Royalties, Publishing & The Realities of the Music Business
"Music is a creative product, with its own specific copyright"
Few songs in 2021 matched the global reach of Amaarae’s “Sad Gurlz Luv Money.” In a year full of breakthrough moments, the Ghanaian artist’s spritzy collaboration with Moliy enjoyed a great run, especially after its remix with US-Colombian star Kali Uchis. It debuted at #80 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and went to #1 at the Spotify Viral chart, also charting on US TikTok and on the UK Singles chart.
However, it has been revealed however that the record’s main creators aren’t exactly on the best terms. Earlier this month, Moliy took to Twitter to make strong ownership claims against her collaborator, Amaarae. She revealed that she wrote eighty percent of the original song, and claimed she wasn’t properly credited on the remix and has had “limited visibility” on the two videos that’s been released. She also faulted Amaarae for allegedly lip-syncing her lyrics without her approval and ultimately said she hadn’t received “any proceeds from the record and have no idea what’s been accumulated so far.”
Sharing the thread on the Ghanaian Independence Day, the matter was eagerly discussed on social media as diverse opinions stood out. Some were quick to call out Amaarae, obviously on the grounds that it’s a universally relatable feeling, to perform so diligently and not be fairly rewarded. It was, however, resolved that no fair assessment can be made if the other party didn’t explain their side of the story.
Hours later, Amaarae responded with a thread of her own. Charting the start of their working relationship, the Ghanaian-American singer revealed how Moliy reached out to her for a prospective collaboration and she gave Moliy two minutes on her acclaimed debut album ‘The Angel You Don’t Know.’ Amaarae shared this was “because I believed in your talent and wanted to give a fellow Ghanaian up-and-coming woman an opportunity. I had the confidence to take a backseat and let you shine.”
Amaarae went on to dispute Moliy’s claims of sidelining her, saying she has always expressed her love for Moliy and that, at her first live festival performance in America, she shouted out “this special artist” who created the song with her and asked the crowd to do so as well. “Meanwhile your team was busy fighting my team in the background and sabotaging our efforts to promote the record,” she wrote, breaking down the financial and social investments that have been responsible for the song’s success. Amaarae also shared that Moliy’s demand for her share of revenue was unusual because the costs for promotion had not been recouped.
I’m sure it comes as a shock to most cos @amaarae performs my lyrics of the song every chance she gets. I wrote it to motivate all young women to be confident and successful, and this was the perfect opportunity for two Ghanaian women to be the face of that.
—
Billboard Moliy (@moliymusic) March 6, 2022
According to Amaarae, a number of confrontations suggested that Moliy’s team almost sabotaged the promotion of the record and that the artist herself did not promote the record until it began blowing up on TikTok. Near the end of her thread, Amaarae confirmed that Moliy “has a larger publishing split on the original than I do and an equal publishing split on the remix…she is credited as a featured artist on both songs meaning she can earn her mechanical royalties.”
There’s been a lot of takes on social media, some finding Amaarae’s riposte satisfactory and others, quite not. There’s no doubt that both parties will now be looking to solve their differences behind the scenes. Still, there’s a larger conversation that’s now been opened, one that takes the legal framework of collaboration into a larger context, especially now that afropop is moving into the world and, more than ever, artists are joining forces to conquer new ground.
To this end, we spoke to Tokunbo Komolafe, a music and entertainment lawyer in Lagos, Nigeria and Frank Nwafor, a music publisher and co-founder of Jam Distro to find out more about royalties, publishing and protecting oneself in the music business.
Our conversation which follows below has been lightly edited for clarity.
NATIVE: To start off, what’s one thing every party should have in mind when creating a song?
FRANK: As a main artist without features, it’s essential to send out split sheets. There are two split sheets which are necessary and a main artist should have their publishing split sheets and the mechanical royalty split sheets. A producer is not entitled to mechanical split sheets but is entitled to publishing split sheets. When a featured artist is involved, the publishing split sheets is necessary for everybody involved, which includes the producer, main artist and the featured artist. No matter how little a person participates in a song, the person is entitled to something from the publishing of the song. If an artist is featured on a song, and is paid in cash upfront, then the artist isn’t going to get any percentage from the song later on. That’s why a split sheet is necessary to avoid any future drama.
If you’re an artist looking to get another artist on a feature, I would advise to throw in an obligation one pager. This obligation one pager involves how an artist posts, supports etc. Another important thing is the clearance process because it is only when your split sheet is signed that a track can be cleared. Anybody can come and throw a percentage at you that doesn’t align with what you want, so you can negotiate for a higher price. When looking at the percentage, it’s necessary to keep in the back of your mind that investors can come into place. It’s always advisable not to over split cause when investors are involved, they always prefer percentage to any other option.
TOKUNBO: With what I’ve seen, I think they’re very interested in their rights, royalties and money too. Although, I would say it varies cause it depends on the literacy and exposure of the artist. I’ve worked with clients that, prior to the time the song is even released, they ask for their money upfront while a few would request for their money after their song has blown up. Also, compared to the time I started working in the music space, which is about 6/7 years ago, artists needed to be convinced that split sheets was important. But now, most of them or about a half of them demand for split sheets and producer agreement. I think it’s a giant leap in the right direction and it can only get better if there’s more education and more avenues to learn.
“We’ve passed the days where when an artist makes music and the only way to make money from the music is performance fee or appearance fee.”
NATIVE: Why is it important to protect and look out for your rights and obligations?
TOKUNBO: This is because at the end of the day, it’s their creative product. Artists have put in effort to create something unique, tangible, something to stand the test of time and, it’s only right that they earn something from it. Now the actual product is the music, the music has its own specific copyright, IP right and is a creation on its own. We’re in the era where people sell their own catalogue like John legend selling his IP rights to different entities and then making millions of dollars from it. Even in contracts, when doing contracts and you’re listing the revenue channels of the song, the primary revenue channel is the music, so your streaming revenue, publishing revenue, even your endorsement deals are called ancillary channels.
The main thing really should be the product. However, the reverse was the case in the past, when we didn’t have streaming platform and there was rampant piracy which made it difficult for artists to make money. But now with technology, DSP, and actual distribution companies doing their work, things are getting better. Even investment companies are seeing value in IP and are willing to put money behind to purchase it. My advice is for everyone to hold on to their catalogue, even if it’s 5percent or 10 percent of the piece in the pie because it’s not even just for now. It’s just like pension that you can earn from in the future because if the music is good, we would keep listening to your music and you will keep making money from it.
NATIVE: In Africa, where the music industry is still finding its structural footing, how easy is it to protect your rights as an artist, songwriter or producer?
FRANK: It’s easier now than before because now you can communicate with DSPs if you have a copyright infringement release and they can take it down. Gone are the days where one has to go through a long process or find the person that released it and you can also report blogs that release your songs without your approval. Although, I think the Alaba market thing is still an issue because you can’t go to every shop and scatter there to check which store has your music. However, compared to 5 or 6 years ago , it’s better now and as time goes on, people will become more aware of their rights which would, in turn, give room for improvements.
NATIVE: Are there still structural challenges as regards the Nigerian constitution, or just like attitudes on intellectual property in the entertainment industry?
TOKUNBO: From the legal perspective, there’s an entire process to follow. Here, you can take the parties to court. They can be sued at either the Federal or High courts which have the jurisdiction for copyright or intellectual property matters. At the end of the day, the whole point of justice is to be quick but in Nigeria, there are many issues with the court system. For instance, it can take awhile to get a fixed court date when there are other channels for alleviating these issues. A quick alternative is that you can always communicate with the DSPs, that you have a copyright infringement issue with necessary proof. This usually takes about 24 hours before the song is pulled down from streaming platforms.
In my experience, with my clients, we communicate with the DSP and also take them to court. This way, it’s a bit more forceful because just taking down the song won’t redress the pain caused to the other party. However, when you sue them, then you can sue for damages or they settle out of court. The only problem is the legal landscape in Nigeria. They are very slow. It’s almost not even beneficial to go to court, but we still do it to show seriousness or to force the other party to settle.
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NATIVE: In your experience, when do things usually go sour and how can that be fixed?
FRANK: Things can go sour anytime. In most cases, things go sour when the artist starts to blow up. For example, in the case of Moliy and Amaarae, according to what I saw, I don’t think it should have gone that far. You can still go for your rights as an artist without burning that bridge. In the music industry, for every song that you distribute, the person investing in that record has to be recouped before any discussion on royalties. The discussion on splits can be had but damage in relationships begins when people start thinking about how much they can actually gain rather than focusing on how big the record can actually be.
TOKUNBO: I did come across that case and what stuck out to me is the importance of having your contracts sorted out prior to the release of a song. For instance, during negotiations and preparing the contract, there will be conversations about the commercial aspects of the record, so like the percentage to be split with the featured artist, the publishing share, and if there’s a remix to the song in the future, who owns that and how would that be split. This will also include discussions on social media posts, promotions, their appearances in video shoots and, also negotiations on recouping. For instance, if the featured artist was asking for 25% of the mastered earnings, the negotiation can be 25% but 25% of the net profit. Net profit means whatever we make from the record, after the expenses have been deducted.
This particular case just highlights the necessity for doing your contract properly. Moliy also made a complaint about Amaarae singing her portion of the song but sometimes in contracts, this can be addressed. There can be an agreement stating that both parties have rights to perform depending on how it is worded. If the entire copywriting in the master, belongs to the primary owner of the song, they can perform the record, if they want to it doesn’t really matter who it belongs to. If they own the rights, they can perform it, and the other person also has rights to perform because they also own it. In this Moliy and Amaarae case, I would say it’s really just a thing of communication and clear contract terms. It’s a good thing that it came out because it does highlight to other artists who’ll be featured on other songs to do the right thing prior to release.
NATIVE: So far, we’ve spoken about artists with good teams and capital. How about independent artists who cannot afford a lawyer or a manager?
TOKUNBO: There are different ways to negotiate these things. There are entertainment lawyers who are flexible, there are entertainment lawyers who won’t charge as much, depending on how you negotiate. Now for managers, they usually earn a percentage off the artist’s earnings, so I don’t think there should be an excuse about not being able to afford a manager. However, in the event that a record was released without any professional on the team, then the song blows up and you want to then clear it, there are companies that actually do these things for a living, clearing songs after the fact. In these instances, you just have to set up meeting with the other artist’s teams and if they are unable to clear, you clear what you can until there’s an issue. I would add that the right thing to do is reach out to the team of the person and come to an agreement of some sort because at the end of the day, earning 10% is better than not earning anything at all, if that isn’t sorted.
NATIVE: Looking at it from the outside, it seems like protecting your interest takes away from the fun of collaboration. Have you come across clients who just won’t do that?
TOKUNBO: Yes, there are clients who won’t bother simply because they won’t want to deal with the back and forth. Some clients are just like whatever they want, give them or let’s just release the song. As lawyers, this is certainly not advisable to any client, but at the end of the day, it’s a business and not a sprint. It’s a long race and relationships are so crucial in the Nigerian entertainment industry. You have to think about where you are as an artist, and put things into consideration when demanding and negotiating royalties and publishing. Most of the time, in the Nigerian entertainment space, it depends on your level as an artist. There are some artists who focus more on the music and leave their producers and lawyers to do whatever they can to get their money so that it doesn’t affect their creativity or relationships but it’s the managers behind the scenes that are fighting.
NATIVE: What do you think about artists’ education with regards to rights, what to do, what not to do? How do you think we can bridge the education gap on this issue for African creatives?
TOKUNBO: Education is really important. The more educated the ecosystem we have, the better for us. When people in the ecosystem understand the business, it makes my job as a lawyer easier. I don’t have to explain to you this is what royalties are or this is what publishing rights are. So yes, education is paramount and it’s our responsibility to educate people, but also people who are more experienced and learned should take up the responsibility to pass the information across. For me, I speak to a lot of students about the kind of knowledge they need to have as an entertainment lawyer and share resources they can use, podcasts, youtube videos, articles they can read. Also, in my team, we try to give our clients a little level of education on the different rights in music.
FRANK: Artists can also help themselves by taking online courses, online courses will definitely help you. With artists signed to my distribution company, I take my time to actually learn on their behalf, I learn and summarise to them. Yes, their job is to create, but at the same time they have to be very knowledgeable about the music business. You have to have a good team that actually believe in you and even with that, you can’t depend on anyone. So, it’s best you have the knowledge and know these things. An hour a day should not be too much for an artist in terms of studying and understanding the business.
Featured image credits/NATIVE
Words by Emmanuel Esomnofu and Q&A by Wonu Osikoya and Wale Oloworekende.
ICYMI: BNXN, CRUEL SANTINO & THE IMPORTANCE OF ARTIST NAME TRADEMARKS
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
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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.
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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.”
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