rolling afropop / afrobeats 2018

And let's post a single from Makaveli, that is like sped-up shangaan with spoken-word rap and other cool sounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tonm1HYRxHk
Great no?

https://i.imgur.com/bsFp78u.jpg

that is going in my EOY I can already tell

Funny you should say EOY:

https://m.soundcloud.com/dj_michy/craze-sololo-ft-orezi-x-mystro

CaZe ft. Orezi & Mystro “Sololo”.

Total knock-out.

Mystro also produced Orezi’s own new single “Whine For Daddy”, which features Tekno. Should do well in the Caribbean too.

https://youtu.be/XT2oBKtABms

woah at whatever the hell happens 90 seconds into "Nammiliki"!

Sololo is also very nice

This one is classic Davido sweet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-ngDUlekTE

Another sweet one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIYipEOsGTM

And here's Wizkid, I love this song but I don't understand from when it was (late 2017 I guess, they just made a remix).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx9k2k6Ag5c

And since ILM likes him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcUdwBK5Ma0

Go Down (Alade) is good. Your Body (Wizkid) is good.

Nabozo, “Without You” is a 2015 song by LK Kuddy ft. Yung6ix. The remix with Wizkid dropped early 2016. Is “Your Body” the one with Akon? ‘Cause that would be “For You” from Wizzy’s 2014 Ayo album. Lots of mislabelling going on out there!

This one is very recent though, the latest installment in Wizzy’s Killertunes trilogy, after “Opoju” with DJ Spinall and “Manya” with Mut4y:

https://youtu.be/VYawNmc3m0s

DJ Jimmy Jatt ft. Wizkid, “Oshe” (produced by Killertunes)

Another thing: that Sounds of Sisso compilation is all Tanzanian stuff, not Ugandan (that includes the Makaveli track posted above).
https://nyegenyegetapes.bandcamp.com/album/sounds-of-sisso
Nyege Nyege Tapes, the label, is based in Kampala, but they aim to release “outsider music from around the region and beyond”.

Anyway, a lot of good stuff on there. In their relentlessness and piling on of chipmunk and other sound effects some tracks remind me of those crazy Ball J productions from the azonto era at times.

Very sad news from Ghana: rising star Ebony (or Ebony Reigns as she was also known) died in a road accident last Thursday. She had just released her debut album a month ago.

Her big hit last year, “Sponsor”:
https://youtu.be/4DBPLxbjads

And her current one, “Maame Hw3”:
https://youtu.be/d8cJoGtU660

thanks for clearing that up breastcrawl didn't realise it was Tanzanian

Shaku Shaku time!

Twin record with “Legbegbe” >>>
Idowest ft. Dammy Krane & Slimcase, “Omo Shepeteri”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrdlrp4yKAw

Slightly older, but essential >>>
Zlatan ft. Olamide, “My Body”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4mSuYyCDy0

Even older, was this the first one? >>>
Kyla Cole, “Shaku Shaku”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1JwIm79BXo

Brand new, super lit >>>
Super Wavey Records, “Kpano”:
https://soundcloud.com/freemedigital/super-wavey-records-kpano-prod-jaga-bantu-moor

Jumping the bandwagon >>>
D’Banj ft. Slimcase & Mr Real, “Issa Banger”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M_nGSyg1pM

Biggest record in Nigeria right now >>>
Olamide, “Science Student”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WimJP1SDa4I

This is from last year but I did not see any mention of HE3B on the 2017 thread. I think these two tracks are pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alPUrD2w-jw&list=PL6zyXmG5g9xEeh0mQJVlo1Iovr0ITin6S

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O31DaWeRyyY

First embed doesn't seem to be working. Let's try again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alPUrD2w-jw&list=PL6zyXmG5g9xEeh0mQJVlo1Iovr0ITin6S

Anyway, it's called "Be Mine"

this is probably the best song I listened this year

https://youtu.be/m99Wmv7gU2A

Wow, that is fantastic! I want to sample that breakdown and make a house banger out of it!

(This is about “Mariana” by Nelson Freitas, by the way. Including track info when posting is much appreciated. Makes it easier to search, and YouTube links often disappear over time as well. )

YT is terribly impractical for exploring new stuff, especially since they personalized suggestions by filling them with your latest listens. There's a few mass playlists that are regularly updated, but not enough great songs to sit through them.

