By most conventional standards, the title of “OG” is a slow-earned badge, reserved for artists who have spent a decade or more trudging through industry trenches. It’s a nod to longevity, legacy, and the weathering of storms. But in a world as rapidly shifting as today’s global music landscape, what happens when an artist not only accelerates through time, but redefines it altogether?

Enter Temilade Openiyi, known worldwide simply as Tems, a six-year industry presence who moves with the influence, poise, and gravitas of a seasoned matriarch. If the music industry were a deck of cards, Tems wouldn’t be playing the hand she was dealt. She’s rewriting the rules of the game.

In six years, Tems hasn’t just emerged. She has architected a presence so profound it’s hard to remember a time before her. Her sonic fingerprint — ethereal, emotionally precise, and spiritually defiant — has not only birthed a unique soundscape but sparked a wave of introspective, slow-burn R&B that has influenced several rising African singers. One of them, Amaeya, draws from Tems’ emotionally textured vocality and minimal yet expansive arrangements. Even Tyla, whose sonic palette leans more pop and Amapiano, has publicly cited Tems as a core inspiration.

But artistry is only the entry point. What cements Tems as an OG in her own right is her historical impact. She is the first Nigerian female artist to win a Grammy, and the first to earn an Oscar nomination. The weight of these accolades isn’t just in their prestige. It’s in their symbolism. For an industry that often left African women artists clapping from the sidelines, Tems didn’t just pull up a chair at the table. She built her own.

And if awards are monuments, then milestones are her language. Tems became the first African artist to perform at the FIFA Club World Cup Final Halftime Show, a stage previously untouched by the continent’s talents. Meanwhile, back in February 2025, she made history once again by becoming a co-owner of San Diego FC, a new Major League Soccer (MLS) team. This move, through her company The Leading Vibe, made her the first African woman and first African artist to co-own an MLS football club. That’s not just a flex. It’s a statement of ambition, of reach, of ownership in an industry where African creatives rarely get past the front row, let alone the boardroom.

Still, no feat speaks more to her OG credentials than her “Leading Vibes” initiative, a new, personal platform aimed at empowering African women in entertainment. In a country where female artists are often subject to exploitative contracts, gendered gatekeeping, and tokenism masked as inclusion, Tems is doing what many so-called veterans have never dared. She is institutionalizing her influence for the next generation. Leading Vibes isn’t just a corporate social responsibility stunt. It is infrastructure. It is the beginning of a cultural blueprint.

Where many OGs operate as figures of nostalgia, living in the glow of what they once did, Tems is a present-tense powerhouse. She doesn’t rely on sentiment. Her legacy is not trapped in time. It is alive, current, and building bridges in real time. Her moves are not only what’s next for herself, but what’s possible for the continent’s daughters.

And perhaps that’s what makes Tems such an anomaly. She is proof that the industry’s criteria for OG status — time served, albums dropped, tours completed — have been tragically narrow. Impact, not age. Infrastructure, not inertia. That’s what defines an OG in 2025.

Tems may be only six years in, but her influence is generational, her milestones historical, and her vision bigger than music. In redefining what it means to lead, she’s shown us something radical:

You don’t have to wait a decade to become an OG. If you move like Tems, you already are.