rolling afropop / afrobeats 2018

Thanks for that, listened to 2/3rds of it this morning. In the stuff I didn't know, I really like this recent song off your mix. Deserves to be posted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXxbbFuz6V0

that's a new discovery for me too. It's really good - lots of crossover appeal. Cheers Nabozo

Yes.

So the NPR radio list of 200 greatest songs by 21st century women (meaning had their main impact this century) does not appear to have any afropop. I don't see Yemi Alade or others. They did include North African vocalist Noura Mint Seymali, and a couple of reggaeton acts from this side of the world.

Rayvanny • Chombo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY6En4785PE

(absolutely delightful)

Jah Prayzah • Ronika:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc58UMOhiZw

(his Zimbabwean fans don’t seem to like it much, but I do)

Also, Timaya’s latest, “To U”, is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZOY0wxKNH8

DJ Katapila's Aroo EP is fun. This track 'Monkey', especially

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-RVIqwxFck

Nobody posted this new 2Baba song yet? Seems to be making waves in Naija.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGkDAAxrjv0

2Baba feat. Peruzzi - Amaka

Feeling this new Tiwa feat. Duncan Mighty as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Wepo2mVA8

Tiwa Savage feat. Duncan Mighty - Lova Lova

I had sort of filed away “Amaka” as 2Baba jumping the Davido bandwagon just when it’s offering increasingly diminishing returns (it’s produced by SperoachBeatz, just like “Assurance”), but I got it stuck in my head now thanks to your post - catchy tune. The lyrics might have something to do with its success as well, as touched upon here: http://thenativemag.com/music/see-2baba-peruzzi-video-amaka/

Not really feeling the Tiwa yet, but it’s wonderful to see Duncan Mighty’s resurgence post-“Fake Love”. The man is classic for “Obianuju” alone, one of the first Naija songs I fell in love with back in 2012.
https://youtu.be/5Nho-FCsZXE

...jumping ON the Davido bandwagon...

Oh yeah, “Fake Love” - this is how I described it when it dropped:

Try to imagine what a Killertunes-produced Runtown record would sound like. Now imagine Wizkid and Duncan Mighty singing it…

So now imagine Runtown hearing “Fake Love”, deciding to riff on it, and... leaving at that. After three classic singles in a row I think we can cut him some slack though:

https://youtu.be/srpwOpPOfKk

Runtown ft. Fekky • Unleash

btw, Runtown has now severed ties with his label (see upthread), just like Kiss Daniel did before him - the name change to “Kizz” Daniel mentioned by Spottie is an attempt to appease his former label.

gah... “leaving IT at that” - someone get me a proofreader

More Nigerian heavy hitters:

Tekno’s current smash ”Jogodo”...

https://youtu.be/97abEozJjCg

...which leans very heavily on an old hit by Danfo Drivers, “Kpolongo”, from 2004 or thereabouts.

More Nigerian heavies:

One of the biggest tracks of the year, Burna Boy’s “Ye”, finally has a video: https://youtu.be/lPe09eE6Xio

It’s been called Nigeria’s “new national anthem”.

And... Yemi Alade just dropped her best single** in quite a while, “Oh My Gosh”. Great new sound by DJ Coublon! https://youtu.be/GdIe0cX8etk

** Amazingly, Black Magic standout track and ILM EOY favourite “Mon Lo” still hasn’t received the video treatment.

This just in as well, and it’s huge:

Idowest ft. Davido • Ji Masun:

https://youtu.be/omUJoVKPWEw

This is Idowest’s first single for Davido’s DMW label. The mainstreaming of shaku shaku and the ongoing incorporation of gqom leads to spectacular results. In-house producer Fresh VDM raises to the challenge and comes up with his best production yet. Listen to that percussion!

(Also further proof that in 2018 Davido is so much more enjoyable as a featured artist)

Speaking of the devil...

https://youtu.be/WEA9EB7Q5RY

Davido • Nwa Baby

...and there’s a surprise on the Ciara thread...

