NATIVE Exclusive: Jail Time Records Is The Home of Cameroon’s Incarcerated Artists
A showcase of the strength of community and the redemptive power of music.
In November 2022, Jail Time Records, a non-profit record label made up of rappers, singers, producers and filmmakers formerly and currently incarcerated in Cameroon’s Douala Central Prison, released its first compilation album ‘Jail Time, Vol. 1.’ The album is a collection of 24 tracks that revolves around Rap, Afrobeats, Afro-trap, Drill and Afro-house. Through an assemblage of languages spoken in Cameroon—French, English, Douala, Fulbè, Bamoun, Bassa and Sango—several artists chronicle life behind bars and explore themes of frustration, pain, love, guilt, hope, social and political criticism. The album is a showcase of the strength of community and the redemptive power of music.
“It’s always a matter of chemistry or alchemy how you compose an album, especially when you have hundreds of songs to choose from. It’s not always easy but it kind of made sense,” says Dione Roach, one of the co-founders of Jail Time Records. “The songs had different themes. They had different feelings [and] different emotions. It kind of created a bit of a story, a narrative around this universe of incarceration. So I think we were looking for that diversity. And that’s why there’s also the skits in the album, sounds from the prison, a [recording of a guy] speaking, interviews or even phone calls between one of the artists and his daughter.”
Variety lives on ‘Jail Time, Vol. 1.’ Songs like D.O.X.’s “Loubards,” Empereur’s “Sa Ngando,” Do Stylo’s “Sang Or Argent” and Kengol DJ’s “Ça Va Aller” are hard-hitting Rap songs with verve and power; songs like Makondo’s “Low” dwell on introspective topics; Jeje, who is the only woman and Nigerian on the tracklist, provides catchy melodies on “Show Me The Way,” and these melodies are replicated on D.O.X’s Vidou H-assisted “Offline,” Landy’s D.O.X. and Debit-featuring “Tuerie 1” and Vankings’ D.O.X.-assisted “Micky Mouse.”
For most of the artists on ‘Jail Time, Vol. 1’, which is dedicated to the memory of Chimico, one of Jail Time Records’ artists who passed on in 2019, the project is a major milestone in their lives. “They are really excited and really proud because most of them had never had music released before,” Roach says. “And in general, it gives them a lot of optimism and it gives them even more desire to commit and go further with the music.”
Between 2017 and 2018, Dione Roach, who is a multidisciplinary artist working with photography, video and painting, was a volunteer with the Italian NGO Centro Orientamento Educativo (COE), at Douala Central Prison in Cameroon. It was her first time in Africa. During that time, while she gave painting workshops and organised dance and music events, she met a group of rappers—Stone Larabik, King Ice, Chimico, Do Stylo, Picsou—called La meute des penseurs, which translates as “the wolf pack of thinkers,” who would then invite Roach to their rehearsals. “They were rehearsing every day in the death sentence court of the prison. It’s a crazy space,” she says. “Sometimes they use it as a church. Other times they use it to watch soccer. Other times it’s a restaurant. There’s a lot of drug trafficking as well and stuff. That was my first contact with the musical part [of the prison].”
Roach, who was born in Italy and was surrounded by art and familial support all her life, became thrilled by the dedication and passion of the musicians who didn’t come from backgrounds that encouraged their artistic leanings. She approached COE for funding to build a recording studio inside the prison and both the NGO and prison officials obliged her. Afterwards, she met Steve Happi (aka Vidou H), a multi-instrumentalist, sound engineer, producer and singer who became Jail Time Records’ in-house producer and her co-founder.
In hindsight, Happi and Roach’s meeting seem divinely orchestrated. Throughout Roach’s volunteer activities in the prison, their paths never crossed. Happi spent most of his mornings and afternoons in his cell and used the nights to stretch his legs and mind. One midnight, a late pal who knew he was into music told him about a “young white lady” who frequented the prison and had kick-started plans to build a recording studio. The friend spoke to Roach about Happi and the two met and, while in conversation, discovered that they shared a lot in common. A couple of months later, as her time in Cameroon as a volunteer was coming to an end, Roach handed Happi the key to the studio and told him he was in charge of it.
