Some couples make you wonder how they manage to do it all. There is work, family, the constant demands of life, and, somehow, the need to still show up for each other. Tobe and Fat Nwigwe are one of those couples; they seem to have found their way of making it work. Like any couple, they have a lot to juggle, but they’ve found a way to make room for their family, their individual dreams, and the things they want to build together.
The couple have built a life that brings together music, marriage, parenthood, and purpose. They are creative partners, parents of five children, and two people who have found a way to bring their family into the work they do. Their lives are full, sometimes hectic, and clearly shaped by a shared vision of what they want to build. But underneath it all, they know who they are, what they value, and why they are doing it.
That understanding didn’t begin with music. In fact, Tobe and Fat had a relationship and a sense of direction before music became a central part of their lives. As their careers grew, they were not starting from scratch or trying to figure out what kind of people they wanted to be. They were bringing an existing foundation into a new and demanding world.
For Tobe, the journey into music began around 2016, after encouragement from people around him helped push him to take the possibility seriously. His early visibility grew in part through the “So Gone Challenge,” started by Chance the Rapper, before he began building his own audience through “Get Twisted Sundays.” What followed was a creative journey that gradually became part of the family’s everyday life.
Fat’s entry into music came through a different door. She had never rapped before Tobe invited her to feature on a song. Rather than letting her lack of experience stop her, she was open to learning. That willingness to try is part of what makes their partnership interesting. They are not simply two people with established careers cheering each other on from a distance. They are willing to step into each other’s worlds, take risks, and see what they can create together.
Of course, sharing a life and a creative space doesn’t mean that every day is easy. It can be tough to know when to push and when to slow down, especially when your work is something you also deeply care about. Add five children to the picture, and the idea of having a perfectly balanced life starts to feel unrealistic.
Tobe approaches it more as a rhythm than a question of balance. There are seasons when everything moves quickly and the family has to keep up with a packed schedule. Then there are quiet periods when they can make time for dates, watch movies, visit theme parks, or simply enjoy being together without everything revolving around work.
It is a refreshingly honest way to look at family life. There is no suggestion that every part of their world gets equal attention every day. Instead, they make room for what the moment requires, trusting that a busy season does not have to mean neglecting the things that matter most.
Their children are not kept entirely separate from their professional lives, either. They have had opportunities to experience the work their parents do up close. For Tobe and Fat, this is not just about having their family appear in a video or come along on tour. It’s also about showing their kids what’s possible, what’s out there in the world beyond their immediate surroundings and growing up understanding that they can chase their own dreams.
Fat’s creative journey allows her to speak more directly to women, particularly about motherhood, responsibility and the importance of caring for the people who depend on you. She doesn’t shy away from tough topics in her music. She wants women to recognize their strength, take responsibility for their lives, and understand that caring for their children is not something to treat lightly.
One encounter has stayed with her. A woman who had grown up in foster care told her that one of her lyrics made her think differently about how she cared for her two children. The woman’s experience had been difficult, but she was determined not to repeat the same cycle with her children. Hearing that her music had helped someone reflect on the kind of parent she wanted to be made Fat see how music can influence people.
Fat wants women to know they can be many things at once. They can be strong, ambitious, nurturing, and creative. They can be responsible without losing sight of their own potential. She believes women should recognize their worth and approach their lives with the confidence and care they deserve.
Tobe’s outlook grows out of making the most of what you have been given. For him, the goal is not simply to achieve more for the sake of achievement; it is to use his gifts in a way that connects with a larger purpose, including helping other people recognize and develop their own potential. He wants to keep growing and creating and see how far he can take what he has been given.
Being recognized with his wife, Fat, as our power couple goes beyond the music they make and the life they have built together. It is a recognition of the love, unity, and shared purpose that have carried them this far. They are not simply building their careers; they are creating an environment in which their children can grow, their individual gifts can flourish, and their family can continue to move toward a shared vision.
There is no perfect formula to keep a marriage strong while raising a family and pursuing ambitious careers. Some days will be full of progress while other days will require patience, compromise, or a change of plan. The important thing is having a shared understanding of what deserves protecting and being willing to keep making adjustments as life changes.
Tobe and Fat are still building. They are still learning, creating, and finding new ways to bring their individual talents to life. What makes their story compelling is not because they have mastered every part of life, it is the fact that they continue to make space for one another while allowing their family, their work, and their sense of purpose to grow.
This special cover is us celebrating their love story. The story is still unfolding, and there are clearly more things they want to do. But whatever comes next, the foundation remains the same – a family, a shared purpose, and a love that makes room for every dream.
