Omah lay’s ‘Get Layd’: A pandemic-era masterpiece that redefined afrobeats expression

In the quiet chaos of the global COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, a new voice emerged from Nigeria’s oil-rich Rivers State one that would soon redefine vulnerability in Afrobeats. Omah Lay, born Stanley Omah Didia, released his debut extended play Get Layd, a 5-track project that introduced him as a rare blend of melody, honesty, and cultural rootedness.

With the release of Get Layd, the then 22-year-old Port Harcourt native didn’t just step onto the music scene he stepped into the hearts of millions, offering a soundscape that was as emotionally potent as it was rhythmically captivating. Tracks like “Damn,” “Lo Lo,” and “You” revealed a voice unafraid to embrace passion, longing, and internal conflict, wrapped in a sonic texture that blended English, Pidgin, and South-South street language.

At a time when the world was reeling from isolation, Get Layd offered intimacy. Omah Lay’s music became a balm warm, raw, and endearingly human. On “Damn,” he embodies a flawed man grateful for undeserved love, echoing sentiments reminiscent of Dickens’ famous lines about being loved “against all discouragement that could be.” Meanwhile, in “Lo Lo,” he becomes a romantic minimalist, offering all he has his love and his music through soul-laced highlife influences that honored his roots.

His emotional transparency set him apart. While many Afrobeats tracks trade in escapism, Omah Lay leans into emotional realism. On “You,” he promises devotion with a sincerity amplified by subtle instrumental layering. On “Bad Influence,” he explores pain and toxicity with the same vigor he applies to romance, ensuring every listener is pulled into the ebb and flow of his emotional tide.

Each lyric, melody, and vocal inflection in Get Layd reflects a young artist forging a path that embraces both his upbringing and his ambitions. Raised in a region marked by conflict, Omah Lay’s artistry is shaped by contradiction romantic yet world-weary, tender yet unflinching.

By the project’s closing track, the EP cements itself not just as a musical debut, but a declaration of identity. Get Layd is more than a collection of songs it’s a portrait of a complex man sharing his soul through sound.

And in doing so, Omah Lay redefined what it means to feel in Afrobeats.