L.A.X has been a household name in Nigeria since he debuted with his hit single, “Caro”, and got signed to Starboy Entertainment. His subsequent releases have seen him remained relevant in the industry despite never releasing any project and eventually ditching the label to pursue a career as the CEO of his own Rasaki Records label. Anticipation for the singer’s album debut, ‘Rasaking’, has been high since he announced its release date and tracklist a few weeks ago. ‘Rasking’ is now available on streaming platforms.
The 15-track tape boasts of a variety of features, ranging from Yemi Alade to UK based Nigerian singer, Moelogo. Other featured artists include Davido, Duncan Mighty, Maleek Berry, Barry Jhay, Sneakbo and Timiboi. The 15 tracks include two bonus tracks previously released singles, “Panana” & “Gbefun”, and a skit by popular Instagram comedian, MC Lively.
You can stream L.A.X’s ‘Rasking’ below.
Featured Image Credits: Instagram/izzlax
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him@debola_abimbolu
A separated middle-aged woman openly having a seemingly intimate friendship with a younger man in a country as conservative as ours is quite unusual if not daring. Nigeria’s history with the ‘unusual’ (think: Charley Boy, Denrele Edun, Bobrisky), is ironically why the supposed relationship between Wizkid and Tiwa Savage needs to thrive.
Large age gaps between male and female actors have been normalized in the entertainment industry for years. The age gap by itself is not the problem, relationships between consenting adults are good, and any kind of diversity (even in age) should be encouraged in organized spaces.
The problem is that this is only accepted when it’s older men coupled and younger women; the opposite pairing remains stigmatised in many societies around the world. France’s President Macron whose wife, Brigitte Trogneux is 25 years older, was once quoted to have said: “If I had been 20 years older than my wife, nobody would have thought for a single second that I couldn’t be legitimately together. It’s because she is 20 years older than me that lots of people say, ‘This relationship can’t be tenable.”
In movies, women who date younger men are often portrayed as man-hungry and many times superficial despite being successful in their own right. The plot almost unfailingly centres on the woman’s predatory, cougar-like behaviour and her psychological justification for choosing a younger man; invariably implying that something that is wrong with her (The old movie, How Stella Got Her Groove Back tows this line through and through). These kinds of relationships are often followed by cringe-worthy disapproving comments, or jokes about older women dating younger men.
It has already been widely speculated that Tiwa and Wizkid’s relationship is merely love-on-camera. The reason the public can still gobble up such an obvious PR tack is unclear, perhaps it feeds the public assumption that there is no distinction between public and private life. After all, why are we more likely to raise that critical eyebrow when it’s a single mother being openly sexual? Should we be raising the eyebrow in both instances, or is the issue more complex than that If adults are consenting and practising safe sex, should their parental status matter? Does that say more about the taboo relationship or the society that can’t turn away it’s gaze?
The pushback against the Tiwa-Wizkid relationship proves that insofar women are overtly sexualized, embodying a Goffmanian type stigmatized identity because their relationships are presumed to entail sex for the purpose of pleasure rather than for reproductive purposes. The damnation that follows any evidence of female sexuality creates a double standard so damaging, we need consensual relationships like TIWIZ’s to be perpetuated often enough that they become just as normal.
We also need to let #TiWiz thrive because Tiwa is the biggest winner here. Tiwa has held on to a good-girl-almost-bad public image since the beginning of her career, occasionally she’d dip into edgy bents like “Wanted”, then return in a gele and aso-oke singing “My Darlin”. The backlash following her publicly-documented separation from TeeBillz also put her in another complicated position where the public was anticipating her next moves. “Fever” takes things up a notch, heating up her sexual image with a suggestive relationship with one of Africa’s biggest artists, and giving her a leeway to be more adventurous.
“It’s a relationship not a community project”, Tiwa quipped on her Instagram earlier today. Whether #TiWIZ is a pre-packaged marketing campaign we may never know, but it’s a Tiwa Savage story she seems to be wholly in control of.
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Mariam is (insert pretentious stuff about myself here). Share your thoughts with me @MA_Y_M
After their impressive collaborative effort on “Twisted”, Davido and Peruzzi continue to flaunt their melodic partnership with their joint feature on DJ Ecool’s new single, “4U”. The catchy beat inspires yet another sultry set from Davido and Peruzzi as they dedicate the verses to their love interests. And as you’d expect of any song that boasts of features from two artists who are stapled on the radio, “4U” is sure to feature on a lot of playlists in the coming weeks.
