For S.C.U.D., music is not separate from everyday life. It exists alongside the responsibilities, compromises and uncertainties of making a living while pursuing something bigger. Based in Thompson, Manitoba, the Nigerian-born Afro-fusion artist, whose real name is Babatunde Adewole, has built his sound around that tension, drawing from Afrobeats, soul, hip-hop and fuji to create what he calls Attical Sounds.
His latest release, Attical Sounds Vol. 2: Chronicles of a Nine to Five, takes an honest look at the realities of balancing employment, family responsibilities and artistic ambition. Across five tracks, S.C.U.D. moves between the determination of “Steady,” the searching plea for stability on “Balance,” and the spiritual resolve of “Karma.” Collaborations with Mitche on “Onome” and Saskatchewan-based Rooky Kamiz on “Challenge” further connect his personal experiences to a wider musical community.
Following the momentum of his Late Bloomer EP, a growing catalogue approaching one million combined streams, and a 2026 Western Canadian Music Awards nomination for Afrobeats Artist of the Year, S.C.U.D. continues to build beyond the conventional industry centres. As the founder of Afrobeats Nights, he is also helping create space for Black music and culture in Northern Manitoba.
In this exclusive interview, S.C.U.D. discusses the experiences shaping his songwriting, the challenge of sustaining a music career alongside a nine-to-five, the evolution of Attical Sounds, and his ambitions for an independent career built on persistence, identity and creative freedom.
AVOLA: Attical Sounds Vol. 2: Chronicles of a Nine to Five centres on the tension between maintaining a day job and pursuing a music career. At what point did you realise this balancing act was not just your personal reality but a story worth building an entire EP around?
S.C.U.D: For a long time I didn’t see it as a story. It was just my week: a full day at the office, then studio sessions, rehearsals and event planning at night. The shift came when I started talking to people at Afrobeats Nights and after shows. Nurses, tradespeople, students, newcomers working two jobs, and so many of them were living some version of the same tension. That’s when I realised the nine-to-five wasn’t the thing standing between me and the music. It was the music’s subject. Chronicles of a Nine to Five came from accepting that the grind, the fatigue and the small wins in between are worth documenting honestly. I wanted to make a record for everyone who clocks out and then goes to work on their dream.
AVOLA: “Balance” feels like the emotional core of the project, particularly in its focus on providing for your parents and child while continuing to invest in your ambitions. What has pursuing music demanded from you personally, and have there been moments when the cost of chasing the dream made you question whether you could sustain both lives?
S.C.U.D: Time, more than anything, and time is the one thing you can’t earn back. Pursuing music means choosing every week between rest, family and the work that moves the career forward. “Balance” is about that negotiation. My responsibilities to my parents, wife, children, and family aren’t optional, so the dream has to fit around them, not the other way round. Yes, there have been moments when I questioned whether I could sustain both lives. Times when the money going into a release or a show felt heavy against what home needed. What keeps me going is that the music has never felt like a separate life. It’s how I process the other one. The song doesn’t pretend the balance is perfect. It says I’m still standing in the middle of it, and that counts.
AVOLA: As your catalogue grows, how do you distinguish between influences that inspire you and elements that genuinely belong to your own artistic identity? What would listeners hear in an S.C.U.D. record that they might not find elsewhere in Afrofusion?
S.C.U.D: Influences are the music I grew up absorbing: Afrobeats, soul, hip-hop, and fuji from the Yoruba tradition I come from. Identity is what’s left when you strip the references away and something still sounds like you. For me that’s the perspective. An S.C.U.D. record carries the rhythm and the joy of Afrobeats, but it’s written from a working person’s life, by a Nigerian artist living in northern Manitoba, Canada. You’ll hear the percussion and call-and-response of home next to hip-hop storytelling and a soul sensibility in the melodies. I call it Attical Sounds because it’s a space I built for myself. It isn’t trying to sound like Lagos or Toronto. It sounds like the road between them.
AVOLA: Based in Thompson, Manitoba, you are developing your career outside the major Canadian music centres while maintaining a strong connection to Nigerian musical traditions. How has living and working in Northern Manitoba shaped your sound, your subject matter and your understanding of where you fit within the wider Afrobeats movement?
S.C.U.D: Thompson is about 740 kilometres north of Winnipeg. There’s no established music industry here, so I had to build what I needed, from the stage to the audience. That shaped me in two ways. My subject matter stays grounded, because I’m not surrounded by industry glamour, I’m surrounded by real working lives. And it made me independent: self-managing, producing events and learning every part of the business. Within the wider Afrobeats movement, I see myself as part of its spread. The genre isn’t only living in big cities any more, it’s taking root in places nobody expected. Northern Manitoba has a growing African diaspora and a multicultural community hungry for this sound. I’m proud to be one of the voices proving it belongs here too, and we can take it anywhere from here.
AVOLA: Following the momentum of Late Bloomer, you have described this EP as proof that your previous success was not a one-time story. What did the response to that project teach you about your audience, and what did you deliberately change or challenge about your approach when making Chronicles of a Nine to Five?
