An oriki does not tell a story about its subject so much as name it repeatedly through accumulated praise epithets, historical allusions, and characteristic attributes, building a dense verbal portrait rather than a chronological account. Chanted rather than plainly spoken, and following the pitch contours of the Yoruba language, whose meaning depends heavily on tone, an oriki performed for a person, a lineage, a town or an orisha is understood to invoke and assert the identity of its subject through the act of naming itself, drawing out qualities and connections that a listener is expected to recognize and respond to.
Oriki addressed to a person can include the achievements of ancestors, the circumstances of the family's history, and praise names accumulated across generations, so that hearing one's own oriki chanted is an experience of being situated within a lineage and its history rather than simply being complimented in the moment. Personal oriki are commonly chanted at naming ceremonies, weddings and other family occasions, marking and reaffirming an individual's place within their lineage at moments the family considers significant. The genre is performed by professional praise chanters, by drummers whose instruments are trained to reproduce the tonal patterns of specific oriki, and within families themselves.