Kah-Lo, Brazy & the women inventively fusing rap and dance in Nigerian music
A niche corner where the creative bonafides are being furthered by women.
“You ask what it is I’m doing/Hip-Hop house, hip-hop jazz/with a little pizzazz,” the great Queen Latifah rapped on her cult classic slapper, “Come into My House.” Off her 1989 debut album, ‘All Hail the Queen’, the song’s make-up—giddy raps over the four-on-the-floor bassline of House Music—wasn’t exactly novel, but it’s undeniably a seminal entry in a then-nascent, hybrid musical style. As a member of the Native Tongues collective, Queen Latifah was in close proximity to the Jungle Brothers, whose 1988 hit song, “I’ll House You,” is widely heralded as a marquee point in the early symbiosis between rap and House music.
Also comprising the critically acclaimed, influential groups De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, the Native Tongues collective was best known for turning out personal and socially introspective raps, with an emphasis on spiritual black consciousness. Their musical choices were just as outré, mainly influenced by Jazz from a couple of decades before the ‘80s and ‘90s. They also opened up their music to inspirations from across styles pioneered by black artists before them, evidenced by the occasional but enduring foray into House.
Native Tongues affiliate Monie Love dropped “Grandpa’s Party” in 1990, another classic example of a rapper taking to House Music production. On the song, she pays homage to Afrika Bambaataa, the Hip-Hop pioneer who sampled German electronic group Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express” on his 1981 hit song, “Planet Rock,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Dance charts. Following the RIAA Gold-certified success of Afrika Bambaataa’s single, more than a handful of rap artists in the ‘80s tried their voice at house, electronic and varying forms of dance music. With Monie Love and Queen Latifah, alongside Salt-N-Pepa with their 1987 smash hit, “Push It,” women in Hip-Hop firmly entered this side of fusion in rap.
In 2014, Harlem-raised rapper Azealia Banks dropped ‘Broke with Expensive Taste’, her kickass debut album where her silver-tongued flow and sleek melodies elegantly strutted over a wide range of production choices, from the shimmery thump of House and UK Garage to the exotic swing of Caribbean pop, Merengue and more. Even though ‘Broke with Expensive Taste’ was often labelled ‘Hip House’, it felt like an antithesis to most of the music lumped within the same category. Compared to uber-popular songs from artists like Flo Rida and Pitbull, Azealia embraced a grittier, panoramic approach, rather than co-opt the now overly mainstream (read: white) tilt of EDM, Tropical House and other related genres.
House music originated as the term for the music that was played at underground parties in the ‘70s and ‘80s by inventive, pioneering DJs like Frankie Knuckles, Larry Levan and more. Before House, Disco dominated mainstream music in the mid to late ‘70s, but its roots in the ballroom culture of marginalised LGBTQ+ communities wasn’t embraced. Its decline was swift, driven partly by racist, homophobic and misogynistic pushback. House music rose from the ashes of Disco. While it has splintered into many subgenres and is a foundational part of many hugely popular dance music styles, its core as a black-originated, queer-championed genre remains central—even if widely overshadowed by how much it’s been co-opted.
Explicitly paying homage to the roots of disco and house is part of what gave the iconic singer Beyoncé’s 2022 album, ‘Renaissance’, its curatorial excellence. Without any hint of hyperbole, “Alien Superstar” and “Thique” are some of the most galvanising rap-dance fusion songs, this side of Queen Latifah’s classic song. Released shortly after Drake, unarguably the biggest rap artist of the last decade and counting, surprise-released his frictionless, house-indebted ‘Honestly, Nevermind’, Beyoncé’s epochal effort is further proof that women—black women—are constantly setting the bar for excellence in rap-dance crossovers.
That much is true in Nigerian music. Take Kah-Lo, who scored a global hit with “Rinse & Repeat,” a collaboration with British producer Riton. The song reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart and snagged a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording in 2017. On ‘Foreign Ororo’, the 2018 joint project with Riton, Nigerian pop superstars Davido and Mr Eazi (twice) are the marquee features, pulling them into previously uncharted territory. (You could make a case that working with Kah-Lo partly influenced Eazi’s decision to make a dance album—as Chop Life Soundsystem with DJ Edu—where he mostly raps over Amapiano beats.) Swerving between rapping and singing, Kah-Lo’s bubbly energy is gilded by a very Nigerian identity in her cadence, delivering Pidgin-laced quips over Riton’s UK Funky and Techno-driven beats.