S.C.U.D: Late Bloomer taught me that people connect with honesty more than polish. The response told me my audience wasn’t just looking for party records. They wanted to hear a real person’s journey, including the part where success comes later than expected. With Chronicles of a Nine to Five, I challenged myself to go deeper rather than repeat the formula. I built the EP around a single theme so the five songs speak to each other. I opened my sound to more collaboration, with artists in Saskatchewan and Nigeria. And I took a more deliberate approach to the release itself: marketing, visuals, the Balance video, a vinyl pressing. This project is my way of saying the first chapter wasn’t luck. It was the beginning of a body of work.
AVOLA: On “Karma,” you confront dishonesty and people who may not want to see you succeed, but your response centres on patience and faith rather than direct retaliation. Has the experience of navigating the music industry changed how you approach loyalty, competition and relationships, and how much of that experience finds its way into your songwriting?
S.C.U.D: It has. Being independent means you learn quickly who shows up for you and who only shows up when there’s something to gain. “Karma” comes from that place, but I chose patience and faith over retaliation on purpose. Energy spent getting even is energy taken from the work, and the work is the best answer anyway. These days I’m more careful with trust but more generous with opportunity. Through Afrobeats Nights I’ve put other artists on stage, because I believe there’s room for all of us. Competition can make you sharper, but community is what sustains you. A lot of that finds its way into my writing, often between the lines. Many of my songs are me reminding myself how I want to move.
AVOLA:“Onome,” featuring Mitche, celebrates a woman who works hard, earns her own money and deserves to enjoy the rewards of her labour. Why was it important to include this perspective on the EP, and did collaborating with an artist based in Nigeria influence the song’s emotional or musical direction?
S.C.U.D: An EP about the nine-to-five had to honour the women who carry that grind, often while carrying everyone else too. “Onome” celebrates a woman who works hard, earns her own money and has every right to enjoy it without apology. That perspective was important to me because it’s the reality I see around me, and it deserves a song that is joyful rather than preachy. Working with Mitche, my old music ally, based in Nigeria, kept the record rooted in the sound and slang of home. Our collaboration across distance is part of the song’s story: the diaspora and home meeting on one record.
AVOLA: Featuring Saskatchewan-based artist Rooky Kamiz, “Challenge” introduces a more expansive, genre-crossing sound, including choral backing and an almost anthem-like energy. What pushed you to explore this direction, and did you approach the track with a different audience or performance setting in mind than you would for a more traditional Afrobeats record?
S.C.U.D: “Challenge” came from wanting to make something that feels like a rallying cry. Chasing a dream alongside a day job is a challenge, and I wanted a song that sounds like pushing through it. Rooky Kamiz brought a different energy from Saskatchewan, and that encouraged us to go bigger: choral backing, a broader genre palette, a build that lifts. I definitely pictured it differently from a traditional Afrobeats record. I imagined it live, in a room full of people singing the hook back together, at a festival or on a showcase stage. It’s the song on the EP I most want to perform, because it’s designed to be shared out loud.
AVOLA: Beyond your own releases, you founded Afrobeats Nights, creating a recurring platform for Afrobeats and Black music in northern Manitoba. What gaps did you see in the local music scene that made you build this platform, and how do you measure its impact beyond attendance, streams or your own career development?
S.C.U.D: Before Afrobeats Nights, there was no recurring space in Thompson where African and Black music was at the centre, and nowhere for local artists in this genre to perform regularly. People were driving hours or simply going without. Since January 2026 we’ve run monthly editions at the Reagle Beagle Tavern, along with our flagship quarterly editions, Afrobeat Summer Groove. Our tagline is “Eat, Drink, Dance, Network”, because it’s about more than a show. I measure impact in ways that don’t show up on a ticket report: newcomers finding community, a local artist getting their first stage, families coming out together, people from different backgrounds dancing in the same room. When people tell me it feels like home for a night, that’s the number that matters.
AVOLA: With your 2026 Western Canadian Music Awards nomination, international showcases, and new EP Chronicles of a Nine to Five, it feels like your music is reaching more people and opening new doors. As you look ahead, what does success really mean to you beyond the awards, streams, and financial gains? And with this EP, is there a side of yourself you hope listeners get to see or understand that they may not have seen before?
S.C.U.D: Being recognised with a Western Canadian Music Awards nomination and performing internationally have been honours. Without the numbers, though, success is simple. It’s being able to keep making honest music while taking care of the people I love, and seeing artists from places like Thompson believe they can do it too. If the platforms I’m building outlast my own spotlight, that’s success. As for the person behind S.C.U.D., I hope Chronicles of a Nine to Five shows that the artist and the working man are the same person. Behind the stage name is someone who clocks in, shows up for his family, and still finds the energy to create. I’m not an overnight story. I’m a consistent one, and this EP is proof.
Featured Image: Adira Carter
