Photography by Marcus Lieder  

Words DOUGLAS JARDIM

“I’m in a beautiful museum,” Southeast London-based artist Goya Gumbani tells me over Zoom. It’s noon sharp, and Gumbani is putting the finishing touches to a special takeover at New York’s Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA). An exclusive album listening, talk back and DJ sets with NTS Radio, to be exact. See, at the time of our call, it’s mere hours until release day for his fourth LP Warlord of the Weejuns, an assertive comeback for one of jazz and neo-soul’s most gifted newgens.

He’s previously been invited onto Berlin-based platform Colorsand performed at both Boiler Room and Pitchfork Music Festival. And, now, alongside his band, has jetted off on a US and EU tour, including a pit stop at London’s iconic Jazz Café on 17th April. In recent days, however, he’s been enjoying time in his Big Apple stomping ground, “eating, cooking, seeing some family and some friends. The weather’s been great as hell.” Gumbani’s musical output sits at the intersection of hip-hop storytelling and rich, full-band arrangements. Fusing a history of emceeing and 90s boom bap beats, he shared debut EP “Morta & More Doves” in 2018, dedicated to his late sister. Since, Gumbani’s poetic take on grief, love and, above all, selfhood have made him one of music’s most commanding rising voices. He also fits in an NTS radio show Chicken Foot Soup, allowing him to spotlight the work of those around him and lean into his natural affinity with creative peers. “I want to work with Ezra Collective or Kokoroko,” he tells me of collaborationaspirations. “I want to make music with a jazz band.”

Growing up in Brooklyn, rap, hip-hop and 80s reggae defined his musical diet, following him around school hallways and Jamaican house parties. He describes emceeing as his first language. “It kind of just happened, it felt like a spiritual connection. At the time, I used to really like a lot of Lil’ Bow Wow, Lil Wayne, Cam’ron, 50 Cent. I really liked 50 Cent growing up. Those are, like, my early rap gods... Jay-Z, Nas.” Relocating to London with his mother in his teens, Gumbani had the merits of UK garage instilled in him upon arrival. “My cousin gave me a garage CD when I was 15,” he says. “Every single garage song was on that CD. I started going out when I was 16 and they were playing all of that music.” Like most British kids of the early 00s, Gumbani also familiarised himself with London’s emerging grime scene by watching copious amounts of the now defunct satellite TV home of the genre – Channel U. And musical exchanges were also the domain of the school corridors. “Everybody used to Bluetooth mad music. Everybody had Nokia 6230s, people just sent you shit.” As his album title suggests, London life away from music has long been informed by fashion. He’s a charity shop connoisseur, currently in his “thrifting era”. Style has played a major role in Gumbani’s public persona since his younger years. “I feel like it’s an extension of my artistry,” he says. These days, he posts fit checks on TikTok. “It’s a passion that I have. It’s nice to see that people tap into it.”

Gumbani wears clothes well and has a sizeable modelling portfolio to prove it (Billionaire Boys Club, Converse, Birkenstock, British Vogue). Talking designers, he applauds Nicholas Daley, Wales Bonner, Labrum, Bianca Saunders and Adidas. And, “I love Saul Nash. He’s also Guyanese. There’s a brand called Abaga Velli, which is also super dope. Horatio does the best loafers, they just opened a store in Bank. They lowkey gave me my first pair of Weejuns.” According to Gumbani’s tour poster, he’s the self-proclaimed “Prince of Loafers”. Look no further than his Bandcamp for exclusive wooden shoehorns as merchandise. “I have a lot of pairs, let’s say maybe three digits, but low three digits,” he confesses. “I used to just collect them though, I used to collect shit that didn’t even fit.” The album’s title is borrowed from a description attributed to Miles Davis by writer George Frazier in liner notes of his 1965 Greatest Hits album. “I’ve had this name in the back of my mind for like six years,” he recalls. “It just felt fitting. My love for loafers needs to be documented at this current time in my life.” It was Gumbani’s way of paying homage to the storied shoe and jazz luminary at once. “Davis was always outspoken, always had big glasses, structured shoulder pad blazers,” he says. “He also always expanded his musical expertise, his understanding of what music was.”

For Gumbani, the album took two years in total to make. He harnessed a Davis-esque inclination for broadening horizons by recording across four cities – London, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York. It’s a celebration of heritage, a smorgasbord of producers and guests – Ezra Collective keys player Joe Armon-Jones, Philadelphia rapper lojii, Swedish soul singer Fatima, Long Beach rapper Seafood Sam and R&B visionary Yaya Bey are among contributors – connecting in a shared musicality that underscores Goya’s swaggering affirmations of self-worth. “lojii took me to his family crib,” he says of time in Pennsylvania. “His father’s an amazing cook and they taught me about wine. It kind of bled into the music.” In the lush, horn-backed “Beautiful BLACK”, Gumbani sets the tone by declaring “It’s time to redefine.” “I made that song for a really young version of myself that was misled by society’s constructs of right and wrong,” he tells me. “There’s a lot of pride in there, you’ve got to know where you came from to know where you’re going. A lot of it stemmed from being able to love and hold yourself in a higher regard than you do sometimes. With the hard times you make diamonds, a lot of the album was based on that ideology.”

On Warlord of the Weejuns, Gumbani re-fashions defining moments in his life and the lives of his dear collaborator friends. It’s a reflection of his journey, a manual on how to navigate life’s many trials and tribulations. “Manuva(s)” – featuring Armon-Jones – speaks for itself, manoeuvring around the hard times with a quick-witted, agile cadence. “FireFly” – with Fatima – carries an infectious R&B groove that captures the rawness of a recent breakup. Fatima returns for the Dan Diggas-produced “Chase The Sunrise”, joined by Bey and lojii. It’s perhaps the album’s apex, a showcase of introspections on the experience of grief, heightened by a poignant black-and-white visual parallel to Carrie Mae Weems’ Kitchen Table Series. Ultimately, the album serves as a testament to Gumbani’s evolution as an artist and individual. “It’s about not feeling the need to want to be this far ahead or that far behind,” he says. “‘Embrace the twists and the turns and you’ll be rewarded with what it returns.’ When I was making this album, I had this piece of text. You’ve just got to trust and ride it out, you’ll be rewarded in the end. It’s like shedding old skin, almost. New and improved, evolved, like a Pokémon.” Wise words from the Warlord.