A few months back, she released her debut album, ‘Pain/Pleasure’, a 14-track tour through self-affirming experiences and a showcase of curatorial growth. Given the width to work with multiple producers, she toys around with Disco-Funk (“Unbothered”), Afrobeat (“Psycho”) and Amapiano (TMXO-produced “Runaway”), in addition to her affinity for uptempo house bangers. While ‘Pain/Pleasure’ features significantly more singing, Kah-Lo often dips into rapping not just as a variety gambit, but also when she’s making statements. On “Play,” the bridge is the only part that is rapped: “If you like and I like you/Why waste time, what you wanna do?…A bitch like me didn’t come to play.” It’s fun and assertive, same qualifiers that extend to the money-obsessed “fund$” and the hubris-packed “GD Woman.”
From a quality standpoint, Kah-Lo has it all covered. Internationally, there’s a proof of concept commercially; locally, acceptance is relatively low and slow. “I went from people not knowing or considering that I was Nigerian or that I was making really great music, to being on the cover of three national newspapers,” she told The NATIVE shortly before the release of her album. Often, Nigerians are known for embracing other Nigerians achieving notable feats outside the country. Kah-Lo’s Grammy nod and the success of her work with Riton turned some heads, especially in music media and amongst curious listeners. For the casual listeners, it has yet to hit.
Part of that obviously comes down to the uniqueness of Kah-Lo’s music, in comparison to the dominant, mid-tempo styles ruling Nigerian pop at the moment. At that, conforming for a chance at immediate wider success isn’t on mind. “You know when Western artists try to make Afrobeats and it sounds just off. That’s what it sounds like when I try to make Afrobeats,” she says. It’s an incredibly candid admission. In it, you can also glean her understanding of the Nigerian mainstream’s aloofness to dance-fusion efforts. As she relays in the interview, authenticity matters most to her; insistently rapping and singing over varying types of dance production proves that.
While the acceptance for rap-dance fusions, especially from women, is still niche, there’s a proven potential for virality. About a year ago, Nigerian-raised, UK-based Brazy grew in popularity for her breakout song, “Attends,” a streaking banger defined by the rapper’s intoxicating exuberance. As with most things that go viral these days, the catalyst was TikTok. Already buzzing pre-release, with Brazy performing the song on a couple of stages as a preview for familiar fans and new listeners, it didn’t take long for fun, User-generated content to drive its hype.
Prior to “Attends,” Brazy was best as the introductory voice on Cruel Santino’s ‘Subaru Boys: FINAL HEAVEN’. Before that, she had a modest output of singles which, taken together, show her as a curious experimenter who’s unrelenting at flexing. The rudiments of her dance fixations trails back to “SELECTA,” a bubbly UK Funky cut. With “Attends,” her music is more complex, full-bodied and partly taps into Nigerian culture. Prior to the song’s creation, she told The NATIVE that she had been “listening to a lot of Brazilian Funk, French Buoyon Rap, Reggaeton, Dancehall, Trenches Music and so many more random selections.”
The ‘Trenches Music’ Brazy is referring to is the hyper-popular style of Electronic Music originated from the hoods in Lagos. Also referred to as ‘Cruise’, it is guttural and chaotic, thumping drums meets synth melodies meets loud snares meets street lingo and popular catchphrases culled from social media. Pioneered by DJ/producers like Ajimovoix Drums and Tobzy Imole Giwa, the style is distinct—you know it immediately you hear. Cruise is the du jour sound of street raves in hoods around Lagos and surrounding southwestern Nigerian states.
Cruise evolved from the ‘Shaku Shaku’ wave, kick-started circa 2017 with the viral popularity of song’s Slimcase’s “Legbegbe,” DJ Sidez’s “Oshozondi” and Idowest’s “Shepeteri.” Around the same time, the latest mainstream incursion of street-hop and street-pop began to take shape. As admitted by Slimcase to The NATIVE, his early efforts were inspired by Gqom, the South African dance music variant that grew in popularity over the mid-2010s. The floor-shaking bass thump and scuzzy melodies of Gqom was the foundation for those Shaku Shaku hits and, over time, the template was remodelled by top producers like Rexxie and Kel-P (“Killin’ Dem”) to give it a distinctly Nigerian feel and an accessible touch.
