instead of trying to assimilate to the already established West-coast style.

The other side of Tell Them, I’m Here put nostalgia and Ife’s own memories on display. There’s a beauty in artists sharing their emotions and affairs, because of the potential resonance it can have with fans. And the opening song, East Street Market, grabbed me by the scruff of the neck. I was instantly transported to my childhood - walking through the markets of Peckham, Deptford and Lewisham with my mother - buying food after church on our way home. Whether it was coincidence or the shared experience of Nigerian children growing up in London, Ogunjobi shares imagery that came about during the production of East Street Market:

“The energy it gave was something of like a Sunny Ade or an Ebenezer Obey. I just saw aunties in their gele in the market buying meat to go and make stew with later. And that’s the kind of music I wanted to make. I know what it feels like and I know what energy it neede to give…”

Before we took tangents that veered outside of music and back into it through football, fashion and more, we touched on what it means to have to create a legacy. 

“It’s definitely taking it back to my first title which is Stay True. No matter how far I push my music, no matter where I end up and what kind of music I make. How big it gets, how small it is. No matter what it is, throughout my whole career and by the end of it people can say - at least he was true to himself. That’s what I want people to remember me by”. 

The authenticity that Ife feeds into his sound is a common thread whether it be through innovation or making us reminisce. Tell Them, I’m Here has a prophetic and assured tone to it’s title which embodies the artist pulling the strings perfectly.

Tell Them, I'm Here is available on all streaming platforms from November 14th.