Nigerian-American rapper Tobe Nwigwe places his Igbo heritage at the center of his new album, THE BRIDGE, nearly a decade after he committed to rap. The Houston-based artist has spent years tracing the Nigerian roots that shaped his upbringing in Alief, Texas.
Nigerian roots in Houston#
Nwigwe has a theory for why Houston, Texas drew a significant number of Nigerian immigrants in the 1980s. In 1980, basketball star Hakeem Olajuwon traveled to the U.S. for a chance to play at the University of Houston.
Olajuwon had switched to basketball a few years before the move, and a scout helped secure a tryout with the university’s coach, leading to a successful college career. In 1984, after his third official year in college, Olajuwon declared for the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft and was selected first overall by the Houston Rockets, keeping him in the city where he first landed.
According to Nwigwe, Olajuwon’s rising profile in Houston spurred many Nigerians to settle in Houston and other Texas cities. Nwigwe was born on March 7, 1987. That day, Olajuwon scored 12 points in a blowout loss for the Rockets, but he had already reached the NBA finals and was in the early stages of a standout career.
Growing up between two cultures#
Tobechukwu Dubem Nwigwe was raised in the suburban area of Alief, Texas, known locally as SWAT, short for South West, Alief, Texas. The family had a Houston address in the Winfield apartment complexes, but Nwigwe and his siblings were raised in a Nigerian household. Parental directions were delivered in Igbo and Pidgin English, jollof rice and fufu with different soups were eaten regularly, and his parents were strict.
Outside the home, the context was different. By the 1980s, Alief had shifted from a predominantly white rural area to a multicultural suburb and one of the poorer parts of Houston. Nwigwe grew up trying to assimilate, surrounded by some children whose families had deeper local roots and others who, like him, were second-generation immigrants balancing two cultures.
SWAT was mainly composed of working-class families, most of them people of colour, and poverty was common. The area carried perils, including illicit street hustles and turf wars. Nwigwe described the environment on From the SWAT with the line:
“intense crime rates had bodies sitting sideways.”
He also navigated questions of identity, not just as a Black person in America but as an African with traceable roots to Uturu and Awka in southeast Nigeria. Initially, he tried to fit in as another Black kid, but learning about the history of slavery and how it severed ancestral ties for generations of Black people led him to embrace his Nigerian heritage more fully during high school.
“It was a blessing to know where you come from, who your people are, what your culture is, and I started taking pride in being Nigerian,” he said in a 2017 interview.
By the time of that interview, he was building the foundation of what became a successful rap career.
Football, injury and a turn to purpose#
Rap was not always the priority. Nwigwe first pursued American football. At the University of North Texas, he was a solid middle linebacker on a struggling team. During his junior year, in a game against Western Kentucky, he returned an interception 97 yards for a game-sealing touchdown that snapped an eight-game losing streak. His team was poor, but National Football League (NFL) scouts viewed him as one of the few players on the UNT roster who had flashed NFL talent.
A career-altering mid-foot injury in the middle of his senior season cut the professional dream short. He entered the 2010 draft with some franchises showing interest in his six-foot-one, 245-pound frame, but he went undrafted. He then had a brief stint with the Hartford Colonials in the now-defunct United Football League (UFL), but it became clear that professional football hopes were done.
Uncertainty followed. Raised by Nigerian parents who were Catholic, Nwigwe was deeply reverent of God and attributes his next moves to divine direction. He recalls a voice he attributes to God telling him his mission was “to help others find their purpose.” That led to the founding of TeamGINI, a non-profit organisation. The name comes from “Gini bu nkpa gi?”, Igbo for “What’s your purpose?”
With TeamGINI, Nwigwe hosted events at schools, organized holiday drives, learned to raise money and manage resources, and built connections. For one event, he convinced popular preacher and speaker Eric Thomas to participate, beginning a productive relationship. Thomas saw Nwigwe’s charisma and oratory and encouraged him to try rapping, later signing him as the first artist on ETA Records, Thomas’s then-new label.
Rap beginnings and #GetTwistedSundays#
In 2014, Nwigwe released his first project, Pardon My Lateness, a rudimentary outline of the artist he could become. The proper starting point came in 2016, when he joined a challenge that required people to rap over the 2003 hit So Gone by American rhythm and blues singer Monica. In his entry, Nwigwe rapped with a southern twang while his then-girlfriend and now-wife Martica “Fat” Nwigwe twisted his hair. The response was positive and created the template for the series that raised his profile.
In 2017, Nwigwe and Fat started #GetTwistedSundays, a freestyle series in which he rapped over jacked beats while she twisted his hair.
