I meet FAYIM at Admiralsbrücke on an overcast Berlin summer day. He greets me with a warm, open energy, and we stroll along the canal. Midway through our conversation, the clouds part and sunlight begins to flood the bench we’ve settled on. I can’t help but feel as though he summoned it.
In the Footsteps
The name FAYIM, he explains, is a mixture between his last name and May Ayim, an Afro-German poet, educator and activist, who has had a profound influence on him. Ayim was known for her powerful work on identity, racism, and Afro-German experiences, her poetry blending personal reflection with political critique, addressing themes like colonialism, exclusion, and belonging. She played a key role in raising awareness about Black identity and racism in Germany and her work remains influential in German literature and social justice movements.
“I’d always been around Black people and in Black spaces, but it wasn’t until I found May Ayim’s work that I began to engage with the political side of my identity”.
Music was a constant growing up. His late father, Richie Askot, was a well-known figure in the reggae scene, so FAYIM was raised on a steady mix of reggae and Ghanaian highlife. His own musical education included an early obsession with 2000s icons like Beyoncé and Mariah Carey. Together, those influences shaped the artist he has become.
Honouring the Legacy
After moving to Berlin, FAYIM quickly noticed a gap in representation: “I hadn’t seen any Black, queer people in the scene here. I felt like I needed to speak to that audience.” He came to understand his role not just as a performer, but as a voice, one that could make space for others to express their truths, just as May Ayim had done before him.
“It felt like we were put on earth to honour the legacy of Black people who came before us — and to use our art to express their thoughts.”
Still, the work isn’t only outward-facing. “I’m also selfishly creating for myself, thinking about what I want to say and hear.” His music in this sense is also a conversation: between his current self and the younger version who needed guidance.“I know it’s cheesy,” he says, smiling, “but a phrase I come back to is: be the person you needed when you were younger.” That sentiment runs through the emotional core of FAYIM’s work, an offering of empathy and reassurance to the version of himself who needed it most.
In Focus
We turn to his debut EP. FOKUS, he explains, marks a turning point: “It says, I’ve arrived artistically.” The title itself (also the name of the opening track) reflects his shift from background to centre stage. “I’ve been doing backing vocals for so long. With this, I wanted to put myself in focus in my own art.” Both sonically and in its storytelling, the EP traces a journey of self-acceptance and self-love, a process that required FAYIM to confront years of doubt and imposter syndrome.
“For a long time, I struggled to draw attention to myself. I let myself shrink. I felt too loud, too much. Now I’m ready to reclaim that.”
The colour red, represented in t became the visual anchor of the project. “I chose red because it says, look at me. It’s loud, but also warm.” That same warmth threads through the EP, a sense of comfort and emotional safety. “Imagine a sunset,” he says, “the pinks, blues, oranges. That’s what I want people to feel when they listen.”
That feeling of connection extends beyond the music itself. Community, too, is central to FAYIM’s identity. “Family isn’t defined by blood for me,” he tells me. After losing both parents at a young age, he’s built a chosen family, one that now forms the emotional foundation of both his life and his art. “My community feels like siblings. Or that cousin you only see every few months, but when you do, it’s just fun.” And grief, he says, will always be present, a quiet current running beneath the work: “It’s the understanding that things could be over tomorrow. That’s shaped how I see life, and how I make music.”
For FAYIM, music is many things: its expression, healing, memory, resistance. But at its heart, it’s about showing up: for others, and for himself. FOKUS, in both sound and story, charts a journey toward self-acceptance and self-love in a world that often asks Black queer voices to stay small. FAYIM is both claiming and creating space for anyone who’s ever needed a reminder that they belong.
All photos by Ilo Toerkell
FOKUS by FAYIM is out now. Stay up to date with the artist via his Instagram and website.