To the American born and Nigerian bred songwriter and music producer, Michael Giwa-Amu, music was always an outlet of expression, and a form of connection to his place of birth and his “first culture”. When Amu began to rap in 2010, although starting out as a “hip-hop rapper” specifically, he would find himself and his music influenced by not just his tastes and inspirations, but by his environment as well—living in Abuja, Nigeria at the time would solidify his influences in Afro Fusion in addition to non-cultural influences like Rock, RnB and Electronic music—widening his influences and production from just traditional hip-hop. The maverick rapper often drew inspiration from artists like MF Doom, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Mick Jenkins and Kendrick Lamar. Growing up in a city with an emerging music scene—particularly Trap and Afro beat—finding an identity and an audience was definitely a struggle considering what his influences were and the music he wanted to create, leading him to draw further inspiration from the sounds of the scene and from artists like Santi. After a hiatus from 2016-2019, Amu returned in 2019 with the Afro-fusion track Y.K.T.V, featuring Dani. Slightly different from his more hip-hop adjacent sound, perhaps signaling the genesis of a new era. Amu follows this in 2020 with Pay the Piper with his alter ego Demau, and finally, AB (Ahmadu Bello) in 2021. Definitely a—possibly ongoing—journey of discovery, diarized in music. Definitely a journey to follow.