As a child growing up in Warri, Delta, Strei ((born Howard Efemena Dominic in Ughelli South, Delta State) was not preoccupied with learning the latest Afrobeats lyrics like people his age would. Deeply interested in music, his interests lay elsewhere. The rising star was more interested in the alchemical fusion of Rock, Hip-Hop, and Soul that tragically-passed rappers, XXXTentaction And Juice WRLD, were at the forefront of. Something about the dark, brooding lyricism hinged on candour appealed to rapper. 

As he grew older and found his way online, he started to develop an appreciation for African music that saw him take his passion for music to BandLab where he started to experiment with intimate releases that found an audience online. In 2025, after amassing a following online, Strei was signed by KTIZO WRLD Records, teaming up with one of Nigeria’s left-field music companies. Since then, he has paired the elegaic expressionism that he picked up from listening to musicians like Shiloh Dynasty with an intuitive command of African rhythms that birthed his first project, ‘I.T.A.M.’

Imagined as an introduction to his inventive take on Afropop, it has set the stage for the arrival of a new project, ‘NIGHT,’ that Strei is describing as the sound of freedom. “The core concept of the project is freedom,” he explains. “The freedom you feel in the night. That’s how I experience it because there is nobody there. Everywhere is dark. No one is judging you. You can come outside, you can dance, you can laugh, you can express yourself, you can feel. That’s why I named it ‘NIGHT.’” Across the seven songs of the project, Strei is fluid and non-conventional, blending his sing-song flow with a easy bounce that shows that he’s in full control of his sonic direction. 

Our conversation, loosely edited, follows below. 

Where did music come from for you? Was it something you grew up with, or where did you pick up the interest from?

I grew up in Warri, Delta State, and I grew up knowing how to sing a little. So, obviously, I had a lot of people telling me I should expand more on that, but I grew my interest in music because of how it made me feel. I was very introverted as a kid. I was the kid who stayed inside the house. When I was alone, I used to listen to music, and it just resonated with me. It was something I wanted to do, something I admired. So I started doing it eventually, after more inspiration.

Do you think where you grew up had an influence on your approach to music?

I wouldn’t say my environment really impacted my approach to music, because my approach to music came from somewhere else entirely. It wasn’t even Nigeria. I didn’t start with making Afrobeats, and the people that inspired me weren’t even Nigerian artists. People like XXXTentacion, Juice WRLD, and Shiloh Dynasty. Those are the people who inspired me. So, it wasn’t really from my environment. My environment didn’t really shape me as an artist.

Would you say you grew up on the internet, since the people who inspired your music are Western-facing?

I guess a little, but not really. I didn’t actually get a phone until later on in senior secondary school, but the people I hung out with were older kids who just didn’t listen to Afrobeats. They always said it was what the cool kids did. They used to play a lot of foreign music, Rap, basically nothing Afrobeats. So, my tapping into Afrobeats came much later when I actually got access to the internet. It was mostly just the people around me.

Where do you live now?

I live in Lagos.

When did you move to Lagos, and did you move for music?

Yeah, I moved to Lagos for music in January 2025. 

What was the thinking behind the move? 

I got an opportunity, which was the record deal with my current record label, Ktizo Wrld. It was around 2024, after my WAEC, and I was just doing covers. I thought, if this music thing is going to work, let me just try it out and see what happens. Some of my covers started to trend, I did more, they kept trending, and Ktizo reached out to me. I saw it as a real opportunity to do what I actually wanted to do. So, I took it. We finalized everything later that year, and I moved to Lagos in January 2025.

Since you moved to Lagos, you’ve been releasing music constantly. What’s your process like?

There’s a studio in the building where I am, so I make a lot of music. There’s a whole archive. It’s just constant creation.

You also released a project last year called ‘ITAM.’ What does that mean, and what was your headspace when you made it?

‘ITAM’ stands for “Introduction to Afro Mood.” It was more of a mixtape to me, a compilation of covers I had done that we re-recorded and refined into a proper project, along with one original song that hadn’t been released before. The idea was to introduce people to the sound, to Strei. That was why it was called “Introduction to Afro Mood.” It was like, take this first, hold on to it, this is a sample of what’s coming.

What has the past year, since the release of ‘ITAM’ been like for you? What do you think that project has done for you as an artist?

It introduced the sound and brought more audience to me. I call my fans nomads. It just holds the fan base together, gives everyone an identity to place. This is how he sounds, this is who he is. That’s what that body of work does for me.

You’re close to releasing your next project, “NIGHT.” When did you start working on it?

I’ve been working on it for a while. Basically, after ‘ITAM,’ everything I was doing was building toward that project. But you have to understand that before coming to Lagos, everything I did was on BandLab. I had to develop my sound altogether. It was a journey of finding what works and what makes sense for Strei. There was a point where I felt the project was in a good place, but my team felt it could be better. That was around November and December 2025. The majority of the project was actually made during that period because I had found a sound that worked perfectly for it. So, we spun around and built something entirely new and better.

The project sounds very stripped down and mid-tempo. Was that a deliberate choice?

Yeah, I feel like that’s the perfect zone for my music in terms of tempo. It just gives the music space to breathe, and it gives the audience space to feel it. But there is some high-tempo music on the project too.

What do you want listeners to take away from ‘NIGHT?’

The core concept of the project is freedom. The freedom you feel in the night. That’s how I experience it because there is nobody there. Everywhere is dark. No one is judging you. You can come outside, you can dance, you can laugh, you can express yourself, you can feel. That’s why I named it ‘NIGHT.’ When people listen to this project, I want them to actually have the freedom to experience it fully because listening to a song on a bus, you won’t react the same way you do in your room. In your room, you’re probably dancing. In front of people, you’re just nodding your head. I want people to experience this project in that sense of freedom. I always do a lot of my best work at night, and I just wanted to express that freedom through this art form. 

Is there a specific song on the project that felt like a definite high point for you?

Every single song felt like a high point. I still struggle to pick a favorite because my answer keeps switching every day. The thing about this project is there’s something for everybody. Something you can dance to, something you might cry to, something you can relate to. Depending on how you feel, that’s what it is. The main point is connection. Every single song on this project is a song that can connect with you on a different day.

Listen to ‘NIGHT’ here.