Igwe Aka Is On A Mission To Fuse Worlds With “CHASE”
“CHASE” is yet another installment in Igwe Aka’s current era that sees him blend two seemingly contrasting cultures.
We’re halfway through 2026 and Igwe Aka is still going strong with his latest release, “CHASE” featuring Nigerian rapper ARTSALGHUL. The single is coming almost four months after ‘WAWA MUSIC’, the project that solidified the ties of the Sacramento-based rapper back to his Igbo heritage. It consists of just two songs, “EGONOMICS” and “BACKASSI”, the latter in collaboration with the Alté music icon, Odunsi (The Engine).
Igwe Aka gained local traction from ‘WAWA MUSIC’ by implementing aspects of his Eastern Nigerian culture like Igbo inspired imagery in the cover art, traditional instruments in the songs and the use of the Igbo language in his lyrics. He carries this representation along with him in “CHASE”.
The new single is heavily Trap inspired, with a sound that’s become a familiar trademark of the Nigerian Underground scene. His cultural merger is just as prevalent in “CHASE” as it is in his previous projects with the lyrics “I waka from the East side(East), My cana from the West side(West)”, showing his roots in Eastern Nigeria and his sonic birthplace in Sacramento, based in the western state of California, USA.
ARTSALGHUL jumps into the track halfway in with his gritty vocals, native to the Nigerian Underground, elevating the tone that Igwe Aka brought in right from the start. They both worked in tandem to produce a song that’s reflective of the current sound that’s common in alternative, underground spaces.
Another interesting element of the single is his peculiar use of percussion. Some fans speculate that the rapper derived it from the generational video game, Minecraft. The sound is associated with what players would hear when taking damage in the game. Its implementation may be odd at first, but upon further listening it places itself perfectly within the song.
“CHASE” is yet another installment in Igwe Aka’s current era that sees him blend two seemingly contrasting cultures in ways that perfectly amalgamate them both, and may very well be a developing shift for diasporic artists.
Listen to “CHASE” here.
