Amplifying the best of African talent is a task that remains at the centre of the continent’s creative industry. It is also one that has remained pivotal to Dunsin Bankole’s practice, a meld of creativity and operations at WeTalkSound.

From stepping out with their 2021 debut extended play, “Lofn 4: A Collection of Love Stories,” — which featured acts like The Ignis Brothers, Ihcego, Adam Srae, PDSTRN, Naya Akanji, among others — to bootstrapping other records, since then, including Llona’s “Homeless” album; Grndmstr’s “Nashona Anthem” ; Fimi’s “Hei God” ; and 3rty’s “Vitamin D” , WeTalkSound’s fingerprint is vivid on the emerging class of Nigerian musicians. With their blueprint for success, they have also begun a weekly party series, in Lagos, themed “Insert Nights”.

Recently, they also infused creative direction and production for music videos.
With a spotlight on their impact across Nigeria’s creative scene, we catch up with Dunsin Bankole, WeTalkSound’s Head of Operations, on his inspiring journey across design, branding and African music; as well as the community’s plans to expand their impact as an accelerator for rising and established talent.

My background is from design, and I studied microbiology at school, but I never really
connected to it. So I started learning design, which took me into designing for businesses and brands. Since day one, I’ve always designed for artists as well. I used to make cover arts for my friends who were music artistes in OAU and i generally I’ve always had an interest in music; I just didn’t know how how best to place it. After university, I started my design agency, working for clients within and outside Nigeria. I still felt I needed to explore the music side of me. I also started a cocktail business, which was interesting. Then COVID came, and the world shut down.

Businesses slowed, and I went back home during lockdown, listening to a lot of music. I did a music design project, an album art series where I combined new albums with old ones. I put it online, it got some buzz, and Dolapo Amusat saw it, gave it a shoutout, and invited me to join their creative community with WeTalkSound. I joined, my work and ideas were appreciated, and from there, I became part of the WeTalkSound agency team. The rest is history.

When I joined WeTalkSound, I came in as a designer, working on socials and client campaigns like Teni, Reminisce and others, creating digital assets and more. But I picked up skills like marketing and digital development. Back in school, I was part of AIESEC, a global youth organization where we worked on global exchange programs.There i learnt and practiced marketing, campaign planning, and team management. At WeTalkSound, the culture was an atmosphere for expression. Even as a designer, if I had ideas for a campaign, they were appreciated and implemented if good. Over time, I transitioned into marketing and PR by applying myself and learning from people around me. I also took online courses, including an MBA in Music Business, to gain foundational knowledge. That’s how I became head
of agency.

I see projects like a relationship, like a marriage. The most important thing is communication. We spend a lot of time communicating with clients to be on the same page, understanding what makes them tick to create their identity, cover art, website, or campaign. What makes us unique is doubling down on that unique spark and amplifying it. We’re very detailed, using data in our work to balance subjective creativity with objective insights, creating narratives that resonate. We also have a great team with cultural and technical skills. My job is to create a structure that allows young, talented people to express themselves while solving problems. Balancing creative expression with organizational strategy is what makes our work effective.

Last year, we did a campaign for Llona around his album and single release, including a
documentary. I enjoyed it because I connected strongly to Llona’s music, poetry, and literature. His story and branding feels authentic. The team also had an idea of what exactly they wanted,so that made it easy to work with them. You can see the results in the narratives we created. That was a really interesting project.

With the success we had last year, I got promoted to head of operations for WeTalkSound. we rebranded to position ourselves as a 360 company, covering music, fashion, agency, visuals, media, and events. Our visual style is popping off; we’ve started shooting videos, with one coming out soon, and we plan to shoot more. Our event series, Insert Nights, is growing bigger with each edition. I’m looking forward to replicating success across these verticals and retaining our edge while making a bigger impact across the country. We’re also expanding our music distribution through strategic partnerships

Yes we do, we have a distribution arm that works with music artistes we connect to their sound. We currently distribute for Africaine, Sewa, B4M and a whole of other talented acts.

My vision is to be a designer in the true sense, not just visual or graphic design alone, but expand that into designing solutions for mankind’s problems. With my skill set and experience, I believe I can walk into any company, organization, or government and make things better. My goal is to improve the quality of life through everything I do. Whether designing artwork, a rollout campaign, a cocktail, I want to excite people and create something good. That feeling of creating something impactful across different mediums drives me, and it’s not about vanity—it’s about my personal drive to make a substantial difference.