(warning: spoilers ahead)

https://youtu.be/NSIDTlG6bbs

https://youtu.be/2gIHj8stIGo

(Ciara ft. Tekno • Freak Me)

(...or as it was known in a previous incarnation, “Before Nko” by Tiwa Savage ft. D’Prince:
https://youtu.be/IeasOeUgkA8 )

Also, the new DJ Maphorisa bangs hard: https://youtu.be/_XVOf9Md7aM

(DJ Maphorisa ft. Bontle Smith, Lady Du & Zingah • More Than That)

Following up on “Ji Masun”, a couple more good shagqom shagqom jams:

Zoro ft. Slowdog • Away Match:
https://youtu.be/j-MtZuTR_b4

Oshak ft. MzKiss • Sho Mo Age Mi Ni?: https://youtu.be/SjrcXuIskNM

Omawumi ft. DJ Spinall & Slimcase • Malowa (produced by Killertunes!):
https://youtu.be/WX8KTueg_As

Mofe Boyo ft. DJ Fem & Snagxy • Ololo: https://open.spotify.com/track/6cUbkeItkqcf92xmJkYjG9?si=XTtQl8ahQOyahF-MCwGmPg

Afro B’s “Drogba (Joanna)” has been massive all year, but didn’t have a video until now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YqecbxSr4A

The track has several official remixes, including one with Wizkid, but I’m posting the “New Africa” one, since it came up on the Popcaan thread. It features Kidi, Mayorkun, Kuami Eugene and Dutch rapper/singer Frenna, who’s of Ghanaian descent:

https://open.spotify.com/track/2Quilvy2PSXswv8SnTFnjl?si=ASFKa8bEQL-UbzhJt24xLg

(I couldn’t find a YouTube - it is on SoundCloud, but “not available in [my] country”)

Mayorkun’s followup to “Bobo” is
producer Northboi’s followup to “Soco”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co56ohAKMfA

Mayorkun • Posh

He dropped this simultaneously:

https://youtu.be/WEhfwP_OdWU

Mayorkun • Fantasy (produced by Kiddominant)

Double dose of SA house:

DJ Mshega ft. Lady Zamar • The End:
https://youtu.be/VLmnkqR2P0E

Bucie ft. Mpumi • Soz’ Uphinde:
https://youtu.be/2H-KZLXnkCY

(Fans of Sun-El Musician might possibly like these)

i...

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

has Google totalled fucked this? this music is afroBEAT from the 70s, rather than afroBEATS (unless i'm totally out of it)..

The End is terribly classy, lush, and epic without being overboard epic.
I'm glad to like SA house for the prod alone, case of the other one.

New Prince Kaybee feat. Busiswa. Does not disappoint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M9lmguqnQc

A SA one with Niniola, to discover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFd2CHNOD-c

And for a follow-up on that MIDH label (madoras in da house) and although it totally belongs to a deep house thread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3Fe4wzWGEY
and a dub version of another one of his/theirs (original is from 2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKU1ZTpVeTw
sounds like some of the best house to my ears

Damn, “Banomoya” is sensational!

“Monini” has been posted already. Niniola is obviously very much in demand in SA, post-“Maradona”. She’s also featured, along with Ntombi, on the new Heavy K, “Let Them Talk”:

https://youtu.be/6ICWCqVuuxw

(Heavy’s album has been announced for September)

xps

Yep - unless the Google Ass is so smart that it new he MEANT to say “Play me some Afrobeat[-track]s”.

That playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/thesoundsofspotify/playlist/1pkTiB2M94dKQLcG3K5z4t?si=ZAnHDIw_SPi7WV0KA6R4fw

it *knew*

lol wtf are they doing

Boyega even apparently pulled strings to get a WizKid song into Pacific Rim II

"Banoyama" and "Monini" are outstanding, thanks!

I know some people have professed their love for the portuguese side of Africa (Angola mainly) or were hoping to hear more from the french-speaking side. But it's crazy how Nigeria and South Africa are the two dominant poles. I'm wondering if it'd make sense to have a 2019 thread for each (pole), collabs allowed on both. I guess it's just that afropop/beats does not mean so much in SA, and that term sort of orients the content we post in this thread (obviously), to the detriment of other African musical veins.
Thoughts ?

I have thought about suggesting that exact kind of thread split as my lack of participation itt is usually due to recs I don't recognize piling up unlistened + a general sense of not following the SA stuff as much as the Nigerian/Ghanaian stuff (let alone the rest of the continent). I never did though because the user base is so small I worried balkanizing the thread would just reduce participation further. Also not sure what to do with the non-polar stuff--a third thread?