The third edition of the ART X Lagos, West Africa’s premier art fair dedicated to promoting contemporary art and its pioneers is coming up next month. This year, ART X Lagos relaunched it’s ART X prize with Access. The prize is awarded to emerging artists and it provides funding and mentoring opportunities for artists with “compelling” projects.
ART X Lagos will be kicking off from the 2nd of November through the 4th of November and part of this year’s three-day programme is ART X Live!. ART X Live aims to explore Africa’s rich musical history and celebrate icons and sounds that have shaped the contemporary musical landscape, showcasing the musical legacy of the continent; most of which is the style, aesthetic and nostalgia of the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000’s era.
Lanre Masha, whose team launched African Cultural Season 2020 with France’s President Macron at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos a few months ago, will curate this year, while ‘rare.’ star, Odunsi The Engine chairs, creative direction.
Nigerian musicians BOJ and Teni the Entertainer, as well as Ghanaian singer Amaa Rae, who hosted her first live show in Lagos last weekend will each perform a live set rooted in an exploration of an important decade in music. Visual artists Chukwuka Nwobi, Tomisin Akins and Fadekemi Ogunsanya will accompany each set; capturing a sense of nostalgia, and a reunion of emotions that traverse the past and present sounds of Africa’s music.
The fusion of music and art at ART X live this year would open new dynamic possibilities for set design and stagecraft relevant for younger generation creatives, some of who are also on the line-up. As African music continues to refine its presentation, ART X Live! 2018, may provide a glimpse into the future.
Afropop is still on course to be the sound for the next generation, and there is no better time for the culture to benefit from authentic collaborations. “Like 2 Party” features Skepta and left-field Afropop star BOJ who brings along DRB comrade, Teezee.
With bouncy synths already hinting at an unexpected thrill, the trio go into the underground where men are not “stand up” guys and mood lights meet sexy women where bottles of Jameson are stacked. “Easy come o, Easy Go”, BOJ quips, just in case you didn’t already know how it goes down. Skepta gives a casual shoutout to nightlife and hospitality entrepreneur Shina Pellar, like he’s been in Lagos all summer, and Teezee hints a potential music revamp in the works when he sings “Wave god, War ready”.
See Skepta, BOJ and Teezee in the video for the single here:
ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organization. They are hosting the campaign to #VoteYourFuture as it officially launched in Abuja at the event held at Edmunds event centre Wuse 2, Abuja on the 20th of October 2018. The Vote your future campaign was a one day youth summit that was aimed to urge Nigerian youths to vote in the 2019 elections and Banky W, Falz, Ebuka, Bisola and other celebrity guests were present to show their support.
The youth summit was hosted by Ebuka Obi-Uchendu and included an interactive sessions between Presidential Candidates and Citizens. The highlights of the summit was however the question and answer session between attendees and invited guests like Banky W, Bisola Aiyeola, Falz the Bahd Guy, Laila Johnson-Salami and presidential aspirant Eunice Atuejide.
Banky W in his speech to the attendees stated that, “Every country has the leadership that they deserve. We deserve what we have gotten in Nigeria because we have never been involved. Each of us must demand from the people going for office on the issues they will be focusing on”.
Falz also had this to say when answering questions from the attendees at the summit; “Nigeria cannot fix herself we have to help to help fix Nigeria”. He further emphasized that people don’t have to settle for an either or mindset, assuring that there are more than just two political parties at the election.
Featured Image Credits: Instagram/iambisola
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him@debola_abimbolu
Since releasing “Antidote” featuring Reekado Banks, Mr Dutch has seemed on the rise to mainstream Nigerian music. With a feature from Burna Boy on his latest single, “E No Go Finish”, he’s certainly closer to being a household name. And yet, it’s the performance, rather than the flex of the collaboration that guarantees it a place in a lot of playlists well into the festive season.
Kel P produces the mid-tempo buffet of traditional harmonies set to a comfortable pace for a slow wine on dancefloors. Over the percussion that swirls around the guitar riffs, horn samples and a vocal sample of someone chanting in a native dialect, Burna Boy dusts up the rusty old books of proverbs, opening by saying “Dey No Dey Find Black Goat for Night/ Even With Torch Light, You No Go See Am”. And if his bad-boy impression from his past dealings with the media isn’t enough confirmation, he breaks down his new mood saying; “Wetin You Do Me/ I Go Do You Back/ You Know Say My People No Dey Carry Last”. While Mr Dutch’s indigenous dialect matches with the high-life beat, Burna Boy infusing some Yoruba lines to the nostalgia satisfying ambiance.
