rolling Afropop / Afrobeats / Afrodance 2019

Let’s get started right away in this new year!

Once again, we set ourselves the impossible task of keeping track of all the good pop and dance music to come out of all of (sub-Saharan) Africa.

For reference:

Last year’s thread: rolling afropop / afrobeats 2018

Some related artist-specific threads that are currently active:

Wizkid (aka Starboy)

Burna Boy – OUTSIDE (2018)

Sun-El Musician - Africa to the World - also for Simmy (do check out her album!)

Aya Nakamura, Naza and the new french urban scene - for that Eurafrican vibe

(...and check out our f/k/a-World-Music colleagues at
Rolling Global Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2019 Thread Once Known as World Music)

Yes, there is a Spotify playlist that will be very regularly updated:

ILM rolling Afropop / Afrobeats / Afrodance 2019

NAIJA:

Something old - here’s to, hopefully, another Year of Wizkid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCVOi03QZXM

DJ Tunez ft. Reekado Banks & Wizkid • Turn Up

Something new - because 2018 was also the Year of Burna:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0l_BY6axlE

Burna Boy x Zlatan • Killin’ Dem

(Burna put this up on SoundCloud as a freebie for his fans ahead of his big Xmas concert in Lagos. Not clear if there will be an official release)

Zlatan (Ibile), who’s on that Burna track, is hot and happening right now.

His current dance smash, “Zanku (LegWork)”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpQF7GbC5wg

(no official video, but there’s plenty of dance tutorials and stuff for/with it)

He’s on this big pop hit too:

Chinko Ekun ft. Lil Kesh & Zlatan • Able God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvSyIqZSzHw

And also on this afroblisstastic track, produced by Young John, who’s back after a bit of a hiatus:

Prodit ft. Zlatan • Rora: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpNJ1OzV7Zg

Two dance tracks from Ghana:

Eddie Khae ft. Medikal & RmvMnt • Speak In Tongues (SIT): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhJIg261AFY

(Eddie Khae had a hit last year with “Do The Dance”)

Patapaa ft. Article Wan • One Leg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxIdi9IzQnQ

(Patapaa was featured on last year’s “Akwaaba” and is the man behind 2017’s the riotous “One Corner”, a true phenomenon, and one of the biggest tracks never to have been posted on this thread)

Tanzania:

Rayvanny ft. Diamond Platnumz • Mwanza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8eUTOYrkDM

A pleasure, as always.

And three from South Africa:

I like this: Pap’zo ft. Nuna • Teka (Afro House Mix): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW3dkgV_WB0

Big in SA: Manqonqo ft. Dason & Saviour Gee • Eyadini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wc3hf7Zmrk

Big across the continent: King Monada • Malwedhe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hoUCH0BOq4

*mandatory check in*

I took the liberty of starting the new thread right away - hope you don’t mind!

Not at all! Good work!

Noted on the obituary thread that I had no idea Geoffrey Oryema died in I think June 2018.

Duly noted, and RIP. Probably more relevant to the Global Outernational thread linked above.

that Killin' Dem track is fantastic

Expecting nothing but great things this year. Teni has released a slow soulful song, if you listen intently to her voice you can almost understand Yoruba.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVQbyIEK_jQ

Less meditative, Patoranking - Everyday has some energy and clear Sauti-Sol-vibes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HabnZEf4DFY

A big song that wasn't posted last year: Naaa Mean (Nadia Nakai and Cassper Nyovest). Completely obnoxious and completely addictive.

Teni has released a slow soulful song, if you listen intently to her voice you can almost understand Yoruba.

Actually funny you say that cause this is one of the few Yoruba songs I have trouble immediately understanding.

Always forget how many dialects there are and how subtle differences throw you off if you're not hearing/speaking daily.

that Killin' Dem track is fantastic

https://uproxx.com/selection/ph-city-vibration/

Marko Orlic votes for a Burna Boy track in the Uproxx poll

xps

The new Lil Kesh is another reminder that yes, there are language barriers and sometimes a lot goes over (many/most of) our heads because of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22BRl_SqXro

Lil Kesh feat. Olamide • Logo Benz

It’s controversial, to say the least: https://filterfree.ng/features/logo-benz-nigeria-needs-more-artists-to-tell-her-diverse-stories/

Outrage or not, my favourite moment is when the beat drops out just as Kesh starts delving “pata pat-pata” into the chorus and his voice sounds just like percussion.

