Music personality Folajimi Odusina, known as Jimi Vibecreator, has opened up about the journey that led to the creation of Afrocroiser, a documentary that captures a seven-day songwriting camp uniting 52 creatives from Nigeria and France. In an interview with Kola Ogunkanmi of Legit.ng, Odusina reflected on how a previous failed documentary attempt became the foundation for this project, produced by Savant for Mavin Global. He also shared that Ayra Starr has listened to songs from the camp and revealed Savant's plans to build a storytelling culture around Afrobeats.
How a Failed Camp Birthed Afrocroiser
Afrocroiser did not begin with success but with disappointment. Jimi Odusina revealed that he had previously tried documenting a songwriting camp but felt the final product failed to capture the emotion and cultural exchange between participants. When Kizito Ahams, Mavin's Senior Manager for Licensing and Publishing, approached him about a new camp organized alongside SACEM and the French Embassy, he saw it as another chance to get it right. This time, he was determined not to let it slip.
The result was Afrocroiser, a name 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. The film captured something Nigerian music had not seen documented quite like this before.
Explaining how the project came together, 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.'
The Challenge of Turning 80 Hours into One Film
Capturing the camp on camera was only the beginning. The team had to work through nearly 80 hours of footage while coordinating with artists, SACEM, the French Embassy, and other stakeholders. Odusina 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.'
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 another. To encourage collaboration, Odusina introduced the Pot of Vibes, a system of daily themes designed to push participants beyond their usual creative habits. He also managed logistics such as flights, accommodation, and studio sessions so 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.'
What Savant Is Really Trying to Build
When asked about the vision behind Savant, 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 builds a full culture around itself, including the looks, language, and films that travel with the music. 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.'
'Afrobeats Is Not Small Work Anymore'
Speaking on what he hopes audiences take away from the documentary, Odusina said he wants people to appreciate that Afrobeats songs do not come from nowhere; real human connections across countries make them happen. He also addressed critics who quick to blame record labels without seeing the actual work.
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.'
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 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. 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, documented and told from the inside by the people who were there. Afrocroiser is currently streaming on Mavin's YouTube channel.