RSA’s Exclusive Interview With Tobe and Fat Nwigwe
RSA: How did this journey start for both of you guys? And at what point was that pivoting point where you both realized that this is bigger than just the music.
Tobe Nwigwe: For me it started around 2015, 2016 after getting with CJ and Eric Thomas and them encouraging me to do music cuz they felt like I had a a gift, but I ain’t have no for knowledge of how to maneuver in the music industry or even how to make music.
But I caught a wave doing the so gone challenge that Chance the Rapper started. That was one of the first things I did series-wise that caught a wave. And then I just turned it into Get Twisted Sundays to help build what I was doing. And then as I was doing that and creating songs, I would ask Fat if she wanted to get active and join me on some of these songs. And she didn’t have no real uh how would you describe that?
Fat Nwigwe: Oh, I just had never rapped before. I had never done anything like that before when he asked me to feature on some of the songs. I was just willing. I was just willing and was like, “Okay, I can figure it out.” And I did. So, I guess the beginning of my journey cuz I was in the Get Twisted with him. But you know, I was like a mystery woman and then I was revealed and then I started to feature. And so I guess my journey started with uh I guess maybe Fat.
RSA: As your audience continues to grow beyond the community. How do you stay true to who you are and to that core message of why you both really started this while still connecting with people from different cultures and different backgrounds?
Tobe Nwigwe: I always say like by the grace of God, we knew who we were before we started getting fully into our art form and like creating the art that we create. So, as we continue to inspire and the influence grows and all that type of stuff, it’s not hard for us to stay true to who we are because we knew who we were before we started. So, that’s like a little advantage that we have. And then, you know, we undercoven. We’re married. We got besides creating phenomenal music together, we’ve created life five times over together. And our children are like our our biggest pride and joy.
RSA: What would you say is like those core foundations of like values that you both hold together?
Fat Nwigwe: I guess I would say we always say it’s God. God first. Yeah. Our marriage, our children, and then everything else. Yeah. And then with purpose somewhere in the midst of it all.
RSA: Has there ever been a moment where you both necessarily didn’t see eye to eye on an idea? And how did you both kind of just navigate that situation? And also, what did you learn about each other?
Tobe Nwigwe: There ever been a time where we we didn’t see eye to eye creatively? I don’t necessarily think it was like saying eye to eye creatively.
Fat Nwigwe: I think it was more like in the studios like sometimes we have a different way of motivation or like direction. I think that’s the only time.
Tobe Nwigwe: Sometimes when we’re recording stuff, I could be trying to explain to her like, “Yeah, switch your approach or whatever the case is.” And that but that’s not like not really seeing eye to eye.
I don’t know if switching the approach, but I can think of one time for sure. What we was doing all or nothing video and I thought the tree was going to be a little lower than it was. And my goal was to like in the visual show like a visual representation of the family tree and and have like my children kind of sitting on the branches because in the pictures the tree looked like it was lower to the ground. But then when we got out there on site, the tree was way taller and then the wind was blowing extremely hard.
So, even though we wanted to have him like sit in the branches and stuff of the tree, once Fat felt saw that wind and saw me try to climb up there. She was like, “Yeah, so that’s why all my kids are running around in a circle around us in the all or nothing video.” That’s why they’re doing that because Yeah. You had to we had to switch the vision a little bit.
That wind blowing like 20 miles an hour. She was like, “No, no, no, no. We’re not doing that.
RSA: You said that you knew who you are before you even got into the music industry, right? So was there any pressure or a moment where you both felt like you needed to switch up the sound.
Tobe Nwigwe: I would say no just because you got to understand like I didn’t have any fornowledge of the industry and how it moved and operated or like what works and what necessarily doesn’t work. So all of the stuff that I was doing, even as I evolved the sound and the sound changed, this was all on like my own doing and where I felt like I was at currently with whatever sonics we were providing to the people.
So I never really based what I was doing on anything that was going on in music in the world. I never did that.
RSA: At that time where was the inspiration then coming from?
Tobe Nwigwe: Just my life in all aspects and forms of things that I grew up uh experiencing, things that I was experiencing currently and just all things that shaped me being from Houston and having uh uh Nigerian foundation, all of that stuff.
RSA: Let’s talk about life outside the studio. How was that as well? You know with you and Fat. You know the culture because Houston itself has a culture that people don’t know unless if you’re really from there. So there is that culture it has and then there’s that Nigerian culture. There’s the hip-hop. How did you guys really be able to navigate the family life, the relationship life, but then also the industry?