(That elastic beat is courtesy of Rexxie btw, who also did “Zanku (LegWork)” and “Able God” posted above.)

On a much more innocent tip, from Cameroon: I love this track from Tata’s No Holidays EP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThlCVcsj2qE

Tata feat. Reniss • Ambiance

the link to that Logo Benz article is dead and afaict there's no article on that site about it--what's the controversy?

Here's a link to another article about it:
https://punchng.com/olamide-continues-romance-with-controversies-on-logo-benz/

lol I'm afraid this remains more or less over my head, but thank you

Yeah, Nigerian controversies seem to follow their own set of rules, lol.

Basically witchcraft or juju in this case "blood money" operates at such an elevated level of taboo in Nigeria that its unwise to satirise it in ways that aren't immediately obvious.

That was the impression I got too: it hit a raw nerve.

This article looks at it from the satire angle as well. It zooms in on the moral outrage and is firmly in the condemnation camp:
https://www.pulse.ng/entertainment/music/olamide-lil-kesh-slammed-over-logo-benz/qjdf0x1

The “could the song have been satire?” section starts somewhere halfway. Olamide’s defense, however, (it’s at the end) is more or less “we’re just reporting from the ground”. The FilterFree article I posted above took a similar stance. As the lede said: “Nigeria needs more artists to tell her diverse stories”. I wonder if that level-headed approach (at least, that’s how it appears to me from here) is the reason it was removed from the site?

That a couple of songs "probably created the infamy of entitlement toward a woman’s body which our society now suffers from in rape and sexual harassment" seems like a bold statement. But then what do I know.

I'm guessing the whole pop artist as cultural anti-hero thing never really caught on in Nigeria. Iirc this was something we discussed in relation to Fela a while back.

Yes, even though this seems to be a bigger transgression than most, what strikes me every time there is a similar controversy (mostly around internet fraud or drugs or other “vices”) is the uneasy relationship the music press seems to have with “street music” (and I guess street culture in general).

That same FilterFree website now features a long-winded article (possibly by the same writer who wrote the removed piece) about the Zanku dance craze. Informative and quite sympathetic, but also very much from the vantage point of an outsider looking in, making it kind of awkward:
https://filterfree.ng/features/zanku-origins-and-its-relationship-with-other-things/

On that note, Zlatan’s “Zanku (LegWork)” now does have a fun official video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tupb4xV-15w

And, since the phrase “ijo ope” was mentioned in that piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oCA4fQNA2k

Rahman Jago ft Zlatan, Chinko Ekun & Junior Boy • Ijo Ope

(So many great bangers in this vein. It’s the continuation of shaku shaku that’s NOT taking its cues from gqom.)

Sometimes it's also the problem of the privileged class taking the traditional sphere as artistic subject, with the usual risk of caricature, projections, unwelcome commentary etc. I'm just talking in general here, I haven't followed the controversy.

I'm just reminded of the controversy around the film Inxeba (which I haven't seen; translated as The Wound, 2017), that deals with Xhosa rites of passage, homosexuality etc. It struck a nerve too.

I'm guessing the whole pop artist as cultural anti-hero thing never really caught on in Nigeria.

No “Popcaan”s, “Masicka”s or “Bounty Killer”s in Naija music, as far as I can tell, no.

Sometimes it's also the problem of the privileged class taking the traditional sphere as artistic subject, with the usual risk of caricature, projections, unwelcome commentary etc. I'm just talking in general here, I haven't followed the controversy.

Maybe I'm about to embarrass myself here, but I cannot figure out why you included Popcaan in that list.

Just that in dancehall (not just there obviously) the stage names of artists quite often refer to crime and violence.

I got that, I just wasn’t aware Popcaan refers to those things

Like does it mean something other than popcorn?

Oh dear... I just always assumed it was patois for (a) “pop gun”, so I guess you’re not the one embarrassing yourself here!

I did just now find this on Urban Dictionary (I know) though:

Popcaan is the Jamaican Patois spelling for the English word Popcorn. Popcaan means that you pop a corn caan, in other words Popcaan really means you pop or fire gunshots or bullets. A Caan is the Jamaican Patois word for corn, caan another word for bullet or shots.