The raw, unpolished trademark of Cruise music holds the essence of Shaku Shaku before it went mainstream and its edges were filed out, but ratcheted up a few more degrees. Even though it may feel voyeuristic and extractive, its gritty appeal as a source of inspiration for a curious artist like Brazy, who purely enjoys the music without being entrenched in the culture, is understandable. On her new self-assured and sexy single, “OMG,” the influence of Cruise is apparent, as polished as the sheen is.
Brazy has christened her sound ‘Afro Future’ and/or ‘Afro Sexy’. It continues the controversial attempts of Nigerian artists to differentiate themselves by naming their style with a word and the prerequisite ‘Afro’ prefix. To be fair, Cruise Pop-rap doesn’t roll off the tongue nearly as good as Afro Sexy. If you really think about it, as wildly different as they are, there’s a shared musical basis between Brazy and an artist like Shalipopi, who recently named his style ‘Afro Pluto’. Obviously, Shali’s affinity for production streaked by Amapiano’s log drums is a distinct trait, but his melodic talk-rap style is a pop-rap take on dance music, albeit a style that’s overly pervasive in Nigerian pop at the moment.
Anyways, we’re talking about women doing unique things here.
I think I may have invented a new genre . I’m calling it Alté Mara ! I think it sounds like R&B , Pop , Mara , and Makossa . Tell me what you hear
@yedetti pic.twitter.com/8jqT6QuPzM
— Dump All Your Worries OUT NOW (@SGaWD01) October 24, 2023
A few weeks ago, rap artist SGaWD shared a tweet with an accompanying video, featuring an unreleased song, stating that she might have just founded a new genre. She called it ‘Alté Mara’, which “sounds like R&B, Pop, Mara, and Makossa.” For further description, Mara is “a Nigerian style of EDM.” Asides the fact that Mara is basically another word for Cruise music, the hybridisation does warrant excitement. The snippet slaps. To be a little cynical, the music still falls within the Cruise-inspired spectrum. Back to the excitement, though, SGaWD’s relationship with dance music as a rapper and singer is well-worn.
In August, she released “Dump All Your Worries on the Dancefloor,” a GMK-produced House thumper that immediately evokes a neon-bathed space. “Brace yourselves, I’m the hottest in the room,” she says right at the top, her impeccably smooth, fast-paced flow very Azealia Banks-like. More specifically, it’s reminiscent of “212.” A year before this fairly recent single, she collaborated with producer Ronehi for “Telfar,” effortlessly oozing charisma and sex appeal over a jumpy yet utterly cool beat.
Of consequence also is “Shayo Galore” with Wavy the Creator, a speaker rattler that celebrates alcohol-assisted good times. It seems like there will be more dance-rap fusion releases from SGaWD and while, like Kah-Lo, wide acceptance isn’t guaranteed, a string of songs or maybe projects might make ‘Alte Mara’ an actual thing.
For Aunty Rayzor, her worries aren’t a nominal definition of her sound; the Lagos-raised rapper just wants to bruise her way through beats. For the oblivious, Rayzor raised eyebrows after appearing on a viral freestyle session hosted by Slimcase. Paired with NATIVE uNder alum Daisy in an indigenous female rap tag team, every bar Rayzor spat landed like an explosive Molotov cocktail, creating an inferno of lyricism where the heat threatens to melt your face off through your screen. The best part is that she’s clearly having so much fun barring her heart out.
In September, Aunty Rayzor dropped her debut album, ‘Viral Wreckage’, definitely one of the hardest rap albums in African rap this year. Released through Hakuna Kulala, the Kampala-based record label best known for being affiliated with Nyege Nyege festival and dropping experimental, ultra-left field electronic projects, Rayzor’s jabbing raps are mainly supported by a buzzsaw framework of icy synth melodies and floor-creaking bass. The cast of producers are Hakuna Kulala mainstays, including Scotch Rolex and Debmaster—both primary producers for fellow Kulala rap label mate, MC Yallah.
Inventive Congolese folk-pop artist Titi Bakorta and Kenyan avant-garde pop singer KABEUSHE—both also label-affiliated—assist on the album’s softer moment, giving it some needed dynamism. ‘Viral Wreckage’ is an introduction to Aunty Rayzor, as curated by her label. It turns out to be a beneficial partnership. Considering how straight-down-the-line she is as lyricist, the unconventionality of the production heightens the thrill of listening to her rap with blazing authority. It’s far more positively dizzying than bludgeoning your ears. Think the late, great Dagrin’s iconic verse on Konga’s “Kabakaba,” turned into a singular style and ratcheted up a couple of degrees.