You can see the colorful music video MattMax directs for “E No Go Finish” below.
Featured Image Credits: YouTube/mrdutchempireVEVO
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him@debola_abimbolu
My grandfather had four wives and twenty-three children. In his time, the size of a man’s family was a symbol of fertility, status or wealth. There was practically no limit to the number of children one could have. However, all of my grandpa’s children – my dad being one of them – who wanted to achieve any form of higher education had to pay for it out of pocket. From working menial jobs to banking on government subsidies or scholarships. It would have been next to impossible for grandpa to send all those kids to school on his police sergeant salary. The boys were better off working in someone’s farm or learning a trade, while the girls were married off, not very educated because their dowries helped tide the family over for a while.
It was a time when polygamy was the norm, and women were encouraged to have as many children as they could. These are not tales from a too distant past though; In many parts of Nigeria, especially in low-income communities, large family sizes are still the norm today. However, families are not just reproducing without reason, between religious systems encouragement of early marriage and a polygamous family system, prohibiting the most effective forms of contraception and being anti-abortion, birth control is understandably tricky for a very religious populace. Illiteracy, male-child preference, high infant mortality and the perceived need to have as many kids as can provide sufficient old-age social security also compound the issue.
Yes, the population of our country is exploding and if left unchecked will have dire consequences. The acting minister of finance- Zainab Ahmed, was reported to have alluded to a policy aims to address one of the “great challenges” in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Federal Government by limiting the number of children a woman can have. The minister has since refuted these claims stating that the plan is to collaborate with traditional rulers to implement a child spacing policy. Still we call bull.
The real impediment to the popular but not so productive Economic Recovery and Plan is the link between poverty and population and contraceptive polices riding through legislation will not help it. High fertility and poverty go hand in hand. A poor populace is more likely to believe that bearing many children will provide a ring of forts against poverty in their old age. Educated women with earning prospects are more likely to assume greater control over their lives and move out of poverty. Programs that combine social and economic development with family planning services will yield better results than telling women they should put copper coils in their bodies when childbearing and rearing is the only work they do.
As one of the few Nigerian artists to have worked with the late HHP, the legend of M.I’s second Illegal Music, instalment will perhaps be told as more stories like this unfold.
Oh my God!! I'm heartbroken to hear about the passing of my friend HHP!!! I can't believe it!! 💔💔💔💔 My prayers are with his family and friends..
Earlier today, news of South African rapper, Jabulani Tsambo who was also known as Hip Hop Pantsula passing became public news. The details of his death are still unknown although there are speculations suggesting the rapper may have finally given up his long publicly-documented battle with depression.
On M.I’s “Super Human”, HHP takes the first verse following a spoken word sample intro by Malcolm X. Though the track flirts with spirituality, its central message borders around motivational musings for the black man to get up and chase his dreams. “I’m trying to make to make a promise/ to my conscience/ that as long as long as I live, I’ll be making music that gives you people the answers”, HHP raps on his verse.
In the light of the rapper’s recent passing, there has been an outpouring of support to his estate from famous South African rappers like AKA, Casper Nyovest and Nasty C amongst others who he has inspired. We hope more than anything that HHP found some of those answers for himself during his time on earth.
On this day, you told me you loved me after a long time & I’m soo glad I told you I loved you too. I’m so glad my emotions never got the best of me and I can let go knowing that I have never disrespected you in public even when we had our differences. Robala ka kgotso groot. 💔 https://t.co/VNnjDZ2QzD
After impressing on “More Songs”, off their debut project, ‘In Spirit’, Mars and Barzini are set to release their debut album. They already announced that the project would be called ‘AfroGroove’ and have now released “Something” as the lead singles for the album.
“Something” finds the duo channeling their Afropop inspirations for a cheery song where they keep their lyrics elusive enough to pass the NBC’s censorship test. Though they repeat the word ‘Something’ enough to hide the song’s sexual intentions, the video gives away hints like dancers shaking their ass to the Zimbocrix produced beat. And even featuring a stray cat that doesn’t play any part in the video’s narrative. We watch Mars and Barzini perform their song on the bright and sunny set of the video while models and dancers feature to further emphasize the merry direction of “Something”.