“I use my brand new gun to popcaan or fire bullets when i am in danger.”

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Popcaan

So maybe we can split the difference (please)?

Ha that’s interesting! Popcorn is definitely a weird nickname so I could see that definition being true

Okay, people. So which songs have you been voting for this time around? I'll enter my ballot soon but thought I'd probe for some minimal consensus first.

I will probably compile my ballot at the very last minute (Friday night), like always.

Sure shots are “Soco”, “Fake Love”, “Akwaaba”, “Banomoya” (and “Club Controller” too, probably), “Logba Logba”, and either “Gbona” or “On The Low”, or maybe both.

No Ye?

I was asking myself that very same question. Still haven’t made my mind up about “Ye” - I think I prefer the other two, but...

(and thanks for reminding me of Ne-Yo. Queuing up “Miss Independent” now!)

"ubala" and "on the low" are definitely on my ballot as well as the sun-el musician, mlindo, and busiswa albums

Not the Simmy album? Will probably my number one.

it's definitely in contention but i'm not sure if it'll make my ballot, this year's been too good

I think I entered something like 8 African pop songs. I also left out Ye. Two each for Wizzie, Burna and Kaybee, one each for Nini and Teni. Also two danceall songs, including a late exchange of Juggernaut for Stay So. I was surprised that no one nominated Black Hypocrisy.

I should have nominated the whole Spice album/mixtape. Def one of the stronger releases of 2019.

I love FOKN BOIS

This hardly ever happens: an East African jam blowing up in West Africa, but this track from Uganda is currently top 10 streaming in Naija and Ghana:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMfMuZ9fjjI
BigTril • Parte After Parte

Love it

I'm thinking of putting on an afrobeats DJ night, possibly focusing on contemporary pop, dance and more out-there sounds from around Africa, potentially incorporating modern music from other parts of the world too if it feels right. Having difficulty knowing how to label and market the idea though. I know the term 'afrobeats' comes with baggage, or applies specifically to Nigerian and Ghanian music for a lot of people. Plus I'm wary of lumping lots of countries into one genre. There are a lot of 'world dance' music nights in Bristol, but they tend to focus on vintage vinyly stuff (actual afrobeat, cumbia etc) than new electronic and pop vibes. What would be the most succinct and polite way of putting it? A friend told me that he and his mate used to refer to it as 'global wreckage' for whatever reason!

I'm really enjoying the Davido album. Such a nice vibe.

Global wreckage does sound catchy fwiw.

davido album is indeed lovely, glad to see it get some recognition from p4k too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZBsYtLsT_w

anybody heard of this guy sonyjojo? i believe he's nigerian. this song "monicar" is awesome... it sounds like someone took a wizkid song and kinda smeared it with their hand a bit. the production is really cool.

it took me a week of it idly bugging me but i realised davido's "1 milli" rips its synth line from dua lipa's "be the one"

Anyone seeing end of year lists that include Afropop? Was hoping Burna Boy might crossover to some, but haven’t really noticed that. A twitter search of “Burna Boy top 2019” did bring me to a list of top south of the Sahara streamed songs, that included him.

I'm seeing burna in best of album collections but that's about it.

Jazz & more critic Ted Gioa has a 100 album list and then a follow -up 100 honorable mention list. Burna Boy is on the honorable mention list!

NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

Yep. Ok, Amanda Petrusich has Burna Boy ( & Mdou Moctar) in her New Yorker top album list

pretty banner year for afrobeats on my best songs list (comin monday)

Colour me curious. I always enjoy your EOY lists a lot.

New Afro B single (from Afrowave 3). My favorite since Melanin, I think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8K3onYQ44o

Here is sean gramophone’s list, if I may be so bold, and below are the songs on it that are relevant to our thread:

(3) Sarkodie ft. Akan • All Die Be Die
(16) Zlatan • This Year
(34) Niniola • Boda Sodiq
(42) Blick Bassy • Where We Go
(45) A-Star • Solege
(49) Afro B ft. Wizkid • Drogba (Joanna) (Remix)
(51) Beyoncé • Find Your Way Back
(61) Tresor ft. Msaki • Sondela
(69) Mahalia ft. Burna Boy • Simmer
(77) Fireboy DML • Jealous
(80) Santi ft. Shane Eagle, Tomi Agape & Amaarae • Rapid Fire
(88) J Balvin & Bad Bunny ft. Mr Eazi • Como Un Bebé

Huge overlap with These Threads, it has to be said (down to the Niniola recording session video!). Synchronicity?

