Globally accessible streaming platforms have made music ever more available to listeners around the world, which means we have a host of music, old and new, at our fingertips. Whilst it’s great to be able to tap into divergent sounds from far away places, it can be a bit overwhelming to keep up with all the new drops, which means lots of songs and projects flying under our radar. Though this year, we’ve had a lot more time on our hands to explore new musicians and to meditate over a score of new music, it is still impossible for anyone to have listened to the plethora of releases that have come this year, and many of them do deserve our ear.

In light of this, as your resident music experts, NATIVE are bringing you seven of the best albums from the team’s rotation that you probably, unfortunately, missed this year. From recent drops such as Tkay Maidza’s ‘Last Year Was Weird Vol. 2‘ to the Valentine’s Day release ‘Boo of the Booless‘ by Chike, these albums are records you’re going to want to get hip to, so read on and jam on.

You’re welcome.

‘Festival Bar’ – Davolee

Davolee has always retained the spirit of an underdog even when he had an A-list act like Olamide in his corner. He first got a taste of the limelight through his brief feature on “Pepper Dem Gang”, one of the lead singles from Olamide’s ‘The Glory’ album. However, it wasn’t until the following year that he proved his mastery at creating storytelling raps in Yoruba with “Festival Bar”, his debut single. The picturesque tale documenting Davolee’s struggles as a bartender in Lagos affirmed his rap prowess and potential for longevity, after he closed the song with the promise of a sequel.

Though Davolee had severed ties with the YBNL mogul when he shared the 4-track EP, ‘Festival Bar’ in June, the tape’s impact was still felt across the Nigerian music scene.

Davolee had already captured the attention of music lovers with the first two instalments, “Festival Bar 1 & 2” which were released as singles. His narration of the more unsavoury aspects of the Lagos lifestyle already reserved his spot as an artist to look out for and fans couldn’t wait to hear the rest of his empathetic story about his personal journey from being a lower-class Lagosian to discovering his talent and earning financial liberation.

Davolee continued to detail his personal ups and downs over different yet similar sounding ominous hip-hop instrumentals through the rest of the project. As promised at the end of “Festival Bar 2”, Davolee finally shared the story of how his talent got discovered by Olamide on “Festival Bar 3”. Saying “62 steady days ni mo fin drop bars(I rapped for 62 days)/ Sori IG koto di pe eyin gbo bayi(On IG before you could hear me like this) / Gbogbo celebrity yin ni mo be fun repost(I begged all your favourite celebrities for reposts)”, Davolee’s vivid depiction of his struggle to get discovered highlights the hustle for social media validation, while also leaving some philosophical tidbits for those who can relate to his story to soak up game for themselves.

On the final track, “Festival Bar 4”, we get a few bright moments as he celebrates the success of his solo single, “Way”. However, most of the track continues to linger in sombre reflection as he recounted the criticism he faced for leaving YBNL and also that Olamide had agreed to still help him out. A little snooping around will show that the EP is distributed by Inglemind, a company which works closely with Empire who Olamide has recently signed a JV with. This buttresses some of the things he states in the EP, especially with regards to his relationship with Olamide still being solid, and having suffered no actual severed ties.

Altogether, the project is a beautifully tragic narration of the struggles and frustration of the streets of Lagos from Oshodi to Ikotun. Despite the melancholic narration, the portrayal of Davolee’s trails and tribulation offers an inspiring philosophy that there’s light at the end of the tunnel as we hear him go from struggling for what to eat to struggling to deliver a hit song. Through the exhilarating real-time narration of his career trajectory, he’s able to keep listeners engaged for the 15-minute duration of the tape, without needing a catchy hook to water down the severity of his story. Very few artists can dream of accomplishing this feat and by the time the project ends, he sounds like he’s still warming up as he promises to keep us updated as his life story continues to unfold.

– Debola Abimbolu 

‘Last Year Was Weird Vol. 2’ – Tkay Maidza

Zimbabwean-born, Australian singer-songwriter and rapper Tkay Maidza is an indubitable talent on the rise and there is no greater evidence of this glaring fact than the brilliant 6-piece EP  ‘Last Year Was Weird Vol.2’ she released recently.  

On the second instalment of a three-part mixtape series, Tkay Maidza widens the potency of her arsenal by offering a selection of genre-mashing hits, laced with subtle hints of pop, alt-r&b, hip-hop and dance music. Opening song “My Flowers” finds her analysing herself and the thoughts in her mind. “My petals fly, they can fly but they can fall if I don’t take time” she sings, admitting that although she has the potential for greatness, she’s well aware of her limitations. This heavily contrasts with bass-dropping number “Awake” which features JPEGMAFIA. Here, she’s confident in the person she is, as she sends menacing punchlines to the competition. While she waxes poetic of her masterful grasp of hip-hop, she openly confronts living with attention deficit disorder, but rather than let this affect her, she’s sworn to stay up plotting. 