You can watch the video for “Something” below.
Featured Image Credits: Instagram/barzinitgif
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him@debola_abimbolu
Normani is only one of the many American pop stars who have welcomed the Afropop sound with open arms. After featuring on the Afropop cut from Quavo’s ‘QUAVO HUNCHO’, “Swing”, along with Davido, the former Fifth Harmony singer has released two new singles with Calvin Harris. And on one of the singles, “Checklist”, she features Wizkid who infuses his ‘African-badman’ flow to the breezy beat Calvin Harris produces.
Over the synth, 808-driven production, Normani graces us with her sultry vocals, performing a romantic set to the dance-driven baseline. Wizkid’s verse doesn’t expand the song’s narrative beyond the melodic vibe he brings to party romance, but the simplicity of the collaboration is a chill groove that can guide you safely into the weekend and perhaps even to the end of the year.
Stream Normani and Wizkid’s “Checklist” below.
Featured Image Credits: Instagram/normani
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him@debola_abimbolu
Good or bad, Wizkid has made a lot of press this year. Speculation about an affair with Tiwa Savage was closely followed by outrage at his failure to show up at Coachella and more recently, his challenges with responsibly keeping his family amidst which he released two singles, “Fever” and “Master Groove“. Produced by Blaq Jerzee, “Fever” is a mid-tempo love song with which Wizkid describes a really intense romantic relationship. “Girl, you make my eye dey red oh/Anytime you no dey close to me”, he goes on the chorus.
Wizkid has released a video for the single “Fever” and it features Tiwa Savage who he’s been rumored to be in a relationship with, showing us just how sexy she keeps it. The video directed by Meji Alabi is shot on a beach front, probably private if the number one African bad girl and Daddy Yo kept it a hunnid. Its easy to see the video be a look alike of Davido’s ‘Assurance’ with a lot more suggestiveness but if you’re going to read people, you better read them for filth and since when is starring a lover (however supposed in this case) peculiar to any one artist?
Lol pls when did Tiwa Savage become a video vixen?😂 or is this one assurance wizkid edition lmao
We can revisit how the energy between both artists was so frazzled you could almost touch it because the reaction from the all-mothers-should-be-saints gang is exactly the content we signed up for; so much tears to plug to your veins especially after Tiwa’s ex Tpaidnobillz’s little tantrum on Instagram a while ago.
We might be missing something, but we’re not exactly sure who Mr Wale from London thinks the video disrespects. A certain member of the bum daddy clan perhaps? It does make sense that there should be a code governing the conduct of all members – ‘Never do a brother dirty’ or something.
Like it isn’t bad enough that a divorced mother who should now be dedicating all her life to raising her child without thought for her needs is getting frisky with a younger man, she has the guts to make a video of it. Oh the hypocritically conservative Nigerian horror! The mom and pop readers of the punch may very well have an aneurysm. (‘frolic on bed’ is our new favourite phrase btw.)
Talks progressed very quickly to the Emotional blackmail front and since this is usually the final move for this group, it would be hilarious if it isn’t so concerning that we would attempt to enunciate that a woman should be responsible for another adult who she isn’t even with anymore like this. You see when you do clownery, the clown comes back to bite. Maybe as a neck, she should support all of her head for as long as they live.
Milli’s exceptional gift for music has seen him take on the role of producer and perform as a rapper, singer and on some occasions, a dancer. On his latest single, “Who Are You?”, he picks Quay Global’s beat for Lil Baby’s “Life Goes On” to brag about his accomplished talents and stunt on haters. Saying “Ladies love how I move bitch. Ladies love how I’m smooth with it/ I’m so cut throat”,“Who Are You?” is a glorious and airy cover of the song that also advertises the luxurious lifestyle. Though Milli’s flow is laid back, he still keeps pace with the head bopping beat. Heard on full volume, it’s the the type of song to lift your spirit before taking on challenging tasks.
You can stream Milli’s “Who Are You?” below.
Featured Image Credits: Instagram/savemilli
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him@debola_abimbolu
Temilade Openiyi is Tems. She writes, sings and produces her music by herself, and when her clutch on these three specialities, come together, it becomes a beautiful whole, as you’ll hear on “Mr Rebel”. Just as she engineers different chords for musical balance during production, “Mr Rebel” shows a young female persona navigating emotional balance, through anecdotes from her own life.
This fact is more evident when you listen to the brief opening conversation between her and Ladipoe on “Falling”.In person, she doesn’t go straight into what she thinks, but she picks her words, thinking and speaking at the same time —like we all do— but with stretched words and sentences that make it more obvious. On record, her thoughts spring from a more extroverted source, translating into keen-eyed lyricism that is marked by exactness and accuracy of expression: “Mr Rebel are you there? Are you in? Are you out? Finally gone, I’m the one with the winning prize, I’ll be the gun, on the run, I be shooting tag”.
It gives you the impression that she censors her thoughts, leaving part of it in the comfort of her mind and releasing it only when she records music. “Music is the way I relieve my feelings, I don’t really talk much to people,” she says in the same placid but warm manner she embodies all through our conversation. “But everything I feel, comes out in my music. With “Mr Rebel”, that’s exactly how I felt in the situation I was in”.
As she narrates the story behind the composition of “Mr Rebel”,she validates that music is a means of reflection,“I was really frustrated about where I was, and I just thought about what was making me feel sad [and] depressed. I realised I was challenging [these] things…a series of event, a whole period in my life. I was basically standing up to my fears. And I just let it all out. When I freestyle, it just kinda comes out”.
As a child, Tems loved Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child; she felt a restlessness and strong desire to sing. At age 11, she started to train her voice to really get into music: she joined the choir in high school, recorded songs every day with her elder brother who had a guitar. She became friends with her music teacher, who gave Tems access to professional help with her music at a young age. “He exposed me to a lot of music. And that was where I really got the drive”, she says. “I just thought to myself that, that’s what I wanted to do”. She learnt how to play the piano, and heavily consumed everything from Asa, Frank Ocean, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Beyoncé and Rihanna, for their authentic emotional content.
Between teenage-hood and adulthood, she chose to study Economics in South Africa at the insistence of her parents. “When it comes to Uni, there’s nothing in Uni that I liked. I mean, I had to choose a subject at the end of the day. Economics was hard though, I can’t lie,” she says. “But it didn’t stop my music”. But in spite of her reluctance to do their bidding, Tems’ family is very supportive. Her many cousins and her mum especially—who she says is “110% percent ” behind her—take great pride in cheering her on. “I haven’t really had any negativity from my immediate family. Obviously, there’s always gonna be people that don’t believe in you, but that’s natural I think,” Tems says. (In Tems world, haters are like the “Nazi’s in Wonder Woman”).
To the unknowing bystander, Tems seems like a normal 23-year-old, posing pretty in a crochet top (Tems jokes she’d dabble in crochet Fashion if she wasn’t already pursuing music) and impulsively taking cute floral pictures on a warm weekday afternoon in a garden. But everything is changing with the release of her debut single, “Mr Rebel”.
Since the release of “Mr Rebel” in July, singer Tems has gotten the opportunity to collaborate with other artists. Her single has only garnered her a small but appreciative audience but her boldness and shrewdness is unmistakable. On Ladipoe’s “Falling”, her hook sails across the preppy instrumentals unhurried, even though Poe was always there to balance the pace. “Tell me would you let me go, I’m out in the ocean now”, she sings on The Collectiv3’s “Kiss the Fire”, alongside (Show Dem Camp’s) Tec and Tomi Thomas who are in high spirits. Although she reveals she was overawed by Tec and Tomi’s delivery, Tems’s wailing “wanna take it out, till i die i i i”, sounds like a freestyle refrain indented with emotions that run even deeper. On these three songs, Tems carries a strength and energy that is too attractive and convincing to be resisted. It is clear that by the time she releases a full project, all ears will be on deck. At the moment, however, this is her central goal: “to make a statement”.
In the course of our conversation, she explains how she got into producing music after prolonged vexation. She’d decided to record music while in Nigeria for a school break, but was uninspired by the beats that kept coming her way, “The people that I did find, they kept on sending me like Afrobeats sound. I got frustrated. So when I got back to school, I watched Youtube videos, and I started trying my hands on making small beats, till I started growing. Even now, I am still learning,” Tems tells me. She started with the production software, Garage Band, and then moved to Logic. Tems, whose musical influences at the moment include Dvsn, 6lack, and Burna Boy, has an estimate of 30 produced beats that she is currently sitting on in her library.
Tems is self-assured and even self-aware about bettering her craft. To avoid saying that “Tems is talented”, in a piece about her, would be a journalistic failure; like forgetting to note that Funmi Kuti was the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria. It is a central fact of her existence, and beyond “Mr Rebel”, Tems still has many styles to offer, “Mr Rebel is my core. But it’s just one part of me. I have other songs coming out this year that kind of show the different parts of me”.
Listen to Tems’ “Mr Rebel” below:
Photo Credits: Instagram/TemsBaby
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Fisayo is a journalist in search of words. Tweet at her @fisvyo
The Black Panther era has been a significant part of the uprise in global pop culture diversity. The themes, hits, misses and style of Marvel’s fictional African kingdom, Wakanda, claims to draw inspiration from Africa. And to the credit of filmmaker, Ryan Coogler, a Boko Haram reference in the opening sequence and a Lupita Nyong’o casting as the lead female, gave the impression Black Panther’s producers had a pulse on contemporary Africa.
Commemoratively, what the flick lacked in authentic representation taken directly from real-life modern Africa was attempted to be rectified by a Kendrick Lamar-produced soundtrack album that accompanied the movie.
Sadly, instead of curation that lives up to the pedigree of one of the most progressive rappers of his generation, Hollywood’s tone-deafness only becomes more apparent here. Kendrick, failed to do more than feature four South Africans who had no solo performances on an album featuring 23 artists in total.
Despite having the whole of Africa to source inspiration from, West Africa’s Afropop emergence was ignored and barely any attention was paid to South Africa’s House music firebrands, talkless of the urban culture revolution Gen Z millennials have spearheaded all over Africa. “But there is room to wonder what the outcome would have been if Kendrick and the rest of TDE swapped out James Blake and a few American rappers, for artists like Jamaica’s Spice, Brazil’s Karol Conká, Nigeria’s Burna Boy, Cameroon’s Jovi, or Swaziland’s Zeal & Ardor, to name a few” Noisey’s Lawrence Burney wrote, in criticism of the 14-track project.
The fact sheets say that African music is finally getting the global attention it deserves thanks to the digital age, but D’banj’s G.O.O.D music deal with Kanye West circa 2011, proves this apparent build-up has been on-going for at least seven years. Even if 2face’s global recognition for “African Queen” in the mid-2000s is overlooked due to undersaturation, records still show African music crossed the Atlantic many times in last forty years through King Sunny Ade, Hugh Masekela, Angelique Kidjo, Fela amongst others.
The rise of electronic production at the dawn of the new millennium has catalysed the African music industry’s capability to record and reproduce music. Coupled with copyright laws gaining some ground, and local corporate investments in hotspots like Lagos, Accra and Johannesburg, artists all over the continent have been able to take more risks in the last decade.
In doing this, some of the continent’s more established acts have been able to successfully double down on presentation and value. Just yesterday afternoon, Burna Boy’s face was projected across screens in Times Square, New York, where he was being celebrated by YouTube for it’s ‘Artist on the Rise’ campaign. Safe to say that in 2018, the success of an artist in Lagos, is a marker of an elite class artistry that can thrive anywhere else in the world. So why aren’t Afropop songs charting on the Billboard every other week?
The answer to that question is two-pronged. The first is every African leader’s worst rhetoric to hear, but the truth is Africa is young. Not young in the sense that people haven’t been African before colonisers came and told us we were Africans, but in the lack of a shared history that connects us as a people.
To say Africans are the same because we share a black skin would be abhorrent because we were (till date) a multitude of nations who lived sovereignly, so it didn’t help matters when colonialists came to administratively faction the continent into blocs. The result today is told in how global media struggles with finding the right approach to covering Africa. What we get instead are scenarios like the infamous Afrobeat vs Afrobeats conversation where diversity and variation in cultures often leads to misrepresentation and stereotyping.
How does this affect African music? Well, for starters, Africans have only been eligible for global recognition like The GRAMMYs as ‘World Music’ artists (with the exception of King Sunny Ade, who was nominated for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording for his 1983 album ‘Synchro System’).
There have been criticisms for the infamy of the ‘World Music’category over the years, but music streaming platforms like Apple Music still tag some African albums “World Music” till today. The term “World Music” especially fails in literal labelling, because it doesn’t encompass the full scope of the contemporary African sound, its influences or adjacent culture. This is closely related to the second reason, the rest of the world is still warming up to African music.
Fela performing with Koola Lobitos in 1965
Music all over the world is a product of its influences and the society it is created within. For example, before Fela’s became an Afrobeat legend, he performed with a jazz band called Koola Lobitos in the 60s. After a trip to Ghana, Fela replaced his trumpet for a saxophone, combining his Western jazz nuances with Ghanian highlife’s polyharmonic scale—a style of music that was typically enjoyed by white colonialists in those years. The music got more complex as Fela mastered more instruments on the arrangement and activism was just the icing on the cake; the conceptualised sound already worked theoretically and sonically.
This same trend can be traced in how hip-hop transmogrified from the Bronx, New York to street-hop freestyles in Ikeja, Lagos. Or how South African house music is a distinct style of electronic music, even though the genre has been long viewed as a uniquely Eurocentric phenomenon. If there is indeed to be an umbrella name for Africa’s diverse sounds, it should be Afropop; as in popular music/sounds from all over Africa, whether it’s South African Kwaito music on House instrumentals or Nigerian Fuji-pop on a bouncy trap beat.
This is why Kanye West’s recent trip to Uganda to “record music” is almost nostalgic. In 2011, after a deal was brokered with his G.O.O.D music, D’banj re-released “Oliver Twist” under Ye’s imprint. He also featured on the label’s group project, Cruel Summer in the next year. Not a lot more came positively from that Kanye and D’banj collaboration, but the reason is not as sinister as fans may think.
Genealogically, “Oliver Twist”, the viral hit that caught Kanye’s attention, came at the tail end of an electronic music era for the Billboard Top 40. At the peak of fatigue for artists like David Guetta, who rose to popularity in the late 2000s and early 2010s, attention spread to rest of the world; Kanye himself freestyled a verse on Belgian singer, Stromae’s highly successful smash hit, “Alors on danse”. D’banj’s “Oliver Twist” may be an Afropop classic, but its success was also part of an electronic bubble, that burst when—dubstep-fused electronic rap-ish—songs like PSY’s “Gangnam Style” became soaring global hits.
African music is good, but it doesn’t exist in a vacuum independent from the world it belongs to. D’banj’s “Oliver Twist” did not only benefit from a timely global trend it also proved the supposed gap between contemporary African music and music elsewhere is imagined.
African music no longer needs big co-signs. Otherwise, there is a risk of the culture getting caught-up in fad thanks to people like Kanye West, who told TMZ, “we are going to what is known as Africa”, and added that the sound of forest and trees would be recorded into the music. (You almost wonder if African trees melodically whoosh differently from those in America)
As more D’banjs, Burna Boys and others whose pulse on the global soundscape can spotlight the scene in Nigeria. Perhaps, in future, Kanye West and other trend-hoppers like him, would have no choice to but to say: “we are going to where the music is hot right now”.
Over the weekend, the 14th edition of Africa Movie Academy Awards held at the Intare Conference Arena in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. The night hosted actors and actresses from all over the continent including Nigerian actors, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Joke Silva and others who emerged winners of the night. While RMD emerged the overall Best Actor in a Leading Role, for “Cross Roads”, the veteran actress, Silva, bagged the Best Actress in a Supporting Role award for her character in “Potato Potahto”.
You can check out the full list below:
Best actor in a supporting role:
Gideon Okeke – Cross Roads
Tony Elumelu Award for Best Comedy:
Banana Island Ghost
Best Young/ Promising Actor:
Amine Lansari – The Blessed Vost (Les Bienheureux)
Award For Achievement In Editing:
Hotel Called Memory
Award For Achievement In Cinematography:
Five Fingers For Marseille
Award For Achievement In Sound:
Hotel Called Memory
Award For Achievement In Editing:
Lucky Specials
Award For Achievement In Costume Design:
Isoken
Award For Best Diaspora Narrative Feature:
Angelica (Puerto Rico)
Award For Best Diaspora Documentary:
Barrows: Freedom Fighter (Barbados)
Award For Best Diaspora Short:
Torments Of Love (Guadeloupe)
Michael Anyiam Osigwe Award For Best Film By An African Living Abroad:
Alexandra – Nigeria/US
Ousmane Sembene Award For Best Film In An African Language:
Five Fingers For Marseilles – South Africa
Award For Best Documentary:
Uncertain Future – Burundi
Efere Ozako Award For Best Short Film:
Tikitat Soulima – Morocco
Jubril Mailafia Award For Best Animation:
Belly Flop – South Africa
Award For Best First Feature Film By A Director:
Michael Matthews- South Africa (Five Fingers For Marseille
Award For Best Director:
Frank Rajah Arase – In My Country
Award For Best Film:
Five Fingers For Marseilles – South Africa.