(small point of order: A-Star is Ghanaian (by way of London iirc), it’s “Solege”s beatmaker Kel-P who’s Nigerian - he also produced “Boda Sodiq”!)

Looking forward to exploring the rest of your list, Sean!

haha, no synchronicity! ilx is one of my primary discovery nexuses (nexi?)

thanks for the A-Star correction - i correctly attributed him in the demographics, i think - but you're right the blurb is confusing

and thanks for all the recommendations this year and every year

just had to stop in to say Umona is my jam, TNS is really killing it this year.

Joburg is nice too but fuck Mamphi.

agreed on all counts

Half my favorite tracks are from Burna Boy
And still Wizkid can claim to have the biggest hit with Brown Skin Girl
Followed by Low btw
Inama is so fun
Solege
A few others

And then it just pales comapred to what's on the Mzansi side
Akulaleki
The entire Sha Sha EP
The sound of Kabza de Small
Labantwana Ama Uber
Sondela
Into Ingawe
Baby Are You Coming ?
John Cena (+ best video)
Joburg

ad “John Cena”: are you referring to the COLORS video?

I was aware of some kind of hype around it, but never investigated, mainly because the name ‘John Cena’ meant nothing to me. This is pretty wild though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElRhKFvQWGA

Yeah I was, she's hilarious in that clip. Chichichi chi chi chi. Though I heard a few bad things from people who got close to her via videomaking - but hey, celebrity is a burden to carry. I had no more idea about wrestling than you, but yeah her reaction is priceless.

...all of the above tying in nicely with her brand new video for the Shangaan Shake that is “Kona”, celebrating the first anniversary of her debut album (which I will consider a 2019 release for EOY purposes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jkXL_TMEig
Sho Madjozi • Kona

As I mentioned on the “Baby Are You Coming?” thread, DJ Sumbody’s Ashi Nthwela album is awesome. The new single/video is “4 The Kulture” with Busiswa, but right now I find myself drawn much more to the pop sheen of “Mabebeza” (with Mthe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_oDr9vGDuE

"john cena" is cool and all but i love "kano", will have to check out the album

Kabza* is truly unstoppable** right now. A 15-track (!) sequel to Scorpion Kings, one of the year’s best, is out already, called, who’d have thunk, The Return of the Scorpion Kings. Besides Piano Hub he also dropped an officially solo, instrumentals-only, mixtape, Pretty Girls Love Amapiano in the meantime, which is very good as well.

This is Return’s breakout hit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DR1HuRiAAA
Kabza De Small x DJ Maphorisa ft. Semi Tee, Miano & Kammu Dee • Lorch

“Sandton” with Focalistic, Kamo Mphela & Bontle Smith is another certified banger.

There’s tracks with Samthing and Mlindo (and Hugh Masekela!) as well.

*to be read as “Kabza De Small & DJ Maphorisa” for contractual reasons

**as for his unstoppableness, the following are the Kabza-produced tracks in today’s South African streaming top 10:

#1 Lorch
#4 Akulaleki (with Samthing & Sha Sha)
#6 Love You Tonight (with MFR Souls & Sha Sha)
#7 Nana Thula
#9 Tender Love (with Sha Sha)
#10 Sandton

And these are the top ranking Kabza-heavy albums in SA today, again as per Apple Music:
#1 The Return of the Scorpion Kings
#2 Isphithiphithi (Samthing Soweto)
#3 Blossom (Sha Sha)
#11 Scorpion Kings
#12 Piano Hub

And this is not a temporary glitch, it’s been like this consistently for the past few weeks.

Okay, Lorch is mindblowingly great, almost on the level of Akulaleki. This is becoming like when DJ Mustard was in his prime.

Happy holidays everybody!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCZVL_8D048
Master KG ft. Nomcebo • Jerusalem

Don’t forget to nominate all your goodies (tracks + albums) for the EOY!