I apologize for the lack of information. i thought that the caption would appear, but it didn't, i don't know why.
i'm kinda addicted to "Mariana". Nelson Freitas is really big in Portugal, although I never payed much attention to his music until this one came up.

"OOO" - Zingah, Maphorisa, Wizkid, Burna Boy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nH9LYhfpxo

Davido's first single of 2018 "Flora My Flawa":

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

My favorite Shaku Shaku tune right now:

Danny S - Ege (Dribble)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqVslNB4psk

By the way how you guys noticed how they are sometimes recycling South African beats in these Shaku Shaku tracks.

"Omo Shepeteri" uses the beat from this one from 2012 (?):

Letta Mbulu - Not Yet Uhuru (Maphorisa n Clap Remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR9J4J3gDg0

Even the 2017 hit "Penalty" by Small Doctor uses the beat from DJ Malvado's "Zenze" (also 2012?)

Naija mainstream pop needed those harder beats after the Reign of Pon Pon, but when it comes to South(ern) African influence, I would have expected gqom to have caught on much more in Naija by now than it has so far. I guess it’s because shaku shaku has its origin in what’s often called “street music” in Nigeria, where they have been using these older, Uhuru-type beats of the previous SA wave for some time now to freestyle on. Cool to have some of those beats identified - are there any more you know about?

As for a straight-up Naija pop/gqom fusion, there’s the current Patoranking, “Available”, with SA producers DJ Catzico and Vista. It has been around since early November, but it seems to be picking up steam only now that the shaku-shaku-friendly video is out. (Remember, Pato was an early alkayida adaptor too, with “My Woman, My Everything”).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PCqv_BmF6s

Speaking of the South African influences, this makes me so happy: A bona fide, honest-to-God extended version of a Nigerian hit. It could only be Niniola’s “Maradona”, of course - that song has become an even bigger hit in South Africa than in Nigeria for a reason. I wish this was done more often, but I’m not holding my breath.

https://open.spotify.com/album/40PbljSs8Av2gCbSzi9rND

And I mean, I really wish this was done more often, because why only 2’48 of this goodness?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cnXu16J_wM

VJ Adams feat. Niniola (it’s her again!), “Leg Work”

This guy Tiwezi is quickly turning into one of my favourite producers. He also did this:

https://soundcloud.com/musicplugafrica/mz-kiss-ijo

Mz Kiss, “Ijo”

and, on a completely different tip:

https://soundcloud.com/humblesmith/sugar

Humblesmith, “Sugar”

Mmmmmmmmmmmmaradona!

If anyone knows more about what people are listening to in SA atm I’d be thrilled to know. I kinda lost track of it all.

Finally stumbled on an article that comments on the South African influence on Naija songs:

"“Legbegbe” featuring Idowest and Obadice is inspired by South African house music group, Uhuru. Ever since Mafikizolo’s crossover hit, “Khona”, the influence of South African House music in Nigerian street music has been reflected In Nigerian street-hop; from Junior Boy’s “Irapada”, Small Doctor’s “Penalty”, to Olamide’s “Wo”. Mr Real’s “Legbegbe” is only one of the latest adaptation of this culture. “Legbegbe” is premium street-hop held together with fog-like synth percussion and drums looped off an Uhuru sample, streamlined by his street-smart impulses."

http://thenativemag.com/communities/uhuru-inspired-new-sound-streets-lagos-native-interview-mr-real/

This seems to be one of the South African hits of the moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bvyC9gJq6I

Thanks!

Thanks for the link, AG! Some interesting bits in there (the fact that Mr Real considers his shaku shaku stuff “pop”, confirmation of my impression that “Khona” was a kind of milestone), and some missed follow-up questions (what IS it about then?)

I posted “Club Controller” a month ago! It’s been the nr. 1 on SA iTunes for a few weeks now. I haven’t done more than skim the SA iTunes chart recently, and that seems to be the freshest one on there. Have you heard the West Ink Banger comp that came out in November? Good stuff on that. I particularly like the Madanon-led tracks. 