Elsewhere on dreamy “24K”, she admits this confidence is because “[she’s] been blessed by the gods” and moves accordingly, no matter whose toes she steps on in the process. The narrative focus leaves her room to experiment with flows and music. No two songs sound alike and that seems to be the project’s sweet spot, typifying the reason why the pop-leaning rap has attained new heights in recent years. As for romance in her life, she’s ten steps ahead of men and the tricks they play. On “Sad”, she purposely ignores her lovers calls, wryly teasing that his  “small hand [was] tryna play a big boy game” while on Kari Faux-assisted “Don’t Call Again” she asks for distance from a lover who won’t stop ringing her line. Rarely do you come across a projet this neatly packed with these many stylistic choices offering something in it for almost every listener. 

Her versatility is even more impressive considering the album’s length. Sitting at just a few minutes under the 30-minute mark, the project is a brief but ambitious offering from a star on the rise while retaining all the experimentation of a DIY-artist. In a world where gatekeepers wish to pigeonhole female rappers into limited roles to occupy in rap, ‘Last Year Was Weird Vol. 2’ is an exhilarating cut that occupies space in its own right, reminding us that hip-hop/rap could use several voices like Tkay Maidza. Stop sleeping on the girls!

– Tami Makinde 

‘Boo of the Booless’  – Chike

Released in commemoration of Valentine’s Day, this debut album from singer/songwriter cum actor (AfMag’s Battleground), Chike, comprises of a series of honest love notes, penned in pain, in adoration, in longing ness and in dedication to the women that have filled Chike with the blissful sensation. Clearly, this honest resonated, as the project spent many weeks at number 1 on Apple Music’s top 100 album charts, and still remains in the top 10.  ‘Boo of the Booless’ opens with gentle humming set to folk guitars, all held together by rhythm-keeping shakers. Chike’s strong vocals sing of the beauty of having people love you truly, yet the slow tempo and the folk inclinations of “Beautiful People” give the track a wistful ambience, almost suggesting that he has lost the people he celebrates. Over the song’s bridge, Chike explains why he so dearly holds onto his baby (the chorus’ repeated line), singing that there are ugly people who both fail you and bail on you – so he must cherish the “Beautiful People” who love him and make him smile.

Up Next is a Ric Hassani team up, one of only three featured artists on the 14-track body of work, alongside M.I and Anambra’s finest, Zoro. On “Nakupenda”, where Ric Hassani’s silky vocals take the song to new heights, Ric and Chike compete over the same girl, both promising her the world and more. Chike’s collaboration with M.I, on the other hand, is just that: collaborative, not competitive. A passionate r&b leaning number that promises a lasting love, “Forever” depicts an avowed M.I., who lays out his future with his partner, promising that he will never leave her, come rain come shine.

As the album’s title suggests, ‘Boo of the Booless’ approaches love in a hyper-romantic way, even falling into the Romeo and “Julie” cliches on the primarily Igbo record “Roju”. However, whilst the first half makes love out to be entirely fantastical, after the album’s seventh track, “Finders Keepers” – it’s bright saxophone, which is even afforded a solo, and repetitive dance-like chorus signalling the end of something good – ‘Boo of the Booless’ takes a turn for the worst. Ushered in by Chike’s interrogation of his girlfriend, before going on to explain why he is so “Insecure”, this turning point illustrates the multiple sides of love, and might be more relatable to those of us who haven’t quite cracked its complex code.

Love loses its appeal. “Out Of Love” describes an all too familiar feeling of being stranded in love, Chike’s partner confessing over the chorus, “Oh Chike, this is hard for me to say/But I’m gonna say it anyway/I’ve fallen out of love with you.” “Forgive” will remind listeners of their most recent messy break-up that left both parties hurt and jaded, whilst “Faithful” brings back the anxiety you feel when you cross paths with a past flame again. “Faithful”’s chorus is a strong contemplative session, where Chike works through his torn heart; asserting that he is faithful to his current girlfriend, seeing his former love has brought up feelings in him that he thought were long gone. “I have someone who loves me, even though I think that I, that I, that I love you” Chike stutters, trying to grapple with his emotions, before ultimately concluding that he’s faithful at the song’s poignant, climatic end.

‘Boo of the Booless’ is all wrapped up with a gracious thank you to God “for watching over [him],” and “fighting all of [his] battles” floating between English and Igbo, as is typical of a praise song. This is where we see Phyno’s progeny, Zoro, who takes ahold of the second verse, delivering a vernacular rap to swoon over, aiding Chike in his ever-grateful dedication to God. “Watching Over Me” is a good reminder that after all is said and done on earth, for believers, the most important love of all is the love of God.

– Adewojumi Aderemi

‘Easy To Love Me Now pt. 1’ – Dara Alamutu

Dara Alamutu’s music is honest without being overindulgent. This identity is what makes his excellent recently released project, ‘Easy To Love Me Now, Pt. I’  a collection of succinct and powerful snapshots of the rapper’s current state of mind. He makes an entire statement of immense growth where he speaks his truth without needlessly projecting them on others.

