One of the most interesting ways that I’ve heard Shallipopi’s music described is that it does nothing for the mind and everything for the body. Recently, I had a conversation with a friend that altered this ethos: music can’t do anything for the body if it does nothing for the mind, the mind has to find those bars and melodies pleasing before backsides move. As “Ahead Ahead” plays in the background of my two-man apartment, one midnight in March, it’s fitting to explore this in more detail, to understand how Shallipopi, self-appointed Pluto Presido, has risen to such heights and what part his Benin roots play in his unrelenting rise to Pop supremacy. 

Shallipopi’s Rise to Fame

Shallipopi’s story begins in Benin. To be fair, all stories start in Benin if you believe in the Bini oral pedagogy that the 825-year-old kingdom is the source of the world. The phrase, “Oba ya, oto s ‘evbo ‘ebo,” alludes to the Oba owning all the lands from Benin to the rest of the world.  25-year-old Shallipopi—born Crown Uzama—started making music in 2016, after younger brother, Zerrydl, did in 2015, as mentioned in an October 2024 Echo Room interview. 

The rapper, who comes from a line of kingmakers—the Uzamas are one of the highest-ranking chiefs who anoint Obas–didn’t experience success until March 2023 with “Elon Musk” which catapulted him from South-South unknown to TikTok star, and then, breakaway mainstream success. He followed up with club banger, “Shapiru,” in April. An EFCC arrest in May for ‘alleged internet fraud’ somewhat stalled his momentum while increasing his infamy, setting the stage for a remix of “Elon Musk” in June and–in typical Hip-hop chronicle fashion—“Ex-Convict” the following month.

Since June 2023, Shallipopi has performed at the O2 Arena and Stade de France, sold out two concerts in London in 2024 on his Plutomania tour, sold out a homecoming concert at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub in Benin City. Both of his LPs, ‘Presido La Pluto’ (2023) and ‘Shakespopi,’  (2024) debuted at No. 1 on the TurnTable Charts. The latter was the first project since Davido’s ‘Timeless’ to produce a first-week No.1 record, “ASAP.” His song with fellow 2023 breakout star, Odumodublvck, “CAST,” has over 55 million Spotify streams and earned him four nominations  and a win at the 2025 Headies Awards. With co-signs from the big four, a new deal with Sony Music UK after a messy split from Dvpper Digital, and immense street cred, Shallipopi operates at the upper echelons of the industry. 

The Benin Influence

The Bini—and Edo people as a whole—are music-loving. From Africa’s first gold plaque awardee, Sir Victor Uwaifo, to Alhaji Waziri Oshomah, Majek Fashek and his mystical rain-making rhythms, and an adolescent Benita Okojie at the turn of the century, contemporary Edo musicians have always found their way to national prominence, their influence being a continuation of a long-held tradition. Ethnic groups in Edo State like the Esan and Owan have a strong hold on oral music forms till today. But only a few of these groups can lay claim to sons and daughters who infuse their traditional, ceremonial music like Crown Uzama does, wielding it as all he is, all he will unapologetically be. 

In December 2023, he told More Branches about how a tough childhood shaped his music. “My background was a rough one so my sound is different, and it shows in the music,” he said. “Only those who grew up in Benin City under harsh conditions will understand my sound.” And that cultural distance also shaped some of the early reception to his other releases. For example, unless you lived in Benin, or a sister city like Warri, you’re not likely to know what the term ‘Oscroh’ or ‘OS’ means. Any insight would be the product of someone in the know—like a classmate of mine, who spilled how secondary school boys in his home Benin City ‘order OS’ (patronise sex workers) after ‘cashing out’ (getting proceeds from Internet fraud or cryptocurrency deals.) This, perhaps, explains the initial poor reception to October 2023’s “Oscroh (Pepperline).” The use of Benin-specific lingo didn’t translate as smoothly as ‘Inside that your Evian,’ from “Elon Musk” seven months earlier. 