Also it's amazing the number of iconic songs Busiswa has lent her voice to. There should be a wiki article about her particular style of... toasting. I think that style contributes a lot to those hits that are neither entirely house (where you have a diva singing) or pop (again, sung).

And to answer you rob, maybe keep a general afropop thread (afrobeats + others), and then have a specialized offshoot for SA afro-house / gqom, and all things African that aren't pop hits (by which I mean the pop hits that go from r&b to pop to dancehall), including things that are too "complex" or mellow to be called pop. Not implying a de facto dismissive judgment of afrobeats.
Hopefully, most people would be happy to contribute to both and it would rather encourage participation.

I definitely think it's worth trying!

This advice gets tossed out a lot as a panacea to any ILM ill, but it would also make sense to have a few more focused threads. I think a lot of the flack the rolling threads used to get was off-base, but I wonder if they exert a kind of gravity on emerging artists that prevents them from getting their own threads even after they've become really established--like it's weird there's no Wizkid or Yemi Alade or Busiswa threads, but it's also hard to feel any urgency right this minute to start them

this. also keep to get the house music covered more

Hmmm. I guess it's worth a try but I'm not exactly certain that we need two threads. I like being able to open one and feel like I'm not missing out on something elsewhere, lol. I already feel like there would be more soca action on this board if we posted soca in the dancehall thread instead of splitting it off. But this is mostly a question of convenience, since I've been so busy lately that I haven't had the time to contribute much myself in any of these threads. Would it be an idea to try to find a new, more precise and inclusive title for next year's rolling afro thread?

I do think Wizkid in 2018 would deserve his own thread though. He has been on fire throughout the year.

(fwiw longneck I was thinking of combining the soca and dancehall threads next year)

taking my own advice: Wizkid (aka Starboy)

Obviously, trying to cover a whole continent’s (well, the sub-Saharan part of it anyway) pop music (in the broadest sense) with all its different genres has always been a pretty ridiculous endeavour to begin with, but such is the state of ILM. An I Love African Music board would have dozens of threads by genre, country, artist, song, album etc, but with the user base here being so small I’m not sure what would be the best way to go about it.

On Spotify I maintain separate playlists for Nigerian, Ghanaian, South African, East African, Francophone, Lusophone, and “other” West African tracks. Even though this is still very generalised and reductive, it would probably be much too “balkanised” for ILM.

If a separation needs to be made, I guess of the suggestions so far nabozo’s second one, of an offshoot for SA afrohouse and gqom and other less poppy stuff, makes the most sense to me. (That would imply that a SA rap joint would “belong” on the general afropop thread, no?)

[Counterpoint: even if the house and gqom might feel different, they actually overlap quite organically with Angolan kuduro, Nigerian shagqom shagqom (yes, I’m trying to make this a thing!) etc.]

So yeah, I have no idea whether this would work better in terms of participation, but maybe it’s worth a try? It’s not like there’s a lot of traction now, unfortunately.

The soca scene is becoming huge in Bristol and various other cities in the UK, which is unusual because it's not known for its Trini population.

FWIW I'm absolutely loving Eddy Kenzo's 'Gear Lever', an EOY track for me

If any of you fancy sharing your Spotty playlists, I'd love to hear them

Spotify playlist: ILM rolling Afropop / Afrobeats 2018🕸

On my account [which you can access through the above playlist] I have several other public playlists with tracks per year on a country / region basis that I constantly update. Feel free to follow!

ah cool i didn't realise we were continuing with those. fantastic!

What do you mean? The ILM Rolling playlist is an ongoing thing obviously, the other playlists are my own.

Just noticed that a) by copying the post, I killed the link to the Rolling playlist
b) Spotify doesn’t show your public playlists in a useful way through this kind of link anyway

So: once again, here is our ILM rolling Afropop / Afrobeats 2018 playlist

(now also including Angolan megabanger “Sem Maldades” by Os Santiagos!)

...and here is a direct link to my Spotify profile page, from where it should be easy to link through to my various (mainly) Afropop-themed public playlists: You can click that link here.

Not got time to look through thread but I hope people npticed that Youssou N'Dour got a gig in the Proms this year. It's on BBC4 now so will be on iplayer I assume. Started at 11 and goes on to I think 12.30am