I came across some great stuff from Angola though, thanks to some site (https://pudding.cool/2018/01/music-map/) that someone started a thread about that I can’t find right now (was it rob who actually mentioned Angola?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeaQtiogx18

(Scro Que Cuia, “Vou Partir Cama”)

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

(Os Moikanos, “Ninguém Foge”)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sglob6dnKo4

(Puto Prata, “Gruwa”)

Oh well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVp4G26fJgs

(Os Moikanos, “Gago (Oh Pai)”

Yeah I’ve had Club Controller in rotation for a while now. Great song! Curious about how the non-gqom leaning pop, rap and house is faring. The West Ink Bangers/ Maphorisa / Distruction Boyz axis seemed to be ruling everything right before christmas.

I have been playing this rap track a lot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh-toV5X3HA

Shot Gun Flava ft. Pyrobeats, “Dikgomu”. He’s got a (mini) album out as well.

Naija Big Shots Corner:

I’m really trying with the new Davido, but… isn’t this a bit of a dud?

New Wizkid, posing as Starboy, posse cut with Ceeza Milli, Terri & Spotless, “Soco”:

https://soundcloud.com/dj_michy/soco

New Tekno, posse cut with OG, Flimzy & Selebobo, “Anyhow”:

https://soundcloud.com/teknomusic/anyhow

Oh, Davido has a posse cut too, for his DMW label, with Mayorkun, Dremo & Peruzzi, “Mind”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me4evySCbqQ

And the newest Olamide is with Skepta, “Sheevita Juice” - he’s going the UK route, just like Burna, both taking Mr Eazi’s cue, not Wizzy’s, which makes sense:

https://soundcloud.com/user-477702801/olamide-x-skepta-sheevita-juice

As to why Wizzy’s currently not releasing any tracks under his own name:

http://www.pulse.ng/entertainment/music/wizkid-why-singer-cannot-release-music-officially-in-nigeria-as-an-independent-artist-id7608146.html

Have not been able to get with Flora my Flawa either. It sounds off to me.

ayo breastcrawl: #1 Song in Your City - Interactive, updated map for discovery

(I am like 15 posts behind on this thread)

Nothing groundbreaking but the new Rudeboy is sweet to me, first new song in a while that sounds good to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94RbK0WHccs

I haven't cared one bit for the last range of Tekno songs, even when he has Selebobo on board so I don't know what's wrong.
Heart Robber has a video out btw.
No offense to her, but Tiwa Savage is going for horny in 2018, following on ridiculously suggestive Sugarcane with ridiculously suggestive Get it Now.

That sounds like a miscalculation/overcompensation to me. Tiwa is many things and I’m sure she has her horny moments irl, but she’s a very controlled performer. Lust is not really her thing afaict.

The songs themselves are good, especially Sugarcane and the clip is very well produced. The Get it Now video is straight-up irresponsible though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOR-_yE94o

I had forgotten all those songs with Ma Lo and All Over were part of this EP from last September, really strong EP.
Btw, talking still of 2017 (december), I'm not sure we had posted Sarz - Get Up. That's a really good one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqdA-imL3ZM

Tiwa is always good and tes, that ep is pretty great. I think the strength of her persona is connection to a certain... restraint though. «If I start to talk» is such a Tiwa Savage title. She could talk, but if she did it would run over. And Tiwa Savage somehow never runs over. These are mostly my personal musings, as seen from a certain geographical and cultural perspective though. I’m sure she means something different seen from an African perspective, for instance.

And the best South African song from last year has a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFi-BqmTRrw
And part of me wants to post Bazoyenza

Let me help that part of you out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbLbRuGZW2s

Busiswa ft. DJ Maphorisa, "Bazoyenza"

I had never checked for the video, it's awesome!

Kosewe, kosegbo, kosewe, kosegbo...
They finally released the music video for Science Student

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nVkhp2xtHg

Trippy and weird yes

Tiwa is always good and tes, that ep is pretty great. I think the strength of her persona is connection to a certain... restraint though. «If I start to talk» is such a Tiwa Savage title. She could talk, but if she did it would run over. And Tiwa Savage somehow never runs over. These are mostly my personal musings, as seen from a certain geographical and cultural perspective though. I’m sure she means something different seen from an African perspective, for instance.

― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Sunday, February 25, 2018 1:36 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You'd be surprised.

"If I start to talk" is a very Yoruba phrase. She would have heard it used in varying ways growing up.

Likewise, Tiwa Savage in her demeanour and lyricism is very Yoruba.

The phrase as used in that song besides the clear religious overtones, represents the other side of the brash, absurd, "local", Yorubaisms of Olamide, Kesh and the like

I.e. the more conservative, show-don't-tell pridefulness of Yoruba Women sauntering around in trad dress and heavy tinted, gold-accented shades at parties.

Yeah, that’s the main tenet I’m getting from her overall. She’s very proper. So aggressively sexual tiwa sounds like a false note to me.

I feel that's a little unfair to her.
Can't deny that in these videos she's stiff and doesn't look entirely comfortable but, she's been able to sell that kinda vibe in the past (Love me 3x).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oSY4CYfXV4
This turn feels to me more like an exploration of an often unseen side than a drastic departure from the norm.

What deej said may be true to some extent, but I’m not sure the marketing angle is the right way to go. The only way anything is really going to happen is if you bring the real thing. Marketed-towards-US Wizkid didn’t happen, Made-in-Lagos Wizkid might, and everyone would be better and happier for it.

Same thing with the standardized English: look at the success of reggaeton and, again, Kpop (in case you missed it, BTS is #1-album and top-10-single-level huge in the US and elsewhere singing and rapping predominantly in Korean) .

btw, funny old thing: Odunsi is not on this Best Nigerian Albums list that NickB posted on the 2018 EOY music lists thread (Show Dem Camp is though):

http://www.dailyadvent.com/index.php/2018/12/12/exclusive-list-of-the-top-10-nigerian-music-albums-that-blew-our-minds-in-2018-number-5-already-got-a-grammy-nomination/

I assume Kizz Daniel would have been on it if he hadn’t dropped his album after the cut-off date - it’s better than the Mayorkun, fun as that one is. I feel LAX deserved to place too.

I think making it an issue of “authenticity” is problematic tho ... isn’t odunsi seen as, like, more authentic in the sense of he’s a regular guy/ anti-showbiz / “real talent” ? That’s as much “real” African music as the stuff we find more interesting musically & more successful commercially

I mean problematic in the sense of needs unpacking not “aura of morally bad”

I’m not questioning Odunsi’s authenticity, I’m pretty sure he’s making the music he wants to make. I was looking at it from the US industry’s perspective, since you brought it up, and I think there’s (new) lessons to be learned from Kpop and Latin pop when it comes to crossing over with “foreign” genres in the late 2010s.

Unsung father of Alté? Or of everything wavy/vibey/groovy?

I realize that I may not have expressed myself all that clearly, but I was specifically referring to the r&b-kind of wavy/vibey/groovy, which is why I singled out Kuvie on the Ghanaian side (both as a producer and on his own album).

Burna’s “afro-fusion” has always been much more heavily infused with reggae/dancehall than with r&b. And while Odunsi calls his music “afro-fusion” too, citing Burna and Blackmagic as major influences (as well as older artists like Wale Thompson and Angelique Kidjo), and I can hear the Burna, especially in his older stuff, the heavy r&b focus makes his version of fusion a different kettle of fish imo.

Someone like Juls (again on the Ghanaian side, by way of the UK) is closer to the Burna aesthetic, I think, to the point they’ve actually worked together (Burna and Odunsi have this in common at least), but I’m not sure that Juls arrived at his sound through Burna.

― breastcrawl, Wednesday, December 12, 2018 7:57 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

To be clear, alte was coined to describe an emerging subculture reaching far beyond music.
I think this is the best distillation you'll find anywhere of what that entails.
https://becomingyeva.com/alte-lagos-all-you-need-to-know/

Colloquially its simply a delineator of perceived countercultural difference e.g. I get called alte for wearing barbour jackets and having a dog.

In as far as it does relates to music and visual style, Burna Boy was a fair representation of that bohemian, cosmopolitan aesthetic for a while before the movement took hold.

Burna has played with a lot of sounds (to very mixed results in the earlier years) and while his delivery/vocals have typically favoured reggae/dancehall it's probably wrong to frame his music exclusively in such terms when R&B influence has primacy in a number of his most prominent tracks; "Like to Party", "Don Gorgon", "Pree me"...