Turn to 2025 and Shallipopi has one of the biggest songs in the country (“Laho.”) The chorus  is sung entirely in Bini: “Ghẹ gunmwẹn dẹ ọ, lahọ/Ni paste aza, lahọ/ Don’t let me fail, please/Can I send my account number, please?” The catchy song employs traditional call-and-response rooted in Benin culture and yet it is loved far beyond our shores. Shallipopi’s dexterous use of Bini language has shown up throughout his time as a mainstream star. Many Shallipopi fans know the “Obapluto” sample, they even know about the legal dispute that ensued post-release. But elsewhere in Shallipopi’s discography, another sample leads back to Igodomigodo—the ancestral name for Edo. The intro on his second LP, ‘Shakespopi,’  “ASAP”  samples Alhaji Waziri Oshomah’s 1979 single, “Ikwekiame Nedumhe.” Similarly, “Iyo,” the eighth track on his first LP, ‘Presido la Pluto,’ samples the 1978 Drivers Union Dance Band Uselu Motor Park and Osaro Nomayo single, “Ovbiyemwen,” and much like the sample on “Obapluto,” it constitutes the spine of the record. 

When there’s no sample, there are shoutouts, like on “More Than Me” where he hearkens home with “Straight out of Benin for sure” and the fittingly titled “BENIN BOYS”—“Remy, Ekehuan Road/ Shalli, Sapele”—where he props up his neighbourhood on the Benin-Sapele-Warri Road, and Rema’s on Ekehuan Road in Benin. There’s evidence that Shallipopi’s music is of the people in a way that lots of Nigerian Pop is not. In clips from Mai Atafo’s Spring/Summer ‘24 Show, “Obapluto” blares right after Pa Monday Edo’s “Nogbaisi,” as models in reimagined versions of traditional Bini outfits strut the runway. 

Understanding Afro-Pluto

But what is Afro-Pluto? As he referred to his sound in an October 2023 Factory78 interview: “Not straight-up hip-hop, not straight-up Afrobeats, not straight-up Afro-pop,” he explained.  “Even my music is not more of singing, it’s more of talking. So there’s no one that does that except me.” In a time where every artist and their A&R wants to craft their own unique ‘sound,’ that statement isn’t so outlandish.  His Benin contemporary, Rema, named his subgenre ‘Afro-Rave,’ and only fully leaned into it on October 2023’s ‘RAVAGE’ EP. 

Shallipopi’s music is a fusion of Hip-Hop, Street-Pop, and Afropop. However, Afro-Pluto’s core is Hip-Hop. Shallipopi’s songs—especially on his first two projects—follow a simple pre-chorus-verse-chorus pattern with minimal internal rhymes, di-syllabic schemes, and rhythmic motifs. What he lacks in a vast vocabulary, he makes up for with same-word end rhymes and haphazard lyrics. For example, on “Speedometer” off ‘Planet Pluto,’ he raps, “Who fall go rise up again, on a speedometer/You wan know how men take dey mount/Men are men on meter/It was nice to meet ya.” It’s a simple A-B end rhyme with ‘meter’ repeated multiple times until the homophone lands on ‘meet ya.’ 

On “Evil Receive”—his most cherished musical creation per a February 2024 Floor Mag profile—he rhymes ‘vibe’ with ‘vibe.’ The unpredictability of his lines often falls outside conventional street wisdom. “Network no dey no mean say wi-fi disconnect” on “ASAP” is discernible—things aren’t always as they seem. But “men are men on meter” doesn’t quite translate. There’s also shock value: Legacy South-South rap acts like Erigga and Yung6ix are known to incorporate vulgarity, and Shallipopi follows in their footsteps. It’s a trait that has drawn him as many fans as foes with a hit like “CAST” and its lyrics placing that divisiveness in context. 

Per his lyricism, Shallipopi embodies Street-Pop. Money, sex, fraud, family struggles, resilience, and social injustices like police brutality are subjects that he constantly returns to. He’s a man of the people: the fun-loving, night-crawling people. Shallipopi is unlike Balloranking or Seyi Vibez, Street-Pop acts who balance party staples with spotlighting the ordeals in inner-city streets, and even his brother, ZerryDL, whose storytelling prowess rivals most. In the aforementioned Floor Mag profile, he drives the point home: “Social change and my music, I don’t think they’re close to each other,” he admits. “My music is for fun and to get your mind off troubles.” It takes seeing the Pluto Dance on dimly lit dance floors to process this fully. For all its ties to home, Afro-Pluto evades the dual merriment-enlightenment function that traditional Edo music upholds. 