Asides the uber-raunchy Slimcase collab, “Doko,” there’s no song on ‘Viral Wreckage’ with a catchy groove, but it’s still an album with an unambiguously dance/electronic pulse. In fact, Aunty Rayzor adds a different dimension to the rap-dance fusion corner; you might not dance a lot but the music is visceral enough to soundtrack a rave. Also, Rayzor is an indicator that there are more places to creatively explore within a niche sound. In this moment, Rayzor and the multiple women mentioned in this piece are furthering the agenda of doing “Hip-Hop house, hip-hop jazz/with a little pizzazz.”
HIP-HOP SAVED MY LIFE: A LOVE LETTER TO THE GENRE AT 50
Studio monkey shoulder is funding ideas to bring music communities to life
N20 million up for
Following a successful first campaign, Studio Monkey Shoulder returns to Nigeria for the second year in a row. A brainchild of the Scottish Whisky brand Monkey Shoulder and online radio station Worldwide FM, Studio Monkey Shoulder is a grassroots music initiative created to fund trailblazers who are pushing sonic boundaries while also fostering real-world connections across different regions. Last year, Jazzhole received the Nigerian grant to digitally remaster rare archival recordings that preserve and celebrate Nigeria’s rich musical heritage.
This year, the competition, in continued partnership with legendary DJ and Worldwide FM founder Gilles Peterson, once again invites the country’s most innovative and ambitious grassroots music communities – everything from from independent record stores to DIY music venues, online radio stations and collectives – to apply for a £10,000 grant (₦20 million) to bring their hugely imaginative music projects to life.
“I am thrilled to see Studio Monkey Shoulder grow in its second year in partnership with Worldwide FM. It’s been a privilege to work with the communities we supported in 2024, seeing their projects thrive and come to life,” Peterson stated in a press release. “I am excited to uncover more amazing community-driven projects in Nigeria and witness the talent that comes with it as the project evolves in year two.”
The winner of this year’s grant will join an international creative network that’s designed to elevate community voices and bring their stories to a global stage. Applications for Nigeria’s Studio Monkey Shoulder Fund open on April 28th and close on June 1st.
For full details and to apply, visit this website
View this post on Instagram
Keep reading...
How Shallipopi Bent Culture To His Will
Shallipopi embodies Street-Pop but when he says, “Worldwide Plutomanians,” it truly is a worldwide...
One of the most interesting ways that I’ve heard Shallipopi’s music described is that it does nothing for the mind and everything for the body. Recently, I had a conversation with a friend that altered this ethos: music can’t do anything for the body if it does nothing for the mind, the mind has to find those bars and melodies pleasing before backsides move. As “Ahead Ahead” plays in the background of my two-man apartment, one midnight in March, it’s fitting to explore this in more detail, to understand how Shallipopi, self-appointed Pluto Presido, has risen to such heights and what part his Benin roots play in his unrelenting rise to Pop supremacy.
Shallipopi’s Rise to Fame
Shallipopi’s story begins in Benin. To be fair, all stories start in Benin if you believe in the Bini oral pedagogy that the 825-year-old kingdom is the source of the world. The phrase, “Oba ya, oto s ‘evbo ‘ebo,” alludes to the Oba owning all the lands from Benin to the rest of the world. 25-year-old Shallipopi—born Crown Uzama—started making music in 2016, after younger brother, Zerrydl, did in 2015, as mentioned in an October 2024 Echo Room interview.
The rapper, who comes from a line of kingmakers—the Uzamas are one of the highest-ranking chiefs who anoint Obas–didn’t experience success until March 2023 with “Elon Musk” which catapulted him from South-South unknown to TikTok star, and then, breakaway mainstream success. He followed up with club banger, “Shapiru,” in April. An EFCC arrest in May for ‘alleged internet fraud’ somewhat stalled his momentum while increasing his infamy, setting the stage for a remix of “Elon Musk” in June and–in typical Hip-hop chronicle fashion—“Ex-Convict” the following month.
