Long before his idol Wizkid signed him onto the roster of Starboy Music as Terri, Akewe Terry Daniel was making music as a teenager in the low-income Lagos neighbourhood he grew up in. Since trading the underground music scene for the mainstream, Terri has barely looked back. With Wizkid’s anointing, he jumped on 2018’s “Soco”, one of the biggest anthems in and out of Africa that year.
On the thumping monster hit “Ojoro”, lead track of 2020’s Afro Series EP that was delayed by the pandemic, Terri ropes in themes of love as intoxication and for elevation. And then he featured on Wizkid’s critically acclaimed 2020 album, Made in Lagos. Those early tastes of success led him on an ongoing journey of evolving his sound and rediscovering himself. The result is 2022’s In Transit , his second EP, and first as an independent artist.
“In Transit shows the influence of everything that I have been able to put together, from my last project to now,” he tells Apple Music. “And it is shaping up to be even something greater.” That upwardly mobile energy is present on “Holy Water”, where the woman of his dreams supersedes icons of both his faith and his industry; and it’s consolidated on “No Lie”, where he proclaims an unwillingness to share a love as deep as an ocean. Here, he breaks down the EP, track by track.
“Danger”
“Everything on the tape is an expression of a feeling. When I make music, I like to think about experiences—and that's not just my experiences, but those of friends or family, of what I see on the internet and how I can relate to it. We all have a love life, a personal life and goals that we want to achieve. And music is an aid to all of these things. Music is an aid to love and to hustling, and there's music to every type of thing. So, when I make music, I just try to put myself in a relatable position.”
“Holy Water”
“I made the song with Princeton, one of the producers that I work with a lot on the project. I think we were having a recording camp, we were in a hotel somewhere in Lagos. I think I'd recorded in the early hours of the day and I took a short nap. But when I was taking a nap, he was making the beats and the beats literally woke me up. So as soon as I stood up, I just told him, ‘Bro, I want to record. I think I want to try something’. I knew from when I was making it, it would be great because of the feeling.”
“Wanna Know”
“Me and P.Priime, we have such a connection because he's my friend; I've been with him from the start of his career. He's one of the youngest, baddest producers right now and he's busy and I'm busy as well, but we always have time to link up. And Wanna Know was just one of the days.”
“For Here”
“I was in Accra, and I was having writer's block, and I was getting a bit frustrated. One day, I told myself I must be as productive as [I] can get. When we were selecting the songs, it turned out to be right for the mood and the time.”
“Chargie” [Terri & Mugeez]
“Mugeez actually recorded his verse in Lagos [in 2021]. He's a legend, and he's so affectionate—he opens his arms wide to talk to me and advise. It’s always easy to work with him. We have a lot of other songs together. I used to watch him record and I've been in a couple of sessions because he's magical when he records. And he blessed me.”
“No Lie”
“I think I made ‘No Lie’ on the same day I made ‘Holy Water’, from the same production camp that we had. Normally, my music just comes from basically the energy in the studio—the energy of the producer and everybody. Once it's the right energy, it's easy to connect. Even if you're trying to say something that is fictional, or a real-life experience, it’s so easy to put that together.”