"Afrobeats Is Not Small Work Anymore": Inside Jimi Odusina and Mavin’s Vision for Afrocroiser
Music personality Folajimi Odusina, popularly known as Jimi Vibecreator, in a chat with Kola Ogunkanmi, reflected on how a failed documentary attempt led to Afrocroiser, a Savant production for Mavin Global that brought 52 creatives from Nigeria and France together across six studios for seven days, and why he believes the global success of Afrobeats deserves a storytelling culture of its own. He also revealed that Ayra Starr has listened to songs from the camp and opened up on what Savant is building next for Africa's greatest talent
Behind every Afrobeats hit are dozens of writers, producers and creatives whose stories rarely make the headlines, and that was the gap Folajimi Odusina, popularly known as Jimi Vibecreator, set out to fill with Afrocroiser.
Legit.ng's Kola Ogunkanmi spoke with him the day after the film premiered.
Source: Instagram
How a failed camp birthed Afrocroiser
Afrocroiser did not begin with success. It began with disappointment.
In our conversation, Jimi Odusina revealed that he had previously tried documenting a songwriting camp but walked away feeling the final product had not captured the emotion and cultural exchange taking place between the participants.
So when Kizito Ahams, Mavin's Senior Manager for Licensing and Publishing, approached him about a new camp organised alongside SACEM and the French Embassy, he saw it as another chance to get it right, and this time he was not going to let it slip.
The result was Afrocroiser, a name that even takes a moment to get right on the tongue, combining "Afro" with the French word "Croiser", meaning "to cross paths or come together".
Over seven days, 52 songwriters, producers and creatives from Nigeria and France worked across six studios with no script and no safety net, and what came out of it was a film that captured something Nigerian music had not seen documented quite like this before.
Explaining how the project came together, Jimi Odusina said:
"I tried in an earlier camp to capture this emotion, but we were not able to hit it on the edge. This time I said, let us approach it as a documentary where everything is centred around this reality. And everybody was excited. It was new, it was fresh."
Source: Instagram
The challenge of turning 80 hours into one film
Capturing the camp on camera was only the beginning of what it took to make the film.
Jimi Odusina said the team had to work through nearly 80 hours of footage while simultaneously coordinating with artists, SACEM, the French Embassy and other stakeholders to make sure everyone understood what the project was and how it would roll out.
He explained:
"It was a big camp. Multiple studios going on at the same time, all of that had to be videoed. Imagine eight days of ten hours of footage. So it was a lot of going through the footage and trying to understand what was essential. Because within the camp, you are creating IP that you are open to pitch to other artists. So there is a limit to how much you can put into a documentary. And then working with all the talents, the French Embassy, SACEM, different stakeholders, making sure everyone understood what we were doing and how we wanted to roll it out. Most of it is spent in post-production. Getting the sound right, getting the visuals right, and then getting the plan on how we execute."
Source: Instagram
Why the Pot of Vibes was essential
Bringing together 52 creatives from two countries was one challenge, but creating an environment where they could genuinely connect and make music was an entirely different one.
To encourage that collaboration, Jimi Odusina introduced what he called the Pot of Vibes, a system of daily themes designed to push participants beyond their usual creative habits, while also managing the logistics of flights, accommodation and studio sessions so the creatives could focus entirely on making music.
According to him:
"We need to surround it around an idea. What we call the Pot of Vibes. Where everybody that came would be forced into a system that makes them create something they had not done before. And then the operations of 52 talents, writers, producers, all of this, from booking flights to getting hotels to making sure each session had the right person in the right room. These are not actors. You cannot tell them sit here and say this. You have to create a way that they fall in love with the process."
Source: Instagram
What Savant is really trying to build
When asked about the vision behind Savant, Jimi Odusina stated that it goes far beyond making content for Mavin.
He pointed to K-pop as proof of what becomes possible when a genre of music builds a full culture around itself, going beyond the songs to include the looks, the language and the kind of films that travel with the music wherever it goes, and that is exactly what Savant wants to build for African music.
He said:
"Savant is not really just a production company. We believe that content is the engine to push creativity forward. We made this decision because we saw that the genres of music that stayed relevant over time were the ones that created a culture around themselves. You look at K-pop. It is beyond just the songs. You see the culture, the looks, the words, the kinds of films that come out of that world. That is really at the bottom of the idea of Savant. We want to build an engine that is going to facilitate world-building for artists and capture that culture. Which means we need to be the best at storytelling."
Source: Instagram
"Afrobeats is not small work anymore" - Odusina
Speaking on what he hopes audiences take away from the documentary, Odusina said he wants people to slow down and appreciate that the Afrobeats songs they love do not come from nowhere, and that real human connections across countries are what make them happen.
He also had something direct to say to those who are quick to criticise record labels without seeing what the actual work looks like.
In his words:
"That Afrobeats is not small work anymore. I wish I could share my insights on what it takes to actually make these songs that you fall in love with. Maybe you appreciate the music a bit more when you see that other people have to come together to make these songs. Second is that the global impact of Afrobeats is not just branding for Twitter. It is real work. It is people making connections across the world. There is also this thing of, the record label is not doing this, the record label is not doing that. It is easy to say when you do not know the work that is being done. Hopefully, with storytelling like this, you get to humanise the people behind the music."
Source: Instagram
What comes next for Savant
Jimi Odusina confirmed that Afrobeats singer Ayra Starr has already listened to songs recorded during the camp and liked a couple of them, though whether any of them make her forthcoming album remains to be seen.
He also revealed that Savant plans to launch its Creative Collective internship programme in the coming months to bring young creative talent into the Mavin ecosystem, and made clear that Afrocroiser is only the beginning of something much larger.
He said:
"We have barely told any of our stories in music. There is so much to do in terms of storytelling, and this for us is just the beginning. Music storytelling is going to come in different forms. Documentaries, game shows, live streaming events, concerts, behind the scenes, front of the scenes. One thing I can assure you is that we are going to see music like never before through Savant. And you are going to see it from behind. You are going to be part of the story of what we dream of, to be the home of Africa's greatest talent."
What stayed after the conversation was not the scale of what Afrocroiser achieved across 52 people, six studios, 40-plus songs and seven days, but the clarity of the vision underneath it all.
Savant is not building a production company but the cultural infrastructure that makes Afrobeats legible to the world on its own terms, not explained by outsiders and not reduced to a trend, but documented and told from the inside by the people who were there when it happened.
Afrocroiser is currently streaming on Mavin's YouTube channel.
Source: Instagram
Don Jazzy explains Afrobeats creative success
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Nigerian music producer and record label boss Don Jazzy revealed why Afrobeats thrived more when artists lived together under one roof.
He explained that shared spaces boosted creative energy, allowing spontaneous ideas to become hit songs, citing how D’Banj’s Olorun Maje was born from a casual studio moment.
Don Jazzy added that while music creation today is different, he still encourages younger creatives to collaborate closely for stronger results.
Source: Legit.ng
