Santi: Alté's Rising Star

Santi is a Lagos-based rapper and singer at the forefront of the alté movement. Self-defined as more of a lifestyle than a musical genre, alté has allowed a new generation of musicians and artists to create an original music, fashion and art output by championing freedom of expression though their work.

With his 2019 debut LP, Mandy & The Jungle, Santi established himself as one of Lagos' rising stars. And his crossover appeal means he has found an ever-growing global fanbase.

Mixing different genres and styles is a focal point of Santi’s work; he released his debut album Mandy And The Jungle in June 2019 and aside from directing his own videos, which are littered with symbolism and inspired by the 90s Nollywood horrors of his youth, Santi has also directed music videos for Tyler the Creator and GoldLink.

Here Santi tells us about his creative inspiration.

Tell us about the current Lagos music scene
The music is so experimental, we’re just trying to draw from what we see everyday. To me there is just the simple value of creating.

What is your goal as an artist?
I wanna keep making great stuff. I just wanna keep growing and growing, so that the next set of kids who do this, they see something from it.

What inspires you to keep creating?
Seeing young kids really inspires me. I just want to create to a level in which I see my mind. I wanna take it by the horns and say, ‘you know what, I’m gonna do this’.