The nine songs are a result of a man who wields his imperfections as his superpower. Dara writes and raps with the wizened edge of someone with a new lease on life, and while he doesn’t overly dwell on the errors of the past, it all feels very well-earned. Hinging his growth on the notion there are only lessons and no losses, ‘Easy To Love’ is largely driven by forward momentum. Dara places his sights firmly ahead, only stealing glances at the past through his side mirror.

For someone who’s moving into his late twenties, wanting to settle and have kids is a worthy & normal aspiration, but there’s also an explicit understanding that the choices of the present are the foundation for what the future looks like. For many young people, getting their financials in order is an important pre-requisite for starting a family, and Dara is no different. On the intro track, “Too Easy”, he admits that building an estate for his “Babies” is the major driving force for his constant money chase, however, the pressure isn’t driving him to desperate measures.

Over the playful piano riff and bouncy trap drums of “Legal”, Dara brags about making his money while staying on the straight and narrow path. It’s the type of responsible flexing that many might consider corny, except one of the biggest rap songs of last year had the rapper revelling in making his wealth “legitly”. Dara’s mum also makes an affecting appearance on “Legal”, name-checking Africa’s richest man in her short, admonishing speech. Beyond that cameo, too, the influence of Dara’s parents also looms large on the project, with references to the ways they’ve enriched his life (“I Got A Papi Who Be Showing Me The Ropes”, he recites on “Omo Yoruba (Money)”).

The beat curation on ‘Easy To Love’ serves to point at the emotions: Dara accompanies his free association raps on “My Back” with a chunky bassline and thudding bass, while the clarity of “Live Out Our Dreams” is underpinned by radiant piano loops and boom bap drums soaked in morning sunlight. These self-produced jazz and soul-indebted instrumentals, albeit with a modern twist, sound gorgeous when they ride out, but in the grand scheme, they ensure that the project comes together as more than the sum of its parts.

Sure, Dara gives us a resounding portrait of what it looks like to embrace growth, but at the same time, we get to experience a musical polymath deliver some of the best rap music of this year, till date.

– Dennis Ade-Peter 

‘Mint, Green’ – Shalom Dubas

Shalom Dubas is incredibly self-aware. As she’s exponentially grown into a better-rounded artist with each release, her constant selling point is that she’s cultivated a knack for lived-in music, allowing her to hone in on a range of emotions with personal sincerity. Shalom’s latest EP, ‘Mint, Green’, is a statement of self-acceptance where she reaffirms personal quirks and reinforces her ambitions. It also coincides with the coalescing of her abilities as a rapper and singer into a seamless and entrancing whole.

Last year, Shalom teamed up with producer and close collaborator, Toyin Ores, for ‘Oakwood Ave’, a joint project that functioned as a loose and musically varied (re-)introduction. This time around, she’s tightened things up a bit for ‘Mint, Green’, a brisk set that is defined by an in-built sense of intimacy and honesty. It doesn’t take much to get into it, though, Shalom’s contemplations are matched by a conversational and sometimes playful tone, a mix that’s perfectly accompanied by radiant musical choices. Between the funk-lite bounce of “See Me Now” and crunchy boom-bap on “The Biz”, production on the 6-song set is a fine blend of neo-soul and hip-hop that feels like a natural evolution of what the Soulquarians were pulling off in the early ‘00s.

Shalom inhabits this sound with poise, slipping between warm melody runs and nimble raps, a fluid mode of delivery that’s perfectly suited to her writing style, which feels very much akin to Ladipoe’s famed lifelines style. In as much as she can be clever, she’s most resonant when her lyrics are artfully plain: “persistence is all I need/quality friends is all I need and a girl is going far”, she sings on the pep talk-styled opener, “’02 Thicke”; “no more sugar-coating shit/dissecting myself, I came here to speak/peeped I won’t reach no peak if I don’t publicise my lows”, she muses with utter honesty on “The Biz”. With ‘Mint, Green’, Shalom lets us know that she’s at ease within and is perfectly fine constantly working until she reaches the best version of herself. It’s a gripping portrait that’s finely distilled into an EP that appreciates with each listen.

– Dennis Ade-Peter 

“Bond” – Kemena

Kemena doesn’t like genres. In a time where artists pull influences from stylistically disparate sounds, it’s now normal to dislike strict musical categories because it places them in a box. On his debut album, ‘Bond’, Kemena earns his aversion towards tags, curating an eclectic and experiential project that drifts across varying sound hybrids without coming across as unnecessarily scattered. Serving as producer for all but one track on the project, it’s a testament to his range and imaginative execution.

With a clear affinity for big sounds, Kemena’s musical choices are always bright whether the instrumental arrangements are minimal or broadly composite. On opening track “Ibadan”, he sings against a grand piano and a stack of his own layered back-up vocals; “International” merges indie folk tricks with a distinctly African bounce; “Inugo” is powered by the rustic rhythms of Igbo folk; while “Down” crosses over into rock territory. The grounding factor to the sonic variety on display is Kemena’s voice – a baritone with soulful twang that’s flexible and consistently reliable in expressing a myriad of emotions.

