2024 in music has been the year of the sample, a year when reinterpretation has supplanted invention as the dominant mode of creation. Within this, Fuji has resurfaced in a big way. Producers and artists alike are rummaging through its archive, unearthing familiar textures and rhythms. It’s in this fertile creative soil that Sarz’s latest offering with Asake, “C’mon Look!” plants its flag.

Sarz has an uncanny ability to deconstruct and reassemble rhythmic and melodic elements, often pushing the boundaries of genre and form. His impact lies not just in the commercial success of his work, but in how he has changed the way the world listens to, understands, and engages with African music. Hence as a perennial shapeshifter, the genius producer laces Fuji’s cadences into the sprawl of electronic music, and the result is nothing short of magnetic.

Sampling K1 De Ultimate’s “Won Tun-Nna”, Sarz refracts K1’s sharp, cascading percussion through a prism of house and EDM. Asake’s performance is, as always, absorbing. He is clearly in his element, and his chemistry with Sarz is undeniable. His voice moves, teasing and commanding in equal measure.

Where others have stumbled into gimmickry, Sarz and Asake demonstrate an almost scholarly respect for their source material. In “C’mon Look!”, Sarz confirms what many have suspected: the future of Nigerian music isn’t a straight line but a spiral, looping back to its roots even as it surges forward. The song’s narrative is a subtle commentary on Nigerian music’s chameleonic identity, perpetually absorbing and reshaping external influences without losing its core.