rolling afropop / afrobeats 2018

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

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

Lol I came here to ask if it'd been posted already. Successful collab.

And of course there is now also this thread:

Wizkid aka Starry

Wizkid aka Starboy

Good things come in pairs:

Two by/with DJ Sumbody:

“Monate Mpolaye” feat. Cassper Nyovest, Thebe & Vettis, his follow-up to “Ayepyep”:

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

...and “Hoana Ho” by Calvin Fallo x DJ Sumbody ft. Carlo & Liquid Metsi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyrvsS9xRiY

And two by Olamide with his new best producer friend Killertunes:

the mighty “Motigbana”, one of the biggest songs in Nigeria right now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR5dPcoIjOQ

...and the brand new “Logba Logba”, a song that feels magical to me, sure to be in my EOY top 10:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZV4O1Yjik8

(in the past 12 months Killertunes has given us Yeba + Manya + Oshe + Nowo + Bobo + Baba + Fake Love + Motigbana + Logba Logba = truly Shabalistica!)

https://2minuteshowersongs.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yvv7bzTe1Y

Niniola • Bana

And oh, hello NJxSA shagqom shagqom interzone!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mcpeSB80aM

Mr. Real ft. DJ Maphorisa x Niniola x Vista x DJ Catzico • Legbegbe (Remix)

finally listening to the Busiswa album and it's soooo good wow. one of the best things i've heard all year

Like Bana

There's a Major Lazer / Burna Boy that I feel felt just short of doing something truly great, misses a chorus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW4KbVdISps&index=9

This being end of September, I wonder if it'd be time to look back and have a fun top 12 tracks of the year so far.
So that we all catch up to the things we've missed before the end of the year :)

Get your fresh Wizkid here!

since beastcrawl is being sectarian with his wizkid thread (teasing), let's have the leftovers here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7WfPHHXCAY
First single since Outside. Really digging new Burna Boy's style, he owns this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHGcGMLMrQA
whenever however... could stay together... forever. Rudeboy and Patoranking must have had a latina chick on their minds.

Let's make it clearer that I find Gbona completely awesome and the rightful heir to Soco.

Believe it or not, the Wizkid thread was started by rob! (although I would have done it if he hadn’t)

I love “Gbona” too.

Also, this song makes me extremely happy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZJcRkfeL0g

MzVee feat. Kuami Eugene • Bend Down

(Not nearly enough Ghana jams in this thread, btw)

On a completely different tip, the new Kwesta is fire as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x7NASKk3P0

“Vur Vai”

yah "Gbona" is seriously good. I've thought about starting a Burna Boy/Outside thread but my thread maintenance ability is obvs not so strong ;)

Vur Vai is a jam!

Have we discussed the Onipa EP yet? It's a lot of fun

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

My day is a little boring so I'll do my personal top

1. Wizkid - Soco
2. Teni - Askamaya
3. Niniola - Bana
4. Burna Boy - Ph City Vibration
5. Skepta / Wizkid - Energy (Stay far away)
6. Burna Boy - Ye
7. Mr Real - Legbegbe
8. Burna Boy - Gbona
9. KiDi - Adiepena
10. Not3s / Maleek Berry - Sit back down
11. Mr Eazi / Efya - Mame (Give me)
12. Wizkid - Fever

1. Prince Kaybee / LA Soulmates - Club Controller
2. Prince Kaybee / Busiswa / TNS - Banomoya
3. Sun-EL Musician feat Simmy - Ntaba Ezikude
4. Sun-EL Musician - Sonini
5. Dj Fortree / Niniola - Monini
6. TDK MaCassette ft Dj Raybel x Dj Maphorisa x Dash - iWalk ye Phara
7. Muungu Africa / Niniola - Lazaro
8. Dj Mshega Ft. Lady Zamar - The End
9. Kwesta - Vur Vai
10-rest: Other Sun-El Musician songs from the album

Solid lists, Nabozo. I’m too lazy to make my own, but my big three are “Soco”, “Fake Love” and “Akwaaba”. The two Prince Kaybees are probably my favorite South African tracks as well.

People, once again I ask of you: Has any of Davido post-“Fia” singles sounded as good as this collabo?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0XMnzsl7P4

DMW feat. Davido, Duncan Mighty, Peruzzi & Fresh VDM • Aza


Related: 2Baba & Peruzzi’s “Amaka”, posted a while back, has proven to be very enduring. Such a funky little jam.

You've still got chances to be in the first 100'000 to see Banomoya's video
Busiswa brings (gay) colorful flashiness again, and this close from popping her tits out, I like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWSBhp4FQH0

It’s at 128K now - that video is insanely good, just like everything else about “Banomoya”.

More hard-hitting gqom:
Mzokoloko feat. Madanon, Emza & Prince Bula • Injabulo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PZcENZJ_C0

Pre-gqom: Heavy-K’s imaginatively titled new album Respect The Drumboss 2018 is out (it’s on Spotify). Plenty of good stuff (unfortunately “Let Them Talk” with Ntombi & Niniola is not on it), but very disappointing that none of the singers are credited. Those two tracks towards the end though,
”Hamba Nam”and ”Amasela”!

Banomoya and Injabulo are so good. will have to check out the Heavy-K album soon