Love ’90s R&B and Hip-Hop? Then You Should Know Joy Oladokun

Singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun went to Nashville on a songwriting trip more than four years ago and she immediately took to it, moving in and carving out a space in Music City. She says it feels as though she lives at a music college, albeit one with no professors and a late start every day.

“I am in the South,” she notes. “As a queer Black woman, that’s not always fun. But I think Nashville is a really cool place, and it’s been a cool place for me as an artist.”

She's now hitting Summit Music Hall on Wednesday, April 20, for her first headlining tour.

One of the hard parts of moving to a new city is making friends, but Oladokun has found her people. They aren't those on Country Row churning out country pop tunes (her sound could never be mistaken for country). They're the "old school" people, living under the radar in marijuana-soaked houses on the east side of town. Nashville, she says, has space for anyone who wants to be somewhere kind of weird.



“I think I found my people in the sense that there are people here who want to find a balance [between], 'How do I make music and live a life?'” she says. “Because I think in other cities, you can get so consumed by making music that you forget to walk the dog or talk to your girlfriend or call your mom.”

The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Oladokun was born in Delaware and grew up in Casa Grande, Arizona — the “middle of nowhere,” as she describes it. Inspired by concert footage of Tracey Chapman, she took up music as a child. She played through her church for about six years, eventually leaving it when she decided to come out as a queer woman. She left Arizona for stints in L.A. and Orange County, California, before settling in Nashville. Her major-label debut, in defense of my own happiness, was released last summer, and her music has appeared on This Is Us, Grey’s Anatomy and The L Word: Generation Q.

Oladokun says Nashville has a surprisingly bustling hip-hop scene. It’s just not funded by the richest white men on the planet, she says, so one has to seek it out. Oladokun has branched into hip-hop territory with her recent single “Fortune Favors the Bold,” which includes Nashville rapper Tim Gent on a verse over a seriously ’90s boom-bap beat. She says the writing process was impulsive and based on what she was thinking about before going into the studio — the opioid crisis, its impact and the reckoning for abusers that has risen in recent years.

“I wanted to write a song about an ideal world where victims are able to stand up for themselves and be believed,” Oladokun says. “Where we notice if someone around us is not doing well and say something. I think that is the world we do live in, but it can be obscured. Crappy people can get in the way of our best-laid plans.”

Oladokun adds that she loves lyrical hip-hop, and because Tim Gent fits in that category, she was stoked to work with him. Hip-hop has been a massive influence, she says, even if she came up playing in “crappy pop-punk bands” and listening to a lot of guitar-based music. Lyrics are her favorite part of music, so she gravitated to hip-hop because “everyone’s always trying to be clever at the highest level," she says.

“Lauryn Hill is a huge inspiration,” she adds. “I’m a big fan of A Tribe Called Quest. I think it’s a perfect mix of make-you-think-about-stuff, but you can put Midnight Marauders on at a house party from tip to tail and everyone’s going to have a good time. Wu-Tang is less good-time music, but it’s aggressive and thought-provoking. I could go on and on.”

Oladokun often sees her music filed under the pop, singer-songwriter, roots rock, R&B and folk categories. But she expects it to continue leaning more toward the hip-hop bent as she records and releases new music. She doesn’t see herself completely switching genres, but she’s excited to experiment with new styles. (For the record, she says she also has a new song that falls under the yacht-rock umbrella, and another with a 1980s Tina Turner vibe.)

“I’m not going to be competing for greatest MC of all time anytime soon,” she says. “But I feel like there will definitely be moments on my next record where people will be able to clearly hear and see my hip-hop influence.”

While Oladokun's fans have gotten to see her open for acts in a smaller format, her headlining tour will include a full band. She expects her Denver show, where she will play a longer set, to paint a more complete picture of her influences. She also describes a ”twisted singer-songwriter at a cafe/standup comedian” shtick, where she tells the stories behind songs when it makes sense.

“I think it’s going to be a cool night of sharing stories and songs,” she says. “After a few years of not being able to do that, I think the band is itching, and we are all just ready, to play beautiful music and have a great time.”

Joy Oladokun plays Summit Music Hall, 1902 Blake Street, Wednesday, April 20, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20. For more information, visit joyoladokun.com.