fat tony is the host with the most on “magnifique”

When it comes to music and culture, Houston, Texas isn’t simply defined by one single facet of style or aesthetic — it contains multitudes. With a DJ Screw docuseries on the way, and as we collectively bask in the afterglow of Solange and Travis Scott‘s epic H-Town-inspired opuses, we’d be remiss to overlook the contributions of one of the city’s foremost eclecticists, Fat Tony.

Over the past decade, the Nigerian-American rapper with the misleading stage name has represented the hodgepodge of local cultures that influence a Houston-bred kid with immigrant parents, a love of all types of music and, of course, the Internet access that allowed him to cross boundaries of time, space and subgenres.

Fat Tony, who is preparing a new album Wake Up, is the only rapper who can boast of having Toro Y Moi as a labelmate and collaborations with artists as varied as A$AP Rocky, Cakes Da Killa, and Bun B. Like his Port Arthur neighbor Bun, he may have earned the title of “Underground King” (or at least prince) due to the high volume of collabs and projects he’s dropped or been apart of in the 2010s.

With Wake Up, his collaborative album with producer Taydex (Taylor Dexter), on the way, Tony shares a new song about the easily relatable but seldom-rapped topic of moving parties, and his expertise in the kitchen on the quirky “Magnifique.”

“I’m from Houston but I love my folks in the Bay,” says Tony. “I love Bay rap music in all of its forms, but the songs at around 100 BPM are what I dig the most. ‘Magnifique’ was inspired by the going away party my girlfriend and I threw in summer 2019. And E-40’s ‘Goon with the Spoon’ videos lol.”

It is the perfect appetizer for Wake Up, an album he says is about “optimism and urgency.”

“We got several factors tearing our world apart and many reasons to feel forlorn,” Tony explains. “But we gotta keep our foot on the gas. This ain’t the time to fall back, especially on a personal level. Take care of yourself, keep it pushing *and* keep grooving while ya do it.”

Fat Tony’s Wake Up drops in early February on Carpark Records