The conversations that keep coming up during our daily newsroom more often than not revolve around platforming the music we love and the communities that surround its wider culture. Very regularly, the music that excites our team reflects The NATIVE’s vision of being a bastion of music from parts of Africa and the Black diaspora. There are exciting acts from the ever-evolving Nigerian music underground, rising stars experimenting with Soul and Hip-Hop from across the Maghreb, as well as emotive singers from East Africa doing innovative work with R&B. 

Discovering these acts, being blown away by their skills, and informing our community about them continues to excite us more than three years after we conceived this column as a platform to spotlight talents that represent all that’s exciting about African music. In a world where marketing budgets, ad spends, and PR placements continue to reshape the music landscape, uNder is still our way of raging against the system and spotlighting deserving acts whose works are vital to sustaining the creative spirit that makes African music indispensable. For our November entry, we have Soulja, Egertton, Akeine, and Tageel. We hope you enjoy discovering them half as much as we enjoyed listening to their music and writing about them. 

Egertton

For Fans of: Rema, Cruel Santino, and Olamide.

In a sense, Nigeria’s underground scene set the tone for the country’s musical direction in 2025, with a series of stars rising to the fore for their genre-blurring music that localised western-originating styles and displayed the ingenuity that has come to be per course for the scene. Benin-born singer and songwriter, Egertton, exemplifies the freewheeling expressionism and madcap innovation that light up the scene, constantly imbuing his Hip-Hop-inflected sound with influences from Punk, Rock, and Soul without inhibitions. It has set the stage for an ascent that’s making him one of the most highly-regarded acts in the underground barely two years after he launched his career. 

Egertton came up in the labyrinthine halls of social media, figuring out his direction with a series of freestyles that spotlighted his intuitive knack for riding beats and finding unique pockets to operate within. He took things further with the release of singles like “SMOKING ON THIS SHIT FREESTYLE” and “FACTORY RESET” on SoundCloud, tracking his evolution in real-time. He made a definitive start with the release of January 2024’s “Dawn (Interlude),” a spoken word track that set the stage for the arrival of “Dawn” two months later.  Merging Hip-Hop and Punk, “Dawn” introduced the singer’s innovative take on Afropop while working as an astute opening gambit. 

In July 2024, he released another single cut from his Hip-Hop-Punk style in “Werey,” before teaming up with another rising act, Maradona XYZ, on the Drill-adjacent “Step II,” in December 2024. 2025 has seen Egertton maintain a consistent level of prolificity, starting with the release of his debut project, ‘KARNAGE,’ in May.  Housing previous releases like “Dawn” and “Werey,” the project expanded on Egertton’s rage vision with biting lyrics and even more attention-demanding instrumentation. Songs like “RAGE,” “CRAZE,” and “SHOW WORKING” are high-octane anthems built on the singer’s relentless drive. 

Less than three weeks after the release of  ‘KARNAGE,’ Egertton returned with a new single, “Oh Benita,” that found him incorporating more Afropop influences in his work. It’s a trend that has continued with the release of singles like “Diamondss” and “Issokayy.” The latter, featuring Hebronola, particularly represents a key juncture in his blossoming career, demonstrating an appreciation for slowed-down melodies that operate at the cutting edge of Afropop. His recent collab with scottyolorin, “MOLADE,” further brings that capacity into focus, hinting at the framework for a run and style that has the potential to take Afropop by storm.

Tageel

For Fans of: Bas, Flippter, and Rotation.

The masked Sudanese rapper Tageel has quickly become a major talking point in Sudan’s burgeoning Hip-Hop scene following the release of his critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Kitab,’ last year. In an interview shortly after the release of the album, when asked what musical era he would like to be part of if he could go back in time, he replied, “I actually do not prefer to go back in time. With music, it’s always the future I’m curious about.” This succinct answer gives insight into Tageel’s artistic ethos. Even though he’s inspired by the works of Sudanese icons like Mustafa Seed Ahmed and Mohammed Wardi, his take on music, Hip-Hop specifically, is mostly progressive, using Sudan’s rich cultural and musical heritage as a springboard for creating new sonic and lyrical landscapes.

