Tony Cummings talked to Nigeria's GIL JOE about his music and the rise of Afrobeat

Gil: "'#AfroGospelToTheWorld' contains all new songs. The single 'Need Somebodi' came out about two years ago. '#AfroGospel' came out in February."

Tony: What's your latest release?

Gil: "I'm putting out a new single this Friday, it's titled 'Saviour', with a video."

Tony: You've clearly got a passion to see people respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Is that what drives you to do this music?

Gil: "Definitely. Before I gave my life to Christ I wasn't really the typical gospel music fan. I liked it but it wasn't the kind of music that I vibed to daily. When I became a Christian and came into the circle, into the system, I loved the worship songs. They're beautiful, amazing. When you want to worship you have to go deep with the worship. But I discovered that during the day I don't really want to listen to worship songs. I want to listen to a nice, a good gospel content song with an upbeat sound. I discovered Lecrae and a couple of gospel guys doing the hip-hop thing and I was loving it. There were some guys doing the Afrobeat thing but it wasn't as great as I would have wanted it. It was doing amazingly but it wasn't doing it for me 100%. When I started making music I grew this passion for Afrobeat; I started playing mine and that was how it all started."

Tony: The thing about Afrobeat, it's taking some of those rhythms and some of that urban vibe way beyond Africa. It's truly becoming an international music.

Gil: "Definitely. I really feel the secular guys are doing a lot in pushing the Afrobeat genre. They're putting a lot of work in. It's really good because more people are getting to know about the genre. I feel like it's the best timing because Afro gospel is also taking off. I'm sort of excited to see the whole genre thing. People are getting to know the genre so at the same time people are getting to know Christ through the genre."