Niyi

Adeniyi Adeyemi Adelakun, better known as Niyi, is a British MC and singer from Crouch End North London, known for his flamboyant dress sense[1] and unique mixing style.[2] He is a producer and DJ commonly associated with the East London fashion scene.[3] A picture of him, MIA, and Jammer for a Jean-Charles de Castelbajac exhibition hung outside of the Musée de la Mode et du Textilein Paris for a year.[3]

Niyi
Niyi playing in Berlin club, 2011
Born
Adeniyi Adeyemi Adelakun

Liverpool, England
OccupationRapper, singer, DJ
Musical career
GenresElectronic, alternative hip hop, alternative dance
InstrumentsVocals, drum machine, guitar
Years active2004–present
LabelsTummy Touch
Websitewww.iheartniyi.com

He currently studies English and Education at St John's College, Cambridge.[4]

Musical career

Niyi moved to London to study at art university Central Saint Martins, where he subsequently dropped out twice.[5]

Said to have inspired "a generation of London fashion designers",[1] he began his career as a muse for Carri Mundane for her fashion label CassettePlaya in 2005, "until she got another one".[1] He moved into doing club nights and DJing when he found the clubbing scene "too exclusive [..] it wasn't very inclusive at all".[3] At this point Niyi started promoting illegal warehouse raves, but stopped when his biggest promotion was shut down by the police and 4,500 young people were on the street on New Year's Eve.[6] When his mixing style became more well known he had guest slots on BBC Radio 1, XFM, and German On3-radio,[7] and DJed at bigger clubs such as Fabric. Niyi has since stated he now mixes in a more traditional style, but still enjoys "perfectly beat matching surf rock with hardcore-gabba".[7]

Niyi plays the guitar, the trumpet and the clarinet;[5] and began singing and rapping over his own remixes when he moved out of London and started producing music in his parents shed in Chelmsford. He has since collaborated with Adamski under the alias of "Adam Sky".[8]

After touring in Europe with Adamski, Niyi performed at his club for Lady Gaga's first UK show, and has since gone on to perform and DJ in 13 countries. He has performed with Little Boots and the Golden Silvers.[9] He also performed on influential television show TRAXX on ARTE around this time, too. This was shown in both Germany and France.[10]

Niyi has been credited as a source of creative inspiration by various artists such as Tyler The Creator.[11][12][13][14] Niyi's first single "808 Klap" sold out within a week.[9] In 2012 Niyi released his first and only album, which gained little attention.[15]

He was also an occasional contributor to the UK's Big Brother's Big Mouth,[16] this is despite him "not owning a television for more than eight years".[10]

Post-musical career and return to education

In 2011, Niyi decided to put his music on hold, and do his A-levels- which he failed to complete whilst at secondary school. He studied these intensively at City of Westminster College[17] in nine months, and was awarded a place to study English and Education at St John's College, Cambridge in 2012.

After being featured in an article in the university newspaper in 2013,[4] the story was picked up on by the UK press. Pieces were published in tabloids, broadsheets,[18][19] and on ITV News.[20]

As a result of this attention Niyi then wrote an article for UK newspaper, The Guardian, detailing his reasons for leaving music and his experience of St John's College, Cambridge. The article was the most read piece on The Guardian website for two days;[21] it was mentioned on Twitter by figures such as Labour Party (UK) MP Diane Abbott,[22] and journalist Mariella Frostrup - who stated it was "the best review she'd ever had".[23] He held a talk for the TEDTalks event TEDxCambridgeUniversity, where he elaborated on his experience of integrating Cambridge University, and how that shaped his critical approach to racism in education, titled "The Power of Anomaly".[24]

Discography

Albums
  • Great Britain: The Best of 2005–2012 (2012)

EPs
  • 808 Klap (2007)
  • Jungle Fever (2009)

Singles
  • "I Love You All" / "Poached Eggs" (2008)
  • "Boom Bang Boy" (2010)
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gollark: Unlike other languages which are annoying and inconsistent, or lack useful features for no reason.
gollark: I like Lua. It's simple, flexible and powerful.
gollark: Sure it is. Some programs use different argument formats.
gollark: It is, yes; I like the CraftOS shell quite a lot.

References
  1. Sherwood, James (16 November 2008). "My Style: Niyi". The Independent. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  2. Skrufff, Jonty (7 February 2007). "Beat Mixing Matters?". Trackitdown. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  3. Kunths, Frederik (20 February 2009). "Hauptsache es klingt ein bisschen billig". On3-Radio.de. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  4. "The Tab Meets: Niyi | The Tab Cambridge". Cambridge.tab.co.uk. 30 April 2013. Archived from the original on 26 October 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  5. Evert, Lucy (29 January 2010). "i Heart NIYI". What's Up Information. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  6. Garratt, Sheryl (6 June 2009). "How rave culture changed Britain for ever". The Times Online. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  7. Rojas, Peter (16 August 2010). "RCRD.LBL_". Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  8. Britten, Fleur (28 February 2006). "On fringes of future in London". New York Times. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  9. Miller, Felix (7 December 2007). "LAST.FM". Archived from the original on 8 May 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  10. Drums, David (12 January 2010). "NiYi – Jungle Fever". Audio Drums. Archived from the original on 18 October 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  11. "Published Tweet by Tyler the creator". Twitter.com. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  12. "Published Tweet by Tyler the creator". Twitter.com. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  13. "Published Tweet by Tyler the creator". Twitter.com. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  14. "Published Tweet by Tyler the creator". Twitter.com. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  15. Lewandowski, Kevin (28 February 2006). "Discogs". Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  16. Olofsson, Leo (24 September 2008). "NIYI". Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  17. "City of Westminster College A-level students make the grade". Cwc.ac.uk. 17 August 2012. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  18. "Rapper's delight at campus life". thetimes.co.uk. 29 May 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  19. "First pro rapper at Cambridge ditches music career to become a teacher". Metro.co.uk. 29 May 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  20. "Rapper swaps music for uni". ITV News. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  21. "Most viewed website on Theguardian.com". Theguardian.com. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  22. "Published Tweet by Diane Abbott MP". Twitter.com. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  23. "Published Tweet by Mariella Frostrup". Twitter.com. 2 June 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  24. "The Power of the Anomaly | Niyi Adelakun | TEDxCambridgeUniversity". YouTube. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
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