Afro-pluto embodies Afropop through praise-singing, verbiage, and drawing from pre-existing music. Shallipopi praise-sings on “Ex Convict” like Wizkid did on 2014’s “In My Bed” and Olamide did on 2019’s “Oil & Gas.” In the two years since he burst onto the scene, he’s arguably become the biggest influencer of pop culture lexicon. ‘Men mount’ is an everyday slang to signify movement. ‘Evian’ made it into Zikoko’s Official Afrobeats Glossary. Everyone has been ‘Active’ since “Elon Musk.”  Similarly, ‘OS’ has crossed the threshold that proves its thorough pervasion; misuse, or rather, abuse.

Shallipopi’s producers—especially BusyPluto, who produced all but one track on his first two projects—draw regularly from older Nigerian music. BusyPluto’s zest for older Nigerian music is evident on a song like “Eazy” which interpolates 1996’s “Diana” by Galala legend, Daddy Showkey, a musician of South-South origin. Despite interspersing elements of Afropop and Street-pop, Shallipopi’s music is Hip-hop. When he speaks about fucking his enemies with no condoms on “Never Ever,” he’s echoing Ice Cube on “No Vaseline.” His verses on ostentatious living and the nature of fame are a mainstay of the genre. There’s insufficient innovation to term ‘Afro-Pluto’ a genre. There is no novelty in production—and influential as it is, per increasing adoption, it fails to be sufficiently distinct. 

The Plutomania Effect

Speaking of influence, Shallipopi’s musical impact has been felt the most at home. His younger brothers, 2025 Headies Rookie of the Year winner, Zerrydl, and new kid on the block, Famous Pluto, are ambassadors of Shalli’s homegrown rap brand. Zerry (Divine Uzama) is the most technically gifted of the three, a storytelling maestro with a flair for uncanny pockets. His one million plus Spotify listeners tell of his growing reach. The youngest, Famous Pluto (Osahon Uzama) debuted with “Na Scra” on March 7th this year, bearing similar flows and street wit as his brothers (“One round plus one round equals two bone straight.”) Their cadences are identical. Both younger brothers rap over BusyPluto’s instrumentals and are signed to Shallipopi’s Plutomania Records. Their subject matter is the same: women and the pursuit of financial freedom. 

Still, the impact of Shallipopi’s sound has not only been felt at home. Due to his outsized influence and success, there are a number of acts whose works fall directly in the lineage of his syrupy, drawn-out sound; acts like Tega Boi DC and Reeha, both Plutomania Records signees and crusaders of the Benin sound. There’s Smur Lee, one of only four Nigerian female artistes with over 15 million streams on a song in 2024. The track, “JUJU,” features Odumodublvck and Shallipopi and has over 37 million Spotify streams. Her style is almost a mirror image of Shallipopi’s, with multiple Elon Musk references and fraud lingo littering her latest singles. 

Beyond direct musical influence, Shallipopi’s artistry has impacted his peers who seek his raps over deep cuts (Victony’s “Ludo”), Afropop bangers with far-reaching cultural implications (Rema’s “BENIN BOYS”), and cross-border, market-focused singles (King Promise’s “Continental”). The virality of “LAHO” on the global stage – which has thousands singing along at destination nightclubs, NBA and European football superstars making TikToks, and top-5 placements on global charts like the UK’s Official Afrobeats Charts – forecasts newer zeniths for the 25-year-old phenom. It’s as welcome an outcome as any, just two years into his career in an industry peppered with stories of fadeouts after similar label splits. It also means going forward, Shallipopi is unlikely to veer off his sonic template. But his is a winning formula, so there are no worries. When he enthusiastically says, “Worldwide Plutomanians,” it truly is a worldwide phenomenon.