At Jail Time Records, Happi kept an open-door policy, allowing anyone who showed interest in music to stay and record. When Roach returned to Cameroon five months later, Happi had recorded over a hundred songs spanning Hip-Hop, R&B, Afropop and Gospel. She was impressed with the efforts of Happi and the other prisoners and decided to create a functional music label and release those songs to the public. After Happi left the prison in 2020, he handed control of the studio to Stone Larabik.
“It was really a new experience,” says Happi about his time in prison and making music. “It’s not even something you take [a] decision like, ‘Yeah, it’s about to be a new experience.’ No. You are just living the experience because you are behind bars. The conditions are really different. The spirit is really different. Your soul is acting different. Prison is another world. Your creative processes are really different. The inspiration is even different. You are in the middle of four walls and that’s when music [becomes] an instrument of resistance, an instrument of sharing, an instrument about knowing people.”
Happi’s experience in prison also taught him about the motivations and desires of the inmates whose songs he recorded. Those songs offered him a peek into the mental and emotional psyche of the artists who sang or rapped about personal and familial travails, often basing their songs on their memories of their fathers, mothers, children or friends. “It was more about [the] real lessons of life. They even educate you through the stories. So for me, it was a huge experience about resistance,” he says.
The first music video shot in Douala Central Prison was for La meute des penseurs’ “MERCI” in 2019. It was directed, filmed and edited by Roach. Since then, she has handled the direction of the music videos for tracks from Jail Time Records’ artists. These music videos—Stone Larabik’s “Fils du terre terre (Freestyle),” Landy’s “Tuerie 1,” Empereur’s “Sa Ngando,” Abdel’s “Soungoula,” Jeje’s “Show Me The Way” and D.O.X.’s “Offline”—feature grittiness and unsophisticated emotions that highlight the harsh circumstances surrounding the artists. In some of the videos, Roach adds body painting as a costume choice to give the visuals another dimension.
“The prison is always the same space and it’s very limited. So we have to find stuff to make it different,” Roach says. “You have to find just different visual colours or you have to be quite creative to make it a bit different. Otherwise, it will always be the same because it’s the same place. So yeah, I think out of that limitation, it kind of made me want to explore an art direction that took on different elements.”
In December 2021, Jail Time Records built a new recording studio outside the prison. The reason for the new studio was to ensure an easy transition for the ex-convicted artists into free citizens of the community. “For a lot of guys, when they come out of prison, it becomes quite difficult if we have to bring them back to prison to record,” Roach says. “Like already it’s not that easy for them if we’re not there to have access [to studios] and then a lot of them don’t really want to go back to prison because there’s a lot of bad memories.
“That’s why it was important to keep the guys busy, to keep them working, to keep them focused once they leave because actually, the most sensitive moment is when they leave prison because that’s when it’s like, ‘Okay, what happens now? Are you really going to change your life or are you going to go back to the life you were living before?’ And you know a lot of them come from quite disadvantaged backgrounds and maybe the families won’t take them in or they need money. So it’s important to be there at that stage and keep them motivated.”
Jail Time Records plans to help some of the artists to launch solo careers. One of those artists is Jeje who has always been committed to music since she was 18 and who Roach says is “incredibly talented.” Aside from music, the record label, through Roach and Happi’s savings, has found accommodation for some of their artists and given out capital to others to set up businesses. Roach reveals that it is just recently that the label got funding from the Moleskine Foundation and the Supporting Act Foundation.
Happi, who produced and engineered all the tracks on ‘Jail Time, Vol. 1,’ found the process challenging but fulfilling. “I don’t like to put boundaries [on myself] because I don’t have the audacity to judge people. It was really a matter of spirituality. It was a matter of connection [and] energy,” he says. He also reveals that Roach was pivotal to the process. “She’s the kind of person that’s going to tell you, ‘Mix this and that.’ She was the one who told me, ‘Yeah, it’s good to make traditional music, but I would like you to put maybe a traditional singer on a trap beat. She’s a producer too. I told her, ‘You don’t know this, but you are a producer. It’s not only about making beats.’”