True to its title, ‘Bond’ explores romantic connections and the circumstances that make or break them, from the magic of when things are going smoothly to the inevitable sourness that follows when it goes off the rails. It’s not widest-ranging topic nor is it the most creative, however, it’s rich enough for Kemena to present his powers as a writer with a knack for fascinating narratives. On the standout song, “Only You”, he gets into his storytelling bag, singing from the perspective of someone who’s been cheated on one too many times and has finally reached breaking point. “Feeling” is eerily similar to Omah Lay’s “Damn” in concept, a song that plays into the self-aware trope of questioning the merit of unconditional love.

A strong front to back listen, Kemena keeps things constantly refreshing while carrying the album almost exclusively. ‘Bond’ is a stellar, full-length introduction, don’t let it slip under your radar.

– Dennis Ade-Peter

“Generation z” – JELEEL!

Besides flashy jewelry and colourful hairstyles, showmanship seems to be a dying art in music with more focus on self awareness and emotional maturity these days. American-based Nigerian artist, JELEEL! seems on a mission to bring this back, however, with his penchant for entertaining fans with backflips stunts, shirt tearing and showing off his bulk body build. While his energetic performances are fashioned to draw crowds, it’s his experimental take on hip-hop that makes fans out of his gawking spectators.

JELEEL!’s auto-tuned rockstar voice puts him among the set of unorthodox hip-hop acts breaking out of the mould and for his latest project, ‘Generation Z’, he continued to expand the barriers of hip-hop while also channelling his rage into political activism. After witnessing the traumatic event of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of an American police officer in May, JELEEL got energized to rage. On the opening track, “Red Light!” we hear blaring sirens and clattering drums that conjure an instant sense of tumult. And because the project was released while people were out protesting and rioting the killing in the streets, JELEEL’s combative energy and his unorthodox brand of hip-hop reiterated the popular sentiment that there was an urgent need for change.

With expert production from Connie, Zaro Vega, Ricky Remedy and Aryay, Asoteric and Jonas Jeberg, the project explored a variety of sounds, from hip-hop, dance-pop and reggae-dancehall. He glided across the different genres with agility while his upbeat energy and his unique auto-tuned voice is able to pull the different frenetic moments of hardcore and punk flourishes into a uniform style. Partnering with his Nigerian brother in arms as the project’s only featured artist on “HotShot”, he also made the world feel smaller as he illustrated how black music is interconnected through their collaboration to protest against oppression.

Though JELEEL!’s ‘Generation Z’ mines some of the trauma of racial discrimination, it also celebrates black power and art in the face of oppression. His rich voice and confident songwriting offered music as a balm to heal the trauma of our time, as he weaved a project that reflects today’s youth-led social justice movement and showcases the progressive music birth from having multi-cultural influences.

– Debola Abimbolu

“New Tangents In Kampala, London and Nairobi, Vol. 1” – Various Artists

Put together by Extra Soul Perception – a collaborative creative collective name after saxophonist Monk Higgins’ album release in 1968 – ‘New Tangents In Kampala, London and Nairobi Vol 1.’ convokes a number of artists from the three countries of which those cities are capital, Uganda, England and Kenya. With the aim of exploring all the various tangents which soul music can take, this project is as eclectic in its sound as it is encompassing in its musicians, who recorded the project in a writing camp in Nairobi.

Dutifully paying homage to their roots from the very first song, entitled “Ancestry”, ‘New Tangents’ opens brashly, with London’s ten Lex Amor chanting in her indigenous tongue, set to a bassy electronic beat, credited to Hibotep (Uganda) and Faizal Ddamba Mostrixx (Uganda), who is known for his afro-cosmic productions. The EP’s soul finds itself in “Probably Never”, which features mesmerising keys from Joe Armon-Jones, a jazz keyboardist rising rapidly in the UK. Frequent collaborators, Arnon-Jones and Maxwell Owin (UK) provide the stunning instrumentals that Xenia Manasseh (one of this year’s emPawa30, hailing from Nairobi, Kenya) devours.

Inviting the disco into the tape, on “Roses” (whose star on Apple Music would indicate its been a crowd favourite) Lynda Dawn (UK) and Bes Kept, from the, guides us through feelings of uncertainty in love, communicating the unfortunate realist that “nothing’s ever guaranteed”. Over four minutes long, the length of “Roses” is matched by the song that follows it, “In My Soul”, stretched out by its repetitive takes that hammer the invigorating beats straight into our souls. We do feel it, as Kenya’s beautifully endowed songstress, Karun repeatedly asks us. As another grandiose interplanetary Faizal Mostrixx production sets in motion, Karun also switches out her formidable vocals for an added spark to the already heated record.

After “In My Soul” comes the EPs fourth and final track, “Utokapo”, which plays into rural styles of music-making. Vocally led by Labdi (Kenya), “Utokapo” which exists entirely in the vernacular, is reminiscent of a traditional dance performed by the Digo tribe in Kenya. Springing to life to the tune of their own voices, Kayamb (shakers) and Chivoti (flutes), the Digo’s Kayamba looks like a likely source of inspiration for K15’s inspiriting instrumental backing for Labdi’s emotive performance. Through these five tracks and ten musicians ‘New Tangent’ brings together a range of musical identities into one thoroughly enjoyable 15-minute course.

Listen for yourself:

– Adewojumi Aderemi

Featured Image Credits: NATIVE

Words by Debola Abimbolu, Dennis Ade-Peter, Tami Makinde and Adewojumi Aderemi

ICYMI: FRESH MEAT: BEST NEW ARTISTS OF THE MONTH (AUGUST)

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Afropop is the love child of its many influences

In a reversal of events at the turn of the 2000s, Afropop is profoundly reshaping the texture of music...

Over the last two and a half years, some of Afropop’s biggest stars have denounced the genre to advance...

Over the last two and a half years, some of Afropop’s biggest stars have denounced the genre to advance their personal agendas. In a wide-ranging interview from 2023 with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe just ahead of the release of his last album, ‘I Told Them…,’ Burna Boy derided Afrobeats for a perceived lack of contextual subject matter. “Afrobeats, as people call it, it’s mostly about nothing, literally nothing,” he said. “There’s no substance to it. Nobody’s talking about anything. It’s just a great time, it’s an amazing time. But at the end of the day, life is not an amazing time.” 

Just a few months later, Nigerian music superstar, Wizkid, also disavowed the genre, claiming that he was not an Afrobeats act and that his then-forthcoming album, ‘Morayo,’ would not be an Afrobeats album as he considered the genre – and the classification it infers – too limiting for the type of music he made. Predictably, fans were incensed by both artists’ stances and the casual dismissal of the genre that their statements invited. What was almost lost in the whirlwind of that discourse is that for all the attempts to capture the totality of African music under the loaded ‘Afrobeats’ label, African music has never been just one thing; and, in that spirit, Afrobeats itself has always been all-welcoming of a multiplicity of influences and styles.

From its earliest iteration, Afropop has always been a potpourri of sounds that took influences from various parts of the Black diaspora and distilled them with an African sensibility. The work of early Afrobeats pioneers like Junior and Pretty is a direct descendant of the burgeoning Hip-Hop blueprint of the ‘80s; while the early 2000s popularity of Ajegunle-based rabble-rousers like Daddy Showkey, Danfo Drivers, and African China occurred tangentially to the rising profile of Reggae on a global scale. The mid-2000s to early 2010s saw the arrival of several dulcet-toned singers like Banky W and Tiwa Savage rooted in the R&B and Soul traditions, introducing a slicker dimension to Nigerian popular music. As always, homegrown stars adapted these foreign styles for their own market while continuing to work on a distinctive style that centered genuine indigenous expression and ingenuity. 

Over the years, the fruit of those experiments has ripened to produce a scene that’s bustling with life and talent. As the genre has attained global attention, many sub-genres have come to the fore, showcasing the depth of African music on a global scale. If Wizkid’s sonorous melodies and unbeatable charisma made him the sun of Afrobeats in the 2010s, Olamide’s militaristic bars and Pop anthems rooted in their street sensibilities mark him out as the genre’s moon. It was on Oamide’s back that a nascent indigenous rap circuit rested. Taking the mantle of DaGrin, the Bariga-raised rapper who helped institutionalize rapping in Nigerian languages with cult classics like “Eni Duro” and “Voice Of The Street.” Along with the effort of other stars like Reminisce, Phyno, Lil Kesh, and CDQ,  the indigenous rap movement gained steam and, recognizing the Nigerian market’s zest for melodies, soon morphed into Street-Pop, a distinct hybridization of local genres like Fuji, Apala, and Highlife. 

Inspired by the work of their forebearers, a new crop of artists have taken Street-Pop to new heights. Zlatan and Naira Marley served as a transitory generation; together with Rexxie, they patented a more melodic take on Street-Pop while infusing a devil-may-care disposition that launched them to the top of Nigerian music. It is fitting that Olamide was the one to hand the baton to Asake, the biggest Street-Pop star of the moment. Similar to the YBNL head’s legendary album run, Asake has released three albums and one extended play in three years, each coming out to a world paying more and more attention to his work. Impressively, Asake has also established himself as a global touring star, regularly playing sold out arena concerts across the world with a music style that is rooted in Yoruba oral tradition. 

Asake is not spreading the Street-Pop gospel alone, though. Ikorodu star, Seyi Vibez, has also grabbed mainstream attention for his gritty take on the genre. Initially a divisive figure, his 2023 song, “Different Pattern,” saw him reach a new level of cultural relevance in 2024 and his new extended play, ‘Children Of Africa,’ arrived in February 2025, marking a new era in his career. The yearning for a reclamation of cultural heritage that has created a Street-Pop golden era has not evaded other parts of Nigeria. Shallipopi’s drawling, sprawled-out sound mimics the playful pulse of South-South pidgin while Jeriq, hailing from Nigeria’s South-East, has emerged as one of Nigeria’s most acclaimed rappers. Outside Nigeria, there’s a yearning in Ghana to preserve the purity and history of its Highlife genre, an elemental component of Afrobeats. British-Ghanaian producer, Juls’, ‘PALMWINE DIARIES’ and ‘High Life Sessions,’ both pulsate with the beguiling riffs of the storied genre while the work of Nigerian brother-duo, The Cavemen, is reintroducing Eastern Nigerian highlife to a new generation of listeners. 

A youth-led zest for exploration outside the framework of Afropop has also produced a sub-culture that rejects the tenets of mainstream conservatism. Beginning as a band of friends and collaborators who prioritized freewheeling experimentation, Alte music has emerged as one of the most important sonic evolutions of the last two decades. First championed by OG pioneers like DRB Lasgidi, LOS, and Show Dem Camp, the Alte community drew in left-field thinkers and madcap auteurs setting the stage for a new generation of stars to emerge from the depths of SoundCloud circa 2016. In the hands of stars like Odunsi (The Engine), Cruel Santino, and Lady Donli, the Alte experiment reached an unprecedented level of critical and commercial success. 

Odunsi’s ‘rare.,’ throbbing with influences from ‘70s Disco and Funk, sits in the canon of great Nigerian debuts and Lady Donli’s ‘Enjoy Your Life’ artfully melded Folk music with Afrobeat and Soul across its 15 tracks. Taken along with the work of producers like GMK and Genio Bambino, these acts built a community that successfully created the blueprint for a sound that reflected the tensions and joys of younger Nigerians who saw life in a specific fashion. It even took flight beyond the borders of Nigeria with a young Amaarae cutting her teeth working alongside some of the most prominent names in the Alte community. The inventiveness and clarity of vision that the community prioritises is evident across both of the Ghanaian-American artist’s albums, ‘The Angel You Don’t Know’ and ‘Fountain Baby.’ 

In a reversal of events at the turn of the 2000s when Afropop was heavily influenced by outside sounds and genres, music from the continent is profoundly reshaping the texture of music outside its borders. Much like how the Windrush Generation and other immigrants from the West Indies helped to introduce Britain to Reggae, Dancehall and Soca, generations of African immigrants are making music that signals their African heritage, with Afropop as a base influence. The rise in popularity of African sounds has helped UK artists mesh the lingo and sonics from the continent into their work, creating a new genre referred to as Afroswing. Taking influences from Afrobeat, Dancehall, and Grime, Afroswing is distinctive for its use of lyrics from Africa with British rapper, J Hus, credited as one of its pioneers. Songs like J Hus’ “Did You See,” Ramz’s “Barking,” and Not3s’s “Aladdin” signal to the sound of the homeland and speak to Afrobeats’ incredible stride to global popularity as a base reference point for global Black music. 

Nearly a decade out from “One Dance,” the Drake, Wizkid, and Kyla collab that pushed Afropop into a different stratosphere, the genre is in safe hands with several stars emerging across different sub-genres that speak to our past, present and future. It is perhaps more than the pioneers imagined when they were making music all those years ago, but all the roads have led here to Afropop being a global sensation that offers various forms of expression to a watching world. There are no limitations on what can be done within the genre, that sense of open-endedness and possibility was always our strength, and it’s why Afropop will stand the test of time. 

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The Cathartic Melodies Of Mereba

Ahead of the release of ‘The Breeze Grew A Fire,’ we sat down with Mereba to discuss putting together her...

Mereba exudes a palpable warmth. When she speaks, as she did with me via Zoom one evening in late January,...

Mereba exudes a palpable warmth. When she speaks, as she did with me via Zoom one evening in late January, she’s gentle and perceptive, speaking in soft, meandering passages that paint an intimate portrait of the LA-based singer’s mind. Similarly, her stirring discography, which dates back to 2013, evokes a keen sense of serene intimacy. “I’m inspired by those little moments in life where you’re like “Ah that’s really beautiful,”” she tells me halfway into our conversation, making sense of the ethereal quality that her music possesses. “It could be an interaction between two people, it could be something in nature, it could be a memory I have. Those are the moments that drive me to go get my guitar and write a song.”

The 34-year-old singer, songwriter, producer and instrumentalist has been writing songs for as long as she can remember. Growing up between Alabama, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, as well as an unintended one-year stint in her father’s native Ethiopia, ensured that Mereba picked up a wealth of influences that would go on to inform her richly diverse and understated sound. After years living across multiple cities, she finally settled in Atlanta where she became a staple in the city’s indie music circuit. “There, I met my peers who I made music with and are still my peers to this day. People like J.I.D, 6LACK and my crew. We all were just coming up during a really rich time of music there so that was a big part of my journey,” she reminisces fondly. 

In the years that Mereba lived in Atlanta, she released 2013’s ‘Room For Living’ and ‘Kotton House Vol 1,’ two extended plays that neatly outline the foundations of the balmy and eclectic style that she would perfect years later, leaving ample room for her soothing vocals and evocative songwriting to shine. She also joined Spillage Village, a musical collective that comprises others like Earth Gang and JID, contributing to various releases like ‘Bears Like This Too Much’ and the critically acclaimed ‘Spilligion.’ Following her time in Atlanta, Mereba moved again, this time to Los Angeles, where she signed her first major record deal and released her debut album ‘The Jungle Is The Only Way Out.’

Since the release of ‘The Jungle Is The Only Way Out’ in 2019, Mereba has continued to hone her unique sound, continually experimenting and ironing out the rich textures of her temperate style on subsequent releases like 2021’s ‘AZEB.’ Ahead of the release of ‘The Breeze Grew A Fire,’ her first project in four years, we sat down with the LA-based singer to discuss the story behind her well-received debut, her various influences as well as the process of putting together her highly-anticipated new album. 

This is your first album in about five years. How are you feeling?

I feel really excited. I’m definitely excited to give my music back to the world again. I’m also ready for connection, performing the songs, and sharing these new stories. 

You’ve been making music for a long time now, but do you still feel any nerves before a major release like this?

I don’t know if it’s nerves. I think I feel anxious about the fact that the music is being released and people are going to hear it. But I guess I’m anxious in a good way for them to hear the music, to get to experience what I’ve been toiling away at and what I’ve been excited about for a while. It’s more like a good anxiety. 

I think the first time I came across your music was in 2019. I heard “Heatwave” with 6LACK off of your debut album ‘The Jungle Is The Only Way Out.’ I believe that album was sort of a breakthrough moment for you. Can you tell me a bit about how it came together?

That album coming together was quite a journey. I started ‘The Jungle Is The Only Way Out’ years before it came out. I had left Atlanta and moved to L.A at this point. I didn’t know so many people when I just moved and so I was kind of starting over in certain ways. I was writing a lot of songs that felt really powerful to me but they were sonically different from what I used to make before. I was also learning how to produce, I was in Ableton learning how to make beats and just produce my music. Because I didn’t know so many people, I couldn’t outsource some of these things so I was just experimenting on my sound on my own.

Over the years, the community that I was a part of in Atlanta, everyone started finding their way in music but we still stayed closely in touch even though I had moved to L.A. I featured on a song with J.I.D and that kind of got me back into making music properly again because at that point, I was working random jobs, my car got taken and I had to start taking the bus to work. I was living a completely different life. It was my friends that put me back in the zone. They would invite me to sessions and just remind me that I wanted to do this music thing. Then I started putting together songs I had made over the years like “Sandstorm” and “Heatwave” with 6LACK which we made way before the album came out and even my solo songs like “Black Truck.” Most of the songs on that album had come from that period where I was struggling but knowing I was meant for music somehow. 

How many years did it take to put your first album together?

I’ll say about four to five years. They say you write your first album for your whole life. “Highway 10” is the first song I made on that album. I made that song in 2014 and the album came out in 2019. In the years before the album came out I was signed to a bad record deal and I couldn’t get out, I couldn’t release music. All I could do was just create and that ended up forcing me to just hone in on my sound.

After your debut, you released an EP titled ‘AZEB’ two years later. Listening to that project, it felt lighter than your debut which was a lot darker and more melancholic. Do you remember what headspace you were in when you made this EP?

I was definitely feeling a lot lighter when I was making ‘AZEB.’ I felt like I had shed a lot of the weight that I carried during all those years of uncertainty. I was in a much more hopeful place when I was making one-half of the project. The other half was made during the early days of the pandemic so it was like a mix. Songs like “Rider,” “Beretta,” and “My Moon,” those songs represent beautiful, light type feelings to me while some of the other songs like “News Come,” and “Another Kin” are more intense lyrically and sonically. 

Let’s talk about ‘The Breeze Grew A Fire.’ How did you land on that as the title for your second album? 

The making of that title was different from how I titled my other projects. It didn’t come to me right away and I decided to not force it, I believed it was going to come eventually. So the making of this album has always felt very gentle. In contrast to what I had been through for so many years, I felt like I was in a much softer space creating this album and this feeling of a breeze just kept coming to me. It was also kind of like springtime going into the summer and the idea of a breeze became so prominent that I was going to title the album breeze. But as I continued on the journey of finishing it, it felt like the album was saying something a bit more. I realized that the album wasn’t just about all these gentle feelings and relationships I’m singing about like friendship, family, and my son but these things also inspire me to live with purpose, conviction and to have a spark in me. Things that make people “strong” are inspired by these little moments and experiences that we have and less by the force of trying to make a fire forcefully. 

You co-produced “Phone Me” and “Counterfeit,” the lead singles for this project and you’ve also produced a lot of your older stuff as well. I’m curious to know how taking the reins on the production side affects your music-making process in general.

I got really into producing during that period when I felt lost in life. I got into Ableton, playing the guitar on my computer, sampling my voice and just experimenting. So songs that I produced from ‘The Jungle Is The Only Way Out’ like “Sandstorm” and “Kinfolk,” were me experimenting a lot with learning how to produce. With this new album, the first two singles were heavily produced by my co-producer Sam Hoffman. When he sends me things that I like, I’ll add things to them and it could be the opposite as well where I produce a song and I’ll have him or another friend add something to it. That process is personal because I could completely be in my world and get the feelings that I want to convey out through production as well as writing the song out lyrically. When I unlocked that part of myself, it felt like my whole life that’s what I’ve been wanting to do. To be able to make the music arrangements and compositions come to life. 