Tobe Nwigwe: So, Houston is one of the best places in the world just when it comes to diversity. It’s like Lagos. So, it’s like the hub for Nigerians as well. You can get everything that you want to experience in life. You can get that in Houston. That’s why when people ask me all the time like, “Hey, would you ever move to this place or that place?” I’m like, “Hey, listen. Houston is one of the greatest cities in the world to me. If you want to be in the mix, you can be in the mix. You want to experience great cuisine, they got some of the best food in the world. You want to be out the way, you can be out the way.
You could be with your family out the way or you could be all the way in the mix. So, it’s like the best of all of the different worlds. It’s so diverse and it’s just a beautiful place and it’s evolving even more as we speak. We have different things that we do in the city. We eat at some of our favorite restaurants all the time. Chopping Block, The Breakfast Club, Graces. The amount of good food here is insane. And then the movies. We go experience movies all the time. We take our kids to all kind of events that they got out out in Houston. It’s like it’s immaculate setup out here.
RSA: We love that you both have a balanced structured life. Would you say you have found a routine that allows you to be able to pursue the music, the passion and also be there as parent as well? Because you know sometimes parents feel guilty about chasing their passion and their goals and their dreams because of the kids.
Tobe Nwigwe: Yeah. But not us. It’s just by the grace of God. We had no foreknowledge of how to operate in this space. We created our own model and way to do things.
So the majority of the things that we do, our children are right there in the mix with us. So they get to see us in private and how we operate in spaces where people are showing us love or we’re doing shows or we’re doing different events. It’s like we curate our own environments wherever it is that we go.
So it’s like and it’s not like a balance thing. It’s like more of a rhythm thing. And sometimes life can be moving fast pace where the tempo is like at a high BPM. And then sometimes it could be moving a little bit slower where you have an opportunity to go out on a a date or go to take all the kids to the movies or go to a a theme park or you know what I’m saying? and just stay.
Just got to be able to find the rhythm, not necessarily the balance.
RSA: Do you feel as an artist right that you have a responsibility to use your platform to speak on what’s happening within the community.
Tobe Nwigwe: Oh yeah. My community for sure and then my life. Whatever I feel like is relevant within the art and needs to be said. And whatever moves me.
RSA: What are some of the community stances that you made? because there’s a lot of things that you said, the visuals, the art, like what are some of those things that you incorporated through the music that you dropped recently?
Tobe Nwigwe: Oh yeah. So with this recent drop, it’s really just I I tried to paint the clearest version of myself foundationally through the sonics. Like I tried to really give people as clear as I possibly could the duality of being first generation born Nigerian in the US and then what that looks like sonically and visually and how you can genuinely be in both spaces visually.
RSA: Fat what about you?
Fat Nwigwe: A lot of my messages in this project is basically like letting women know and understand the importance of handling your business and being responsible for what you made and what you had and the importance of a mom being like a guard dog. That was my objective in most of the tracks that I did with
RSA: When you take a step back and you reflect at everything, what are some moments for you specifically that reminded you why you started this in the first place?
Fat Nwigwe: There’s multiple moments that I can think of right like so when women come up to me and they tell me their stories, that’s like amazing motivation to keep going.
But for like the reason why I started. It’s two specific scenarios or like situations that happened. When we were on tour, I got to see my children be fearless on stage. They got to go on stage. They weren’t afraid. They were excited to show what they were capable of doing. And that right there, to show them that it’s possible, that they can do what mommy and daddy are doing and beyond. That’s like the first one.
And then like on a different type of scale, there was recently a woman that walked up to me at one of these releases for or not releases, one of these activations we did for the bridge and she told me her story.
She said that she was raised in foster care and like she she didn’t have a mother or a father. She was raised in foster care and now she’s grown and she has two kids. And she said that the line of like if you breed and you don’t care for your seed, you a hoe.
That line is like the motivation for her life. like she does everything for her children because she did not have that and she experienced living without her parents. Those types of situations,
It’s like, okay, so we’re breaking curses. We’re we’re changing things and in people’s lives. And that right there is like extremely impactful for me.
RSA: What about you, Tobe? What are some moments that took you back and said like this is why I’m doing this?
Tobe Nwigwe: Uh, I would being able to see all my children operate with a level of fearlessness like Fat was saying on stage and being able to see us and be able to have them be a part of the experiences and stuff like that. That’s always really incredible. I see like limitless possibilities in regards to whatever it is that they choose to put their hands to just because they’ve been able to see us operate in a space in full freedom.
RSA: Outside of the music, when people look back at all that you guys have done, what are the key thing that you want them to really remember and be able to take away.