In terms of the promotion of the album, Jail Time Records offers some of the artists who are outside the prison the opportunity to perform at concerts and find new audiences. The record label also plans to expand its reach to other prisons in Africa. “[In] 2023, we are going to go to MACO (Maison d’Arrêt et de Correction de Ouagadougou) prison in Burkina Faso. [We were] there for like a workshop last year (2021) and we’re going to build a studio there as well,” Roach says. “But as you can imagine, Nigeria is a dream in terms of musical potential. And so Lagos [has] always been on our top list of places we would love to go and bring the project.”
Yet, those aren’t the only plans Roach and Happi, who describes his experiences in prison—meeting Roach, working with fellow incarcerated artists and making ‘Jail Time, Vol. 1’—as “a blessing,” have in store for the label and themselves. In the future, Happi and Dionne plan for Jail Time Records to really become a kind of movement and an established platform for the voices of prisoners and for great music as well. Roach says, “and to have as big as an impact it can have on the life of the people involved and of their families and the community and society as a whole.
Now, Jail Time Records has their sights set on making a documentary. “We’ve been working on a documentary of the life of the artists inside prison. Hopefully, we will get done this year. And for us as artists, I think I can speak for both of us, there’s a lot of creativity [around us that is stimulating]. All these people we work with have such strong stories and the cultures they come [from]—because they all come from different ethnic groups and different backgrounds—there’s so much cultural richness [and] it’s a very fertile environment for creativity, for imagination and work. So I think it’s just to bring as much of that out artistically as we can.”
Stream ‘Jail Time, Vol. 1′ below.
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Best New Music: Ayra Starr Turns Youthful Swagger Into Sensual Elegance On “Hot Body”
On “Hot Body,” Ayra Starr sings with the relaxed certitude of a woman in command of her sexuality and...
All year, Ayra Starr’s music, visual aesthetic, and social media presence have shown us a new version of her. She seems to be outgrowing the teenager we met in 2021, and molding her grown woman identity right in our presence. In the video for “Gimme Dat,” her second single of the year, featuring Wizkid, we see the red convertible that featured on the cover for her 2024 album, ‘TYIT21,’ and extensively across music videos from that era being blown up into a crisp. It seemingly symbolised the end of one era and the birth of “Hot Body” and everything it represents.
When Ayra was introduced, her music explored themes tied to youth and the emotional fragility that comes with navigating that period of your life. The ‘19 and Dangerous’ era showed us a self-confident teenager who was sure of who she wanted to be. However, “Hot Body” signals something entirely different. Produced by Ragee with additional input from The Elements, it’s crystal clear from the first listen that Ayra is owning her allure and agency.
Employing a rhythm that feels retro-made for a cross between GRWM prep with the girls and sweaty dancefloor shifts, her vocal delivery feels almost like an incantation. It’s seductive. She’s fully in control of your gaze and even dictates what you do with it. On “Hot Body,” Ayra Starr sings with the relaxed certitude of a woman in command of her sexuality and space.
Her performance here is rife with context. Having graduated from teenage histrionics on ‘19 & Dangerous’ to the introspective, emotional maturity of her 2024 sophomore album, ‘The Year I Turned 21,’ Ayra Starr has grown not only in voice, but in message and presence. ‘The Year I Turned 21’ charted at No. 1 across DSPs in Nigeria and cracked the US Billboard 200, making her the first Nigerian female artist to enter that chart. This is a clear marker of her ascension into adulthood, and we can hear it in the music and see it in its visual accompaniment.
“Hot Body” feels like the logical next step after ‘The Year I Turned 21.’ Where that record explored vulnerability, grief, ambition, and identity, “Hot Body” distills the confidence born from that journey into a potent, sensual exhale. She’s no longer defining herself against the world; instead, she’s defining how the world should perceive her.
Lyrically, “Hot Body” is playful but bold, with just enough suggestion to feel grown and sexy without losing the thrill of young self‑discovery. Sonically, it’s sleek and minimalist, yet it’s brimming with the palpable charm of some of the best music of the 2000s–think Beyoncé and Sean Paul’s “Baby Boy” or Rihanna’s “Rehab.”
The rollout for the song matched its effortless energy. A snippet on TikTok and Instagram teased an accompanying dance to the song, and fans responded instantly, turning the anticipation into instant engagement. Capped at two minutes, it’s a release primed for our era of bite‑size virality: short, immediate, and boasting insane replay value.
Yet, what distinguishes “Hot Body” from many viral tracks is the assuredness of Ayra’s journey. She stormed charts with “Rush,” became the youngest Nigerian woman to surpass 100 million YouTube views, and earned a Grammy nomination for it–a badge of early achievement and youthful potential.
That youth is now transfigured. On “Hot Body,” Ayra embodies her new identity. What once sounded like a prophecy has become her reality: global collaborations, awards, stadium stages, modeling runways, and a major film role all fit into a broader canvas that her early self prayed for. “Hot Body” sits at the convergence of Ayra’s journey. It’s youthful swagger that has mutated into deliberate elegance; curious vulnerability solidified into mastery; and ambition shaped into ownership.
“Hot Body” is made for the dancefloor, but when you’re alone, it’s the perfect backdrop for the walk of recognition in a well-lit room as you give yourself flowers. Ayra tells us in this song that she knows who she is, what she looks like, and that’s enough.
Listen to “Hot Body” here.
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uNder: Best New Artists (July, 2025)
Our July edition features Danpapa GTA, Luwa.Mp4, BrotherKupa, and Andi K.
The conversations that keep coming up during our daily newsroom more often than not revolve around platforming the music we love and the communities that surround its wider culture. Very regularly, the music that excites our team reflects The NATIVE’s vision of being a bastion of music from parts of Africa and the Black diaspora. There are exciting acts from the ever-evolving Nigerian music underground, rappers experimenting with Dance Music and Hip-Hop from South Africa, as well as emotive singers whose work blurs the boundary between Hip-Hop and R&B.
Discovering these acts, being blown away by their skills, and sharing our community about them continues to excite us more than three years after we conceived this column as a platform to spotlight talents that represent all that’s exciting about African music. In a world where marketing budgets, ad spends, and PR placements continue to reshape the music landscape, uNder is still our way of raging against the system and spotlighting deserving acts whose works are vital to sustaining the creative spirit that makes African music indispensable. For our July entry, we have Danpapa GTA, Luwa.Mp4, BrotherKupa, and Andi K, a cohort that is united by a thrilling sense of freewheeling experimentation that is sure to serve them well as their career progresses. We hope you enjoy discovering them half as much as we enjoyed listening to their music and writing about them.
Luwa.Mp4
For Fans Of: Odunsi (The Engine), Naeto C, and Odd Future.
In many respects, Punk Rock and Hip-Hop share similarities. They are defiant artistic responses to being misunderstood or marginalized by wider society. They can be loud and abrasive, and center their creators’ angst or disquiet to the max. Fused, Punk Rock and Hip-Hop presents a whole new proposition, delivering a heightened sensory experience that shocks, jolts, and instantly demands attention. The most recent music by rapper and singer, Luwa.Mp4, channels the livewire edge of that fusion in his music, musing on topics from seeking freedom and peace as well as celebrating financial success while revealing a fascinating contradiction between the thunderous sonics of his music and the subtler thematic references he works with.
It’s all part of a process that has been in the work since the start of his career. Some of his earliest works, like the three-pack, “iLuwa,” with songs like “Goku” and “Revenge,” present a cyber abstraction of his music that is at once riotous and thrilling in its embrace of the macabre. Almost as though he’s aware of the trade-off between satisfying a diverse audience, the trap-influenced “Left-Right,” is an earnest anthem that reveals a layer of sensitivity to the singer born Ayooluwa Akindeji-Oladeji. That eternal struggle between his dystopian vision and the grounding human impulses has continued to influence and colour the margins of Luwa.Mp4’s work. He brought a twinge of acuity to 2022’s “Rage Anthem” with Jeremy Cartier, SportVVS, and Danielscoffin, showing that raging is a function of feeling first and foremost.