Since June 2023, Shallipopi has performed at the O2 Arena and Stade de France, sold out two concerts in London in 2024 on his Plutomania tour, sold out a homecoming concert at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub in Benin City. Both of his LPs, ‘Presido La Pluto’ (2023) and ‘Shakespopi,’ (2024) debuted at No. 1 on the TurnTable Charts. The latter was the first project since Davido’s ‘Timeless’ to produce a first-week No.1 record, “ASAP.” His song with fellow 2023 breakout star, Odumodublvck, “CAST,” has over 55 million Spotify streams and earned him four nominations and a win at the 2025 Headies Awards. With co-signs from the big four, a new deal with Sony Music UK after a messy split from Dvpper Digital, and immense street cred, Shallipopi operates at the upper echelons of the industry.
The Benin Influence
The Bini—and Edo people as a whole—are music-loving. From Africa’s first gold plaque awardee, Sir Victor Uwaifo, to Alhaji Waziri Oshomah, Majek Fashek and his mystical rain-making rhythms, and an adolescent Benita Okojie at the turn of the century, contemporary Edo musicians have always found their way to national prominence, their influence being a continuation of a long-held tradition. Ethnic groups in Edo State like the Esan and Owan have a strong hold on oral music forms till today. But only a few of these groups can lay claim to sons and daughters who infuse their traditional, ceremonial music like Crown Uzama does, wielding it as all he is, all he will unapologetically be.
In December 2023, he told More Branches about how a tough childhood shaped his music. “My background was a rough one so my sound is different, and it shows in the music,” he said. “Only those who grew up in Benin City under harsh conditions will understand my sound.” And that cultural distance also shaped some of the early reception to his other releases. For example, unless you lived in Benin, or a sister city like Warri, you’re not likely to know what the term ‘Oscroh’ or ‘OS’ means. Any insight would be the product of someone in the know—like a classmate of mine, who spilled how secondary school boys in his home Benin City ‘order OS’ (patronise sex workers) after ‘cashing out’ (getting proceeds from Internet fraud or cryptocurrency deals.) This, perhaps, explains the initial poor reception to October 2023’s “Oscroh (Pepperline).” The use of Benin-specific lingo didn’t translate as smoothly as ‘Inside that your Evian,’ from “Elon Musk” seven months earlier.
Turn to 2025 and Shallipopi has one of the biggest songs in the country (“Laho.”) The chorus is sung entirely in Bini: “Ghẹ gunmwẹn dẹ ọ, lahọ/Ni paste aza, lahọ/ Don’t let me fail, please/Can I send my account number, please?” The catchy song employs traditional call-and-response rooted in Benin culture and yet it is loved far beyond our shores. Shallipopi’s dexterous use of Bini language has shown up throughout his time as a mainstream star. Many Shallipopi fans know the “Obapluto” sample, they even know about the legal dispute that ensued post-release. But elsewhere in Shallipopi’s discography, another sample leads back to Igodomigodo—the ancestral name for Edo. The intro on his second LP, ‘Shakespopi,’ “ASAP” samples Alhaji Waziri Oshomah’s 1979 single, “Ikwekiame Nedumhe.” Similarly, “Iyo,” the eighth track on his first LP, ‘Presido la Pluto,’ samples the 1978 Drivers Union Dance Band Uselu Motor Park and Osaro Nomayo single, “Ovbiyemwen,” and much like the sample on “Obapluto,” it constitutes the spine of the record.
When there’s no sample, there are shoutouts, like on “More Than Me” where he hearkens home with “Straight out of Benin for sure” and the fittingly titled “BENIN BOYS”—“Remy, Ekehuan Road/ Shalli, Sapele”—where he props up his neighbourhood on the Benin-Sapele-Warri Road, and Rema’s on Ekehuan Road in Benin. There’s evidence that Shallipopi’s music is of the people in a way that lots of Nigerian Pop is not. In clips from Mai Atafo’s Spring/Summer ‘24 Show, “Obapluto” blares right after Pa Monday Edo’s “Nogbaisi,” as models in reimagined versions of traditional Bini outfits strut the runway.
Understanding Afro-Pluto
But what is Afro-Pluto? As he referred to his sound in an October 2023 Factory78 interview: “Not straight-up hip-hop, not straight-up Afrobeats, not straight-up Afro-pop,” he explained. “Even my music is not more of singing, it’s more of talking. So there’s no one that does that except me.” In a time where every artist and their A&R wants to craft their own unique ‘sound,’ that statement isn’t so outlandish. His Benin contemporary, Rema, named his subgenre ‘Afro-Rave,’ and only fully leaned into it on October 2023’s ‘RAVAGE’ EP.