A lot of the time I would start with a simple beat or drum loop and I’ll build chords over it with my guitar. I experiment with writing when it’s bare and then fill in the production as I write the song. They’re a very interwoven process. 

I’ve read that you’re heavily influenced by legendary acts like Stevie Wonder and Lauryn Hill. Are there other acts that inspire you when it comes to the production side of music specifically?

That’s a great question. In certain ways, I’ll say it’s the same people that I look up to because most of them produce. Interestingly enough, what I love most about these musicians is that they are very involved in the sonics of the music they’re making. So the people that you mentioned, like Stevie Wonder who mentored me and encouraged me to continue on the path of producing my music versus being a singer who works with a producer. I feel like it’s important to the language of an artist to at least know how to contribute in some way to the sonics of their music. 

I’ll say Quincy Jones is the blueprint for me just because of the span of work that he did. He’s the concept of producer I’d like to work towards in my life.

Do you have a favourite memory from creating ‘The Breeze Grew A Fire’?

There are a few. There was a time when I made this song on the album called “Hawk.” The song is dedicated to a really dear friend of mine who passed away unexpectedly in 2021. It was not easy to write and when I first wrote the song, it was sad, slow and reflective of the whole situation. I listened to it after I made it and I started thinking about my friend and the things that he liked. He was a very expressive and hilarious person who loved dancing and dance music. At that moment a light bulb went up and I felt like the song needed to be more of a dance song because I wanted to make something that he would love and not something he would think is corny. It was a really beautiful moment musically and personally. 

If there’s one thing you would like your fans or listeners to take away from ‘A Breeze Grew A Fire,’ what would it be? 

I hope it brings a sense of comfort and warmth. I also hope it tells a clear story of what matters to me. I just really hope it makes people feel better, that’s really it. I think it’s one of those albums where it’s a personal album for me and I think it’s meant for personal moments too. I hope it lives in people’s lives in comforting ways.

Listen to ‘A Breeze Grew A Fire’ here

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Is the “Mr Money” era over?

Asake broke the internet when he unveiled his new tattoos earlier this year, and he’s doubling down while...

Asake broke the internet when he unveiled his new tattoos earlier this year, and he’s doubling down while...

Asake broke the internet when he unveiled his new tattoos earlier this year, and he’s doubling down while ushering in the GIRAN Republic era. On “Military”, Asake ditches the log drums & Amapiano-inspired beats that paved the way to his rapid ascent to stardom. Rapping over stripped back production dominated by a live drum loop, he picks up where he left off sonically on ‘LUNGU BOY’, drawing inspiration from his Hip-Hop influences, as he delivers a defiant, heartfelt battle-cry to his fans and doubters alike.

For the last few months, rumours have swirled around Asake on the gossip blogs, on everything from who he’s dating to his record label situation to his physical appearance, with fans, critics and disgruntled ex team members all throwing in their two cents. Since his emergence in the limelight, Asake has been a man of few words – we should know, we did his first ever magazine interview back in 2022. But on this track, he addresses the chatter head on, opening the song dismissively rapping “ Awon lo lenu won koma so lo/ Tio ba affect bank me, ko ma soro” loosely translated to “let them keep talking, if it doesn’t affect my bank account, there’s nothing to say”. He goes on to flex his financial muscle above everyone in his “set”, despite being “low-key”, while affirming he could drop an album tomorrow with no tracklist, and it would still slap. 

He takes a break from the braggadocio between verses to directly shout out his mentor Olamide, the man who gave him his big break. While it does appear their business relationship may have run its course, the mercurial artist is making it clear he remembers how he got here. The Asake & YBNL run will be studied for years to come. In the midst of the continued rise in global consumption of Nigerian music, Asake hilariously raps “Oyinbo koro lenu mi”, a reminder that he will not be diluting his sound for the benefit of our friends in the West. 

Quietly dropping the track exclusively on YouTube & Audiomack a couple of days after the 2025 GRAMMY ceremony, in which he was nominated for the second year running, this response may have gone over the heads of those who lurk in the comment sections of the gossip blogs. But it is the most Asake response we could have expected, isn’t it? On his own terms, in his own native tongue, he pulls no punches as he ushers in a new era of independence.

This morning, Asake released another record, the Magicsticks-produced “WHY LOVE”,which notably comes under his new imprint Giran Republic. Reverting to a more familiar sonic cocktail of pulsating log-drums and choral vocals, he sings melodiously,“You know I’m a Soulja boy, but in your case, I’ll calm down.” The duality of man. 

The rumours will keep swirling and people will keep talking, as they tend to do when you reach the heights the Lungu Boy has soared to. And for all the aesthetic change and talk of a new era, it appears Asake is going to continue to do what he has done more consistently than nearly every artist in Nigeria since his mainstream emergence in 2022: drown out the noise with new music.

 

 

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