As prolific as he is genre-nonconformist, Luwa.Mp4 has experimented with Pop, Soft Rock, and Afropop across his career, displaying a preternatural ability for deconstructing sounds and reinterpreting them in his image. 2024’s “Don Gorgon,” a searing yearner’s anthem, set the stage for “Cython +,” a futuristic two-pack take on Afropop and Rock. Later that year, he released his debut album, ‘Trial & Error,’ referencing the frenzied nature of his releases and the genre-hopping that he has made a calling card. Still, ‘Trial & Error’ is not a random collection of loosies or B-side releases. Across 10 songs and 22 minutes, we are immersed in his life, his motivations, and the fits that catch his fancy. ”Imma show you what it really means for me to live like this,” he sings on “H OR H.” He has kept up his prolific streak in 2025, releasing two new extended plays, ‘lore skool’ and ‘lore skool; xtra crediT,’ that find new ways to memorialise his lifestyle while opening new lanes of expression for Luwa.Mp4. – W.O
Andi K
For fans of: Tyla, Elaine, and Tinashe
Andi K always wants you to move. Even with only a handful of singles released, it’s pretty obvious that the Atlanta-based, Congolese singer and dancer’s musical sensibilities are largely rooted in R&B, but it’s her choice of production that’s usually tailored for the dancefloor or, at the very least, suited for hip gyration. While her honeyed voice, smooth like silk, gives her music a lustrous feel, it’s the way she wields it across different dance-inspired beats that truly sets her apart.
On “All Night,” her first official release from early in 2020, she interpolates the famous melodies from Kevin Lyttle’s 2003 hit single “Turn Me On” over a groovy Dancehall-inspired beat. Her next appearance on a record wouldn’t come until two years later, when she collaborated with super producer Shizzi and WurlD on a single titled “Forever.” Even with only one single under her belt before this collab, she displayed a convincing proficiency alongside two seasoned acts that belied her limited experience. A few months later, she linked up with Atlanta-based producer Quantum Flash for “Ignite,” a House-inspired number that excels thanks to its minimalist groove and Andi K’s sweet harmonies.
Between 2023 and 2024, the singer released two solo singles: the Amapiano-influenced “Kiss” and “Don’t Let Me Go,” a slinky joint that consolidates elements of Afropop and R&B with seamless ease. This year, the singer has released two extra singles. “Ceilings,” which came out in early January, is arguably her most experimental release yet. It centres her rich Congolese heritage as she mixes the percussive Coupé-décalé with R&B and Afropop, making sure she keeps her listeners on their feet. Her latest single, “Amour,” is a tranquil addition to her catalogue. It’s also the closest she’s come to making a traditional R&B song, proving she’s just as proficient making bulletproof bops as she is delivering slow jams. – B.A
BrotherKupa
For Fans Of: Internet Girl, Blxckie, and Playboi Carti
It’s almost a given that new monarchs will rise with frequency in South African Hip-Hop. In the country that gave the continent rap stars like Cassper Nyovest, Nasty C, and A-Reece, Hip-Hop continues to co-exist with its dance variants. In rising star, BrotherKupa, the Rainbow Country has a new Hip-Hop hero who’s demanding attention for his exciting lyricism, tight-knit worldbuilding, and spastic flow. Taking inspiration directly from his experiences, the circumstances of his come-up, and how he navigates the unpredictable nature of life, BrotherKupa’s songs sound lived-in, boasting an interiority that’s informed by stuff he’s seen and heard of without being overburdened by the tough times.
He first emerged with a series of loosies and freestyles on SoundCloud around 2020. “SWGBCK” and “GOIN’ 2 HARD” laid bare the motivation for his grind: he just wanted to elevate himself and his family while looking fly. Those early dispatches were built of rattling percussions and fluid snares that platformed BrotherKupa’s voice as he worked his way to some sort of emotional catharsis on these songs. The singer started to come into his own on 2023’s “Motion in pain,” a shapeshifting thesis on pain that was bookended by ‘Worstfeelineva’ and ‘Worstfeelineva2.’ He experienced mainstream breakthrough with the release of 2024’s ‘Teen Revolution,’ a groundbreaking release for the singer who incorporated elements of spoken words, trap, and trance music into a coming-of-age arc that was packed with his thoughts on family, love, and working his way to the top of South African music.