Shallipopi’s music is a fusion of Hip-Hop, Street-Pop, and Afropop. However, Afro-Pluto’s core is Hip-Hop. Shallipopi’s songs—especially on his first two projects—follow a simple pre-chorus-verse-chorus pattern with minimal internal rhymes, di-syllabic schemes, and rhythmic motifs. What he lacks in a vast vocabulary, he makes up for with same-word end rhymes and haphazard lyrics. For example, on “Speedometer” off ‘Planet Pluto,’ he raps, “Who fall go rise up again, on a speedometer/You wan know how men take dey mount/Men are men on meter/It was nice to meet ya.” It’s a simple A-B end rhyme with ‘meter’ repeated multiple times until the homophone lands on ‘meet ya.’
On “Evil Receive”—his most cherished musical creation per a February 2024 Floor Mag profile—he rhymes ‘vibe’ with ‘vibe.’ The unpredictability of his lines often falls outside conventional street wisdom. “Network no dey no mean say wi-fi disconnect” on “ASAP” is discernible—things aren’t always as they seem. But “men are men on meter” doesn’t quite translate. There’s also shock value: Legacy South-South rap acts like Erigga and Yung6ix are known to incorporate vulgarity, and Shallipopi follows in their footsteps. It’s a trait that has drawn him as many fans as foes with a hit like “CAST” and its lyrics placing that divisiveness in context.
Per his lyricism, Shallipopi embodies Street-Pop. Money, sex, fraud, family struggles, resilience, and social injustices like police brutality are subjects that he constantly returns to. He’s a man of the people: the fun-loving, night-crawling people. Shallipopi is unlike Balloranking or Seyi Vibez, Street-Pop acts who balance party staples with spotlighting the ordeals in inner-city streets, and even his brother, ZerryDL, whose storytelling prowess rivals most. In the aforementioned Floor Mag profile, he drives the point home: “Social change and my music, I don’t think they’re close to each other,” he admits. “My music is for fun and to get your mind off troubles.” It takes seeing the Pluto Dance on dimly lit dance floors to process this fully. For all its ties to home, Afro-Pluto evades the dual merriment-enlightenment function that traditional Edo music upholds.
Afro-pluto embodies Afropop through praise-singing, verbiage, and drawing from pre-existing music. Shallipopi praise-sings on “Ex Convict” like Wizkid did on 2014’s “In My Bed” and Olamide did on 2019’s “Oil & Gas.” In the two years since he burst onto the scene, he’s arguably become the biggest influencer of pop culture lexicon. ‘Men mount’ is an everyday slang to signify movement. ‘Evian’ made it into Zikoko’s Official Afrobeats Glossary. Everyone has been ‘Active’ since “Elon Musk.” Similarly, ‘OS’ has crossed the threshold that proves its thorough pervasion; misuse, or rather, abuse.
Shallipopi’s producers—especially BusyPluto, who produced all but one track on his first two projects—draw regularly from older Nigerian music. BusyPluto’s zest for older Nigerian music is evident on a song like “Eazy” which interpolates 1996’s “Diana” by Galala legend, Daddy Showkey, a musician of South-South origin. Despite interspersing elements of Afropop and Street-pop, Shallipopi’s music is Hip-hop. When he speaks about fucking his enemies with no condoms on “Never Ever,” he’s echoing Ice Cube on “No Vaseline.” His verses on ostentatious living and the nature of fame are a mainstay of the genre. There’s insufficient innovation to term ‘Afro-Pluto’ a genre. There is no novelty in production—and influential as it is, per increasing adoption, it fails to be sufficiently distinct.
The Plutomania Effect
Speaking of influence, Shallipopi’s musical impact has been felt the most at home. His younger brothers, 2025 Headies Rookie of the Year winner, Zerrydl, and new kid on the block, Famous Pluto, are ambassadors of Shalli’s homegrown rap brand. Zerry (Divine Uzama) is the most technically gifted of the three, a storytelling maestro with a flair for uncanny pockets. His one million plus Spotify listeners tell of his growing reach. The youngest, Famous Pluto (Osahon Uzama) debuted with “Na Scra” on March 7th this year, bearing similar flows and street wit as his brothers (“One round plus one round equals two bone straight.”) Their cadences are identical. Both younger brothers rap over BusyPluto’s instrumentals and are signed to Shallipopi’s Plutomania Records. Their subject matter is the same: women and the pursuit of financial freedom.