The Riyadh-based lyricist released his first single, “Bl3ks,” in late 2020, introducing himself to a growing audience who buy into his rich tapestry of styles and sharp lyrical prowess. He went MIA for almost two years before resurfacing with the introspective “Game Over,” showcasing more of his lyrical ability and an ear for sturdy beats. A couple of successive singles, “Langa” and “Logha,” further established his renown before his 2024 debut album confirmed him as one of Sudan’s most promising Rap acts at the moment. The 2-disc LP merges his intricate raps, which detail some of his inner struggles as well as his relationship with love and spirituality, with varied production ranging from invigorating Drill beats to sombre piano chords. 

‘Kitab’ yielded a couple of tracks like “Najma,” which features MaMan and frequent collaborator Mvndila, “Faradi,” and “Loop,” all of which found relative success and received strong critical reception. Shortly after the release of the album, the rapper went on another hiatus, returning earlier in the year with a 5-track peace offering titled ‘SORRY 4 THE WEIGHT.’ Produced largely by hamadboi, Tageel experiments with Rage-Rap beats, laying his sleek, introspective bars over peppy, bass-heavy production. Three months after the EP’s release, he followed up with ‘Zoal Sakit,’ another 5-tracker that represented a stylistic shift away from the abrasive energy of its predecessor. Here, he embraces a more sombre style, showcasing his dynamism and his desire to continually push the boundaries of his music. 

Akeine

For Fans of: Joshua Baraka, Agaba Banjo, and Vanessa Mdee.

Akeine’s voice is a melting pot of influences that allows her to float between genres while exuding a unique delivery across songs that prick the ears and nudge listeners down a rabbit hole of aural curiosity. It is to be expected from the Ugandan singer who began exploring her affinity for music as early as age 10 and is currently navigating a career that is resiliently pushing her further since the inception of her debut single, “Wanted,” which explores the intricacies of a desire to dance untamed in response to a debilitating heartbreak.

In an Instagram Q&A, Akeine shared that music is her human diary, serving as a respiratory for all her emotions while providing a template to express similar feelings. Songs like “Untold,” “One Thang,” and “Better” capture the essence of those searing emotions, especially those involving a love interest, which is the prominent themes across her songs. Her only single for 2025, “MUKENE,” sees her in the romantic headspace, but this time she’s wooing her muse over a Dancehall-influenced instrumental. 

Akeine’s ability to harmoniously collaborate beyond a solo comfort zone further proves her ascendancy. Her most-streamed songs include “Saving the Love” with Koheen Jaycee,  the Chxf Barry-produced “Oasis” with mau from nowhere, and a full-fledged project with Axon, one of Uganda’s top producers. The EP ‘Niwe Akeine” houses another fan favourite,  “Tingatsiga,” and the Ugandan star boy, Joshua Baraka-assisted “Carry On.” Since Akeine’s debut in 2020, she’s moved with the gait of a woman who had waited for the right time to introduce herself to the world, setting the stage for the gradual growth that has been unfolding over the years. Her dedication to creating euphonious music indicates a natural aptitude for evolution, and with a little more attention, she is ready to walk into Uganda’s world of stardom.

Soulja

For Fans of: HUSAYN, Rod Wave, and Gucci Mane.

Usama “Soulja” Ashraf spent his early years in Omdurman before moving with his family to Malaysia, then Saudi Arabia. Those relocations shaped him more profoundly than he realised at the time. Rap began as a casual experiment in his teenage years, but the perpetual motion of his life honed his ear for cadence and rhythm. By the time he settled in Cairo in 2021, music had become the one part of his life that didn’t shift beneath him.

Like a lot of artists bubbling up from the greater North African circuit, Soulja found early footing online. His core directive remains rapping almost exclusively in his native Sudanese Arabic dialect, a choice that found viral resonance with the 2021 track “Charleston.” The song detonated online by mashing 1920s swing loops against the streetwise vernacular of Khartoum. But when Sudan’s crisis escalated in 2023, Soulja’s music followed suit, becoming more reflective and more insistent on bearing witness. That shift became fully realised with his debut album, ‘Deja Vu.’ 

Released in 2024, the project functions as a deep-set journal of a turbulent three-year period marked by war and displacement. It is preoccupied with absence and haunted by the pain that comes with watching a place you love go through violence while you live elsewhere. On “Hageega,” Soulja wrestles with survivor’s guilt as he laments seeing his home country fracture from a distance. He stