"Opera makes me feel free," said Babatunde Akinboboye. "It feels like a raw passion."
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Akinboboye is known for his bold stage presence and has performed with the Los Angeles Opera and other opera groups across California. He discovered opera when he was just 16 - on accident!
"One of my friends talked me into signing up for men's ensemble. I had no idea it was a choir class. I realized that I kind of wanted to do this. I wanted to sing classical music."
Soon after, Akinboboye began taking voice lessons and his teacher suggested he should give opera a shot. After going back and forth, a decision was made, and the singer would later discover a combination unlike any other, one he calls "hip-hopera."
"Before I got to opera, I was a big fan of hip-hop. I got to the point where, as an opera singer, I started playing with singing opera in the style of hip-hop."
While exploring the mix of both genres, Akinboboye decided to record himself singing "Figaro's Aria" over Kendrick Lamar's 2017 hit "HUMBLE." He posted the video on YouTube, then the internet took over.
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"It went viral ... all my social media had blown up," he recalled.
Akinboboye's creative twist got him on even bigger stages, traveling all over the world. He hopes to one day look back and relive the moment.
"I tell my colleagues all of the time that if Mozart were alive and could see opera today, he would be furious because he would expect what opera looks like in the future," Akinboboye said. "I feel like opera has made some real attempts to do better by the artists that have traditionally been disenfranchised by the art form. I feel like each day I show up, I bring my background, it continues to force the door open a little bit, and I think historically, they're going to look back and say, 'Yeah, Babatunde forced that one open.'"