Still, the impact of Shallipopi’s sound has not only been felt at home. Due to his outsized influence and success, there are a number of acts whose works fall directly in the lineage of his syrupy, drawn-out sound; acts like Tega Boi DC and Reeha, both Plutomania Records signees and crusaders of the Benin sound. There’s Smur Lee, one of only four Nigerian female artistes with over 15 million streams on a song in 2024. The track, “JUJU,” features Odumodublvck and Shallipopi and has over 37 million Spotify streams. Her style is almost a mirror image of Shallipopi’s, with multiple Elon Musk references and fraud lingo littering her latest singles.
Beyond direct musical influence, Shallipopi’s artistry has impacted his peers who seek his raps over deep cuts (Victony’s “Ludo”), Afropop bangers with far-reaching cultural implications (Rema’s “BENIN BOYS”), and cross-border, market-focused singles (King Promise’s “Continental”). The virality of “LAHO” on the global stage – which has thousands singing along at destination nightclubs, NBA and European football superstars making TikToks, and top-5 placements on global charts like the UK’s Official Afrobeats Charts – forecasts newer zeniths for the 25-year-old phenom. It’s as welcome an outcome as any, just two years into his career in an industry peppered with stories of fadeouts after similar label splits. It also means going forward, Shallipopi is unlikely to veer off his sonic template. But his is a winning formula, so there are no worries. When he enthusiastically says, “Worldwide Plutomanians,” it truly is a worldwide phenomenon.
Keep reading...
Skyla Tylaa Is Taking Off
For the next phase of her career, Skyla Tylaa is actively working on creating music while entertaining with...
As a child growing up in South-east London, Skyla Tylaa had a natural affinity for the arts. Whether it was music or stage performances, she found herself exploring these interests intently from a young age. That devotion manifested in multiple ways – her attending the BRIT School and Sylvia Young Theatre School where she performed in a West End production of Annie or her fiddling with several musical instruments while she figured out her creative identity. Through it all, music was a constant, the backdrop to her home life where she grew up between Jamaican and English influences. She remembers being exposed to Drum & Bass, Funky House, and Garage. “I think that’s had a big influence in my DJ career,” Skyla Tylaa admits.
Progressing into adulthood, those musical influences persisted even if she didn’t always engage with them professionally. Things changed when she started DJ-ing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Possessed by a visceral desire to experience the euphoria of interacting with people through music, she burrowed deeper into DJ-ing. “I couldn’t be in my room and just have people commenting,” she recalls. “I need to see people’s energy, and feel everything in the moment.”
Since then, she’s enjoyed a meteoric rise that has taken the world by storm. Mentored by DJ Tunez, she performed multiple times on the American leg of Wizkid’s ‘Made In Lagos’ tour and came out of the experience raring to go. “Opening for Wizkid on his tour was a transformative experience,” she says. “It taught me a lot about resilience and adaptability in my craft. I was still pretty much a start-up DJ when I went on tour and it made me really realise how important it is to connect with the audience. Touring from city to city with different crowds, it helped me to learn how to read the room and keep the vibe going.”
Almost as importantly for Skyla Tylaa, Rihanna was present at one of those tour stops and was impressed by her set, stopping by after the show to congratulate her. “After that I felt like I could conquer the world,” she says. Since then, she’s been selected by Rihanna to DJ at a Fenty X Puma Creeper launch event in London in 2024, marking a full-circle moment between the women.
Like Rihanna, Skyla Tylaa is inspired by music from the breadth of the Black diaspora, playing sets that take as much influence from the fervid restlessness of Hip-hop as they do the wavy melodies of House music, and the dancefloor summons of Afrobeats “I love partying! I genuinely love it,” she explains. “When preparing my sets, I’m always thinking of people having a good time. Whatever I can do to connect with them, I’m down to do it!”
