Funebi Guembe Odede (stage name: Funkcleff), music is his first love and songwriting comes naturally to him. Acknowledging the fact that artistes are in a position to always be heard, he uses this “superpower” to spread messages of hope and encouragement. Humans are in a constant state of strife and struggle and only really attain a sense of peace and happiness by doing a ton of work. The sad part is some don’t even get there.
Funkcleff is aware of this, and having gone through a couple of said strife and struggles himself, he is committed to spreading positive messages to inspire and comfort people through their hard times. For him, the NOW, an acronym for No Other Way, series is a way of extending his reach while giving his listeners an insight into his life.
“The NOW series was inspired by my personal experiences from both past and present events. And of course, there’s no other way to victory than to face your fears,” he says. The first season of the NOW series will consist of 13 episodes. In some of the already released installments of the series, he features a couple of creatives from the industry, like spoken word artiste, Fragile, and singers, Lerin Nic and Joy Jay.
He operates along the themes of self-love, confidence, acceptance, trusting in the process, acknowledging one’s blessings among others. He adopts a storytelling style while singing and it resonates a great deal.
In episodes like Journey of a Thousand Miles and See Me Smiling Now, he chronicles stories from his past and advises that we should be patient despite the not-so pleasant incidents in our lives. In the NOW series, he takes a branch off of his usual style and expands on these concepts.
The series is a way for Funkcleff to entertain his audience and communicate with them, and also introduce his creation process and invite them to enjoy it with him.
“There has been a lot of negativity flying around the media causing an increase in fear and anxiety. Knowing that creativity is power, I have chosen to use this power to speak strength into the minds of my listeners because being an artiste has put me in a position to be heard. If you were given the chance to speak to someone, what would you say?” – Funkcleff.
Stream the project below
