ONErpm’s Osagie Osarenkhoe on data, culture, and the structural challenges facing African music’s global rise
Osagie Osarenkhoe, Director of A&R and African Operations at ONErpm, sat down with Hypebot‘s Jeremy Young to discuss the explosive growth of African music, the structural challenges still holding the continent’s industry back, and the rising hybrid sounds emerging from Nigeria’s underground rave scene.
Osagie built ONErpm’s African operation from a single Lagos office into a five-country, 38-person team — and before that, she discovered and managed Afrobeats superstar Wizkid at the very start of his career.
In the interview, Osagie breaks down how ONErpm bridges vastly different markets — from Lagos to Nairobi, Johannesburg, Accra, and Abidjan — by combining on-the-ground cultural expertise with global data and infrastructure.
She also speaks candidly about the ongoing fight for gender equity in the music industry, and shares real examples of how ONErpm’s data has helped revive old records and spotlight emerging ones, including a decade-old Skales track resurrected by TikTok and a rising Zambian hit gaining traction across the region.
“I think the first thing is to understand that the realities across the African markets are very different, from Lagos to Nairobi, Johannesburg, Accra or Abidjan. The opportunity is in understanding what makes each market unique and then finding the connections between them.”
Read more about ONErpm‘s appearances in the media on ONEHub/Newsroom