Nothing says Christmas like Angolan KudurAfro House. It’s the most wonderful sound in the world!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV2RAmMIfQA
Pink 2 Toques • Puxa a Calça

(check here if you’d like to see them pulling up their pants live)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV9yrBWRURI
Noite & Dia • Kapota

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18OXY3lBo-Y
Nerú Americano ft. Scró Q Cuia • Tic Taa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMl057tB1Iw
Scró Q Cuia ft. Os Moikanos • Oiii Mana (a/k/a “Ai Meu Deus”)

...and this one, have mercy on me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rraVVk7iDq4
Os Pilukas ft. ED-Sangria • Tá Tremer

(the last three of these are produced by the magnificent DJ Vado Pôster)

...or you could just watch this, which features most of the above:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxhqRR0R2vg

(between these and “Jerusalema” I think I’ve got the festive spirit covered)

(and it’s “Tá Treme”, apologies)

Still loving Rema “Dumebi “ . A track of the year

Otm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzzNAMU5eWY

recently discovered "this is love" by lady zamar and it's lovely and quickly becoming one of my favourites this year. gorgeous south african house

the album it's from, monarch, is very good too, just way too long at 20 tracks/90 minutes

Yeah, it’s definitely overly long, and without enough stand-outs imo. Fwiw, the other tracks I saved to my playlist at the time were “ICU”, “Delirium” and “Sharp Shooter”.

https://www.jonathanbogart.net/blog/100-songs-2019

He's got Afropop, caribbean sounds, Latinx reggaeton, US & UK and more

1. Seyi Shay ft. Runtown, “Gimme Love”; 2. Bad Bunny ft. Tainy, “Callaíta”; 3. Titica ft. Laton Cordeiro, “Giro Na Bicicleta”; 4. Lady Zamar, “This Is Love”;
5. Tomasa del Real, “Contigo”;

Anybody made Obama's YE list

Obama has Burna Boy "Anybody," Rema "Iron Man," and Angelique Kidjo " La Vida es un Carnaval" ( Rollo Tomasi remix)" and Jamaican vocalist Koffee "Toast" on his list

Go Obama lol!

As for Jonathan Bogart’s list, it’s a super interesting one. I don’t know two thirds of the songs, but it looks right up my alley. I recognise quite a lot in the way he describes his musical proclivities in the introduction as well.

However, **butthurt corner and full disclosure**, I soured on Bogart big time after the blurb he (of all people, as the only Afropop aficionado there at the time) wrote in the Singles Jukebox for my Reader’s Week entry for Tekno’s “Duro” back in 2015. I found it shockingly bad and pretty much disqualifying for a music critic.

This was his blurb: ”Jonathan Bogart: Blame it on me being an old straight white dude who has rarely been in the market for what young loverboy crooners are selling; blame it on my having heard way too much recent West African pop that sounds practically indistinguishable from this; blame it on the YouTube commenters bringing up Chris Brown again and again. [4]”

I thought it impolite to directly address it, being a guest on the site (and I was too fucking insecure anyway, I hadn’t even written a blurb for the song myself like I could have), and left it at a general comment.

Interestingly, in his introduction here he more or less repeats the same argument and expands on it (which is why I felt the need to write this), but now it’s framed in a positive, dare I say it, half-baked woke kind of way, which I can’t help but find a bit disingenious.

He does have a Tekno song in his list this time around though (as well as some other male cis het crooners!), I’ll give him that.

**end of butthurt section / axe grinded**

Anyway, diving headlong into the list as we speak - it really is a treat.

Here’s that number one on JB’s list:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0ligX9PupI

Seyi Shay ft. Runtown • Gimme Love

(it’s a Sarz production; she currently has a remix out with Teyana Taylor instead of Runtown)

yeah bogart's list has been pretty interesting to go through - there's enough overlap with stuff i loved that didn't really get much attention from anywhere but with plenty of great tracks i hadn't heard too ("this is love" among them)

this mix still goes
https://soundcloud.com/djabrantee/sets/afrobeats-mix-vol-1

Thought the Tekno (Bogart’s #71) had been posted here, but no:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KErqMcZR0KA
Tekno • Skeletun

(lol at the idea of Tekno being some kind of left-field artist tho)

Also loving this Ugandan jam from that list. Let’s rock down to Swangz Avenue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROqYa4F1Dvs
Vinka • Kona (Oluyimba Lwomwaka)

For true heads only: In a bizarre plot twist, it’s none other than Inna doing her bit for Afropop!

(I’m hoping to start the 2020 thread this weekend, after the nominations are done and dusted)

I made a new thread.