FOLA’s new album 9 carries Chimamanda Adichie’s spoken words on fear and self-doubt, plus a nod to 2Baba. Here’s what she says and why it really matters.
What happens when a young singer lets one of the world’s most renowned authors speak on his album? You get a pep talk you didn’t know you needed.
FOLA’s new album, 9, features Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s spoken words on its second track, “How Many?” She doesn’t sing or jump on a verse. She just talks, and what she talks about is fear.
She links putting things off to fear, and admits that fear isn’t easy to own up to. She also touches on the self-doubt that shows up whenever you try to make something.
Then comes the line that sticks. Adichie says, “you cannot create anything of value without both self-doubt and self-belief.”
Honestly, that’s advice for anyone chasing a dream, a business or a side hustle. You don’t have to be a musician to feel it.
Adichie isn’t the only legend FOLA honors here. On a track called “Crime,” he samples elements of 2Baba’s classic “If Love Is a Crime.”
Neither of them appears as a regular guest vocalist. So these moments feel less like features and more like a thank-you to the people who came before him.
FOLA said as much on X. He thanked both of them for their work in the arts and for blessing his second album. He also thanked them for “leaving my generation multiple standards to aspire to.”
9 dropped on October 9 with 14 tracks. It follows his 2025 debut, Catharsis.
See X post here
The guest list is stacked too: Davido, Ayra Starr, BNXN, Darkoo, Bella Shmurda and Zlatan.
Big names on a tracklist isn’t new in Afrobeats. But a writer’s voice talking about self-doubt in the middle of an album? That’s a little different, and kind of lovely.
It shows an artist who’s looking up to the people who paved the way, and passing a bit of their wisdom on to listeners. So next time you catch yourself putting something off, maybe press play on “How Many?”
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