He showcased his comfort with South African dance music on experimental releases like “GQOM FREESTYLE” and “Limpopo Freestyle,” setting the stage for the May release of “BEFORE THE WORST,” an eight-track release that picked up where ‘Teen Revolution’ stopped. It’s a freewheeling journey through the singer’s mind, motifs, and traumas, with specific highlights on “Today is a good day” and “Cups and Feels.” With back-to-back well-received projects, BrotherKupa is on an upward trajectory that shows no sign of stopping as he continues to excavate the minutiae details of his life for inspiration for a new generation hanging on his every word. – W.O
Danpapa GTA
For Fans of: July Drama, Minz, and Seyi Vibez
Describing Danpapa GTA’s music is no easy task. While many of the young singer and producer’s songs draw inspiration from Afropop, it’s the multitude of other influences he manages to infuse into his records that make them both unique and sometimes hard to pin down. Take “Oja” for example, the opener from his latest three-pack EP ‘Balenciaga kuti.’ The song opens up with these blaring horn arrangements that sound like it was put together by a brass band ensemble, before transitioning into a bouncy Afropop number with a slight psychedelic twist. “Vanity,” the project’s closing track, is also similar in its eccentricity. Think of those quick-fire flows that acts like Asake and Seyi Vibez popularised, over the sort of immersive and experimental production that the likes of Cruel Santino or Odunsi The Engine might favour.
Taking the reins of his music production, Danpapa GTA, born Akinlemibola Omotoyosi, has been able to craft tracks that are almost singular in their creation. Listening to his lean discography, which currently comprises two EPs and a few singles, is like watching a flower bloom in real time. After releasing a handful of loosies on his Soundcloud page, some of which feature prevalent samples from artists like Tems and anonymous American singer-songwriter Shiloh Dynasty, Danpapa GTA made his first official release in early 2024 with a five-track EP titled ‘Chanel.’ The project is defined by a slightly muted sound and the sort of eclecticism he only showed in bits on his earlier releases. Cuts like the title track, “Demonic,” which features Pilzee and “High Fashion Love” all excel thanks to GTA’s innovative singing and production.
Following the official release of his debut, Danpapa GTA put his foot on the gas, releasing a handful of other singles like “4G” and the short but extremely catchy “Pressure,” while also teasing multiple unreleased songs across his different social media accounts. In that timeframe, he also featured on a couple of tracks from similarly upcoming acts, broadening his oeuvre while also solidifying his reputation as a uniquely gifted act to keep an eye on. His recent three-pack, ‘Balenciaga kuti,’ continues his left-field sonic experimentation, as he looks to establish himself as one of the leading figures of this new wave of talented underground artists striving to leave their mark. – B.A
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Tiwa Savage Teams Up With Skepta For “On The Low”
The queen of Afrobeats’ latest single finally arrives with an elegant guest verse from British rapper and...
Tiwa Savage has released a new single titled “On The Low.” After teasing a snippet of her new release a couple of weeks ago, the queen of Afrobeats’ latest single finally arrives with an elegant guest verse from British rapper and producer Skepta, and it’s set to appear on ‘This One Is Personal,’ her fourth studio album, which is reportedly set for release on August 29, 2025.
The iconic singer has been promoting her forthcoming album for a few months now after first announcing it in April with a trailer video that saw Savage admiring nostalgic footage that cuts across her extensive career. She confirmed in press releases that this new project was about her reconnecting with her first love, stating that ‘I’m a ’90s R&B girl at heart.’
The album announcement was accompanied by the release of its lead single “You4Me,” a soulful ballad that cleverly works a snippet of Tamia’s 1998 classic “So Into You” into its orbit. “On The Low” continues Savage’s promise to return to the soulful R&B style that initially formed the bedrock of her sound. The two legends dovetail nicely over Rymez’s smooth production, as the UK MC’s typically sturdy and enunciated verses bookend a heartfelt performance from the award-winning singer.
‘This One Is Personal’ is set to arrive as Savage’s first album in almost five years. In the period since her last album and this upcoming one, she’s released a handful of singles like “Pick Up,” “100 Million,” and she’s also featured on standout tracks like “Toma Toma,” and “Awolowo (Remix).” Last year, she also released a soundtrack album for her debut motion picture ‘Water & Garri.’
Listen to “On The Low” here.
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