Zamir’s ‘Fast‘ is a recap of the ultimate hip hop dream- putting in the work doing what you love and recouping with never-ending parties and cards that don’t max out. Produced by Hvrry, ‘Fast‘ follows the release of Zamir’s ‘hate‘ video closely and is a leeway into the artist’s ability to lightheartedly flex on a beat as well as he goes hardcore like he did on ‘hate‘. Perhaps if God is real, we will get another cinematically-renderered music video for this adrenaline-fueled new single too.
Released as a lead single off Ajebutter22’s ‘What Happens in Lagos’ album debut last year, “Ghana Bounce” had all the markings of a hit record. The recently released remix doubles down on the song’s hit factor as it features Mr Eazi and Eugy.
While Ajebutter22 performs his first and last verse from the original single, Mr Eazi and Eugy take the second and third verse respectively, matching his corny pseudo-romantic lyrics. Unlike the more practical original video, showing women with big butts, the video for “Ghana Bounce (Remix)” picks up on the Asian inspired sound of the instrumentals Studio Magic produces. As directed by David Sole, the video features Ajebutter22, Mr Eazi and Eugy serenading models dressed in silk gowns, wearing long jet-black weaves with pins to hold it up in a bun, while carrying fancy hand-fans or umbrellas.
You can watch the music video for “Ghana Bounce (Remix)” below.
Featured Image Credits: YouTube/GRM Daily
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him@debola_abimbolu
Ahead of his album release later this week, L.A.X has dropped the first single off his ‘Rasaking’ debut. “Bad”, featuring Yemi Alade, is tracklisted to be released with the rest of the 15 track project which also includes guest appearances from Duncan Mighty, Davido, Maleek Berry and more. L.A.X debut album comes years after the singer first made his mark with Wizkid, on chart-topper “Caro” . His debut project is expected to usher in a new era for his artistry considering fans probably ruled out an album option for the singer who only released singles for many years. Stream the second single—the “Intro” track debuted last week— released off his upcoming LP below:
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While discussion around sexual harassment and assault predates hashtags and visual arts, the culture shift in recent years has been palpable — for the first time ever, the world has been put on notice that these once-nascent women’s movements were not to be ignored. And since people have started to listen, hopefully, we get where we need to soon.
Kyenvu, winner of the Pan African Film Festival’s Grand Jury Best Short Film Award is a raw and breathless account of a fearless Ugandan woman’s determination to assert herself in a world where she’s constantly being preyed upon. Kemiyondo Coutinho stars in the film as the young woman who encounters street harassment daily. When she finally lets her guard down, she’s attacked in the worst possible way.
Calling out and standing against sexual harassment is multiphasic. On one side, it’s a declarative statement that ‘I’m not ashamed’ and ‘I’m not alone’. On another side, it’s a statement from survivor to survivor that says ‘I see you, I hear you, I understand you and I’m here for you or I get it’. Then we have the allies who advocate for shining a light on and ending rape culture, misogyny, harassment and the dangers that women encounter on a daily basis as they go about their lives. Kemiyondo Coutinho holds a mirror up to the allies (the good guys), investigating their actions or inactions when they witness these things happen at the hands of other men.
Besides harassment and assault, Coutinho also touches on colourism in Uganda with an all Ugandan cast and crew. Watch the trailer here;
Mariam is (insert pretentious stuff about myself here). Share your thoughts with me @MA_Y_M
While we wait for the more cherry Christmas themed releases, October is here and with the spooky month comes Sarkodie’s blood-chilling new single, “Homicide”. Coming just a couple days after his “My Advice” diss-track, Sarkodie isn’t taking his foot off the gas, proving the depth of his lyrics book. Over the ghostly beat Nova produces with humming vocal samples, hair-raising synths and scatting drums, Sarkodie shows off his legendary status, being one of the biggest rappers from Africa. He also describes a conversation with the devil and how he turned down an offer to trade his soul for success. While his performance on “Homicide” is convincing, it’s especially admirable that he’d align himself with the younger artists in the music scene, featuring the La Meme Gang. And though we don’t get a verse from Ghana’s most forward-thinking youth collective, the collaboration hints at future where both the old and the new can work together.
Stream “Homicide” below.
Featured Image Credits: Instagram/sarkodie
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You are meeting Debola at a strange time in his life. He wandered into a dream and lost his way back. Tweet at him@debola_abimbolu