In the last few years, few genres have shown the propensity for inspiring a great time with the regularity that Amapiano does. From Johannesburg to Windhoek, to Lagos, London, and New York, the log drums and mutating basslines of the genre have proven integral to a new Pop framework that is as amorphous as it is exhilarating. Since first hearing the genre while on a visit to Ghana years ago, Skyla Tylaa has been hooked. “It was the log drum, the sound, just the vibes that came with it,” she says. “I was like ‘wait – what is this?’ When you hear Amapiano, it’s one of those sounds that no matter what, you’re gonna dance.”
Diving into the genre, she’s picked up valuable lessons from important figures like Maphorisa, Uncle Vinny and Major League DJz while putting her youthful spin on the sound. It’s all coming together for the DJ who’s working with her sister, music heavyweight Jada Pollock, to figure it all out one step at a time. “When I found my passion for DJing, Jada was right there, urging me to dive into the ‘Made in Lagos’ tour,” she says. “I wasn’t sure I was ready, but she believed in me and knew I could handle it. My love for music has been with me since school; it just took some time for me to realize that this was the direction I wanted to pursue. Once I found my calling, her support became endless–she attended my early gigs and pushed me to perform at major festivals like Afro Nation.”
She’s since performed at leading festivals such as Wireless, Piano People and Australia’s Promiseland as well as selling out headline shows across London, London, and Ghana. For the next phase of her career, she’s actively working on creating music. This month, she released her debut single, “Bombshell,” a searing Amapiano banger that has all the hallmarks of a potential summer hit. “Bombshell” features Tanzanian Bongo Flava act, Diamond Platnumz, as well as South African acts, Tyler ICU, Khalil Harrison, and DJ Exit. It’s a blockbuster showing that sits well in the tradition of the genre. “The idea was initially played to me by Tyler ICU in March 2024,” Skyla Tylaa says. “He and I had a session while he was in London, and this was one of the ideas we worked on. Khalil was already on it, at the time, and I loved what I heard!”
After seeding it into her live sets last summer and starting live teasers with a dance challenge, Diamond Platnumz reached out about potentially working on the song and it was arranged. “I started teasing the new version of the song in my sets and then a whole new viral dance challenge came about online in December,” she says. “From that point, I knew the track had all the elements (features included) to be a big release in 2025 !” For DJ Exit, a chance to be part of a transformative song like “Bombshell” was an opportunity he didn’t want to pass up. “What drew me to this single was the chance to be part of something boundary-breaking,” he explains. “Gqom and Amapiano are both powerful in their own right, but fusing the raw, percussive energy of Gqom with the soulful, hypnotic swing of Amapiano creates a sound the world hasn’t fully experienced yet. This isn’t just another collaboration–it’s a cultural statement.”
The Xhosa word, ‘basazomangala,’ meaning ‘to be shocked,’ is uttered several times on “Bombshell,” and it reflects the message that Harrison was trying to pass on the track. ““Bombshell” is really about letting people know that there’s still so much more to come from me,” he says. “It’s a celebration of the present moment, but also a reminder that this is just the beginning. We’re all dancing to what’s happening now, but there’s an energy in the air that says the best is yet to come.”
In light of Amapiano’s rise to global prominence and the international acclaim it enjoys, Harrison is right about more things being on the horizon, and Skyla Tylaa agrees with him: “When I was introduced to Amapiano, I fell in love instantly and that time it was just on the verge of global appeal. It’s global now and still growing and that makes me appreciate it even more! I love it, and the world loves it! The feeling is mutual ! We can all enjoy it together!”
For Tyler ICU, having DJs from the diaspora like Skyla Tylaa engage with Amapiano and its culture is a win for the genre. “This shows the power of the genre–it’s not just a sound, it’s a movement,” he says. “When someone like Skyla, who appreciates the culture and brings her own flavour, plays Amapiano in places like London, New York or Toronto, she’s not just playing music, she’s building bridges. That’s how we grow–by letting the world feel it in their own way, but staying true to where it started. It’s important that the roots are respected, but the branches can reach far.”
Just a couple of weeks since its release, “Bombshell” has crossed over 650,000 thousand views on YouTube and continues to be a sensation on TikTok. Like everything Skyla Tylaa has done up till now in her career, it’s shaping up perfectly and has shown that she has a knack for the right collaborations. She intends to keep making music. “This year, my focus is all about music,” she says. “I recently signed with Robots and Humans (Sony) in the UK and Epic in the US, which has given me a different level of drive to really want to create good music. I’m also looking forward to exploring the Afro-house genre and collaborating with other talented artists.”
Keep reading...