Fat Nwigwe: I want specifically women in general to know that they are capable, they’re strong, or they’re multifaceted and that if they are taking care of their responsibilities and like just being present in everything that’s around them in their
circle then they are considered queens and that speaks volumes to like what they are able to contribute to themselves and to the people around them. And if they understand that within themselves, a lot of the other pressures in life begin to like melt off and they they’ll be stronger and more self-confident and just more intentional in their everyday lives.
RSA: Tobe what about you?
Tobe Nwigwe: Uh, just to die empty. That’s it. Die empty. No, seriously. Don’t leave no potential on the table. If you optimize at every level, you just keep your potential optimized and you get the most out of it as you go through life and you can evolve. I want to optimize all the potential that I fully have.
RSA: What is one way somebody can like really optimize their potential, you know, like I think that’s something that we hear often, but sometimes people feel lost in like, okay, who am I?
Tobe Nwigwe: Yeah. Just have to make it practical to me and I can only speak to me. For me it was locking in with figuring out what my purpose was in life. And once I kind of settled on the fact that my purpose is to be a conduit to the realization of purpose in other people’s lives and whatever vehicle that God has me in, I was able to do whatever it is that I was doing at the highest level that I could possibly do it at. Whether it was acting in Transformers, doing music and being nominated for best new artist, whether it was doing footwear and apparel with Reebok or my collaboration with Montlair or doing creative direction for real fact, I’m just saying these names so you know what I’m saying, it can have some meaning in the thing so people can be like, “Oh yeah, that’s some stuff.” It don’t matter what Yeah. It don’t matter what it is that I was doing or fatherhood or being a husband.
Yeah, raising all my children. Like whatever it is I was doing, I’m trying to do it to the highest level of my ability. But that’s because I’ve locked in with what it is that I truly believe my purpose is before expanding and having all these other aspects of life added to me.
RSA: Congratulations to you both for being the Rolling Stone Africa Power Cover, it’s well deserved you know because you both move with such level of intentionality as an individual but also together. Being recognized together, what does this moment mean to both of you?
Fat Nwigwe: Yeah. I just I think I feel like um I feel like we’ve had this type of relationship and purpose and you know all of the things over us since like when we first started this and so I think now like as we’re like doing different you know projects and experiences and just creating all these different art. People are trying finally starting to see what was already there. And I think it’s beautiful and I hope that it inspires other couples to just lock in together and um and make their world happen in the same way we’re doing.
Tobe Nwigwe:
Yeah. But love each other though. Like really be locked in with each other.
RSA: Is there any projects that you guys are comfortable sharing with us that you both are looking forward to starting maybe in the near future?
Fat Nwigwe: Oh, definitely looking forward to my solo album coming at the top of the year. It’s going to be crazy.
RSA: How are you feeling? Let’s let’s talk about that briefly. What’s the emotion attached to that right now?
Fat Nwigwe: I’m excited of course. But right now the emotion is like uh there’s work to do like it’s work to be done and I think maybe once the work is done I can like come up from air and just look at it and be like, “Oh, yeah, that’s good.” But, you know, I’m really excited. We got a lot of the tracks like already started and they’re just Oh, it’s just if you thought Queen was something Oh, man. It’s Yeah, it’s gonna be great. Yeah, the Queen Mother album is going to be insane.
RSA: We’re excited for sure.
Fat Nwigwe: Yeah. It’s gonna go up for all the women.
RSA: And Tobe, what about you? You got anything cooking up in the in the corner?
Tobe Nwigwe: Yeah, I think a tour with both of us and the entire family would be incredible. We might do a show just in the city of Houston.
This project that just came out just because there’s so much going on. But then yeah, we we’ll plan something bigger and just more incredible top of next year. Yeah. And I think a Grammy is possible, too.
CREDITS:
Talents: @tobenwigwe @tobecallsmefat
Editor-In-Chief: Gwen Madiba
Contributing Editor: Kabirat Akinlolu
Interviewer: Chiamaka Offorjebe @chiaofforjebe
Project Manager: Karl Nzamba @karl_nzamba
Graphic Designer: Kael Onion Oakley @onionoakley
Assistant Graphic Designer: Keyla Jolo
@keyla.jlo
Fashion Direction: Chief Ugo Mozié
@ugomozie
Photographer: Michael Bishop
Director of photography: Tobe
Creative director: Tobe
Stylist: Tobe
Designer: @Chukwubrand @elevensixteen & @aramanda
Location: Wazobia African Market
Set design: Tobe
Head of production: Jeff idehen
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