"Soke" in particular represents what I see as an awakening point both in the crystalisation of Burna's own sound and laying the groundwork for a kind of decidedly non-danceable wavy/vibey/groovy R&B that wasn't presumed to be in high demand.

I def have noticed ppl in the industry here seem to see Odunsi as more viable than lots of 'mainstream' african stars ... idk if its classed bias or alt branding or what but it feels both extremely predictable & not necessarily bad but potentially bad

― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Wednesday, December 12, 2018 8:29 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

How much of this would you say is just a function of it being easier to sell things to industry people that they already feel they understand?

This has nothing to do with anything, but I just want to say how much I love Sauti Sol and how much I love this thread for telling me when there's a new single out.

Finally checking out the Mr Eazi album and this one with Burna Boy is superb:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHztnu5WM-w

pvmic, but I also dig the one with Chronixx

Two groovy tunes from Naija for the holidays:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUKZeOjsuw4

Maleek Berry • Doing U

(his “Wait” is good too)

...and this one features Wizkid and it’s excellent, but I’m posting it here because Reekado owns it: “oya, turn up tha... /mtcheww/ speakers!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p6zc1wbg3Y

DJ Tunez ft. Wizkid & Reekado Banks • Turn Up

Keep forgetting to post Joey B’s “Stables” (one of OkayAfrica’s Ghanaian selections) here. It got some traction on the EOY lists thread and has now been nominated for ILM’s EOY tracks poll:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Ej0aTITk4

Joey B feat. La Même Gang • Stables

In a surprising development, DJ Sumbody now has the number one hit in South Africa. The link posted back in September is now dead, so here's the official video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CwMuQUr4Do

DJ Sumbody feat. Cassper Nyovest, Thebe & Vettis • Monate Mpolaye

In a surprising development, DJ Sumbody now has the number one hit in South Africa. The link posted back in September is now dead, so here's the official video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CwMuQUr4Do

DJ Sumbody feat. Cassper Nyovest, Thebe & Vettis • Monate Mpolaye

Critic Jason King mentions Burna Boy in his essay in the Slate critics roundtable

Though Africa has largely fallen off the American news radar, the music rocketing out of the continent remains straight fire. Projects by GuiltyBeatz, Aka, Fatoumata Diawara, Seun Kuti, Femi Kuti, Emmanuel Jal, Burna Boy, Muzi, Tal National, and Ammar 808 are all worth streaming. My favorite contemporary record this year, however, was I’m a Dream, the sophomore set from Gambian-Swedish chanteuse Seinabo Sey.

https://slate.com/culture/2018/12/2018-music-both-directions-at-once-coltrane.html

...as well as GuiltyBeatz. “Akwaaba” is his #10 song of the year.

Another Slate roundtable contributor Rawiya Kameir mentioned afrobeats and dancehall:

There was a similar rejection of artifice across the Atlantic, in the dynamic, compelling world of Afropop. It’s been thrilling to watch as some of the genre’s stars abandoned the shiny, transparent attempts at American crossover of recent years. Instead of paying top dollar to collaborate with household-name rappers or drenching strummed kora with arpeggiated 808s, many leaned into traditional Naija sounds and motifs. It’s not that they hadn’t found success beyond their borders—Wizkid’s “Soco” and pretty much any recent Davido single blared from cars outside my Brooklyn window all summer—but maybe simply that the efforts, largely unreciprocated by American artists, no longer served them. Burna Boy’s excellent Outside seems to have lasted, even though it was released way back in January.

https://slate.com/culture/2018/12/pop-music-earnestness-kacey-musgraves-mitski-snail-mail.html

New thread for 2019:

rolling Afropop / Afrobeats / Afrodance 2019

Goodbye 2018 and good job everyone, I think we did good and had good taste.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QxY7afI0tQ

Actually, there's no reason this thread shouldn't continue being used for a while

My friend sent me this (Racheal M - Mpalampalampa) from Uganda. Always liked this rhythm. She's 12.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jECyKs-l1ok

Ok let's do it

A Pass - Didadada (groovy, from Uganda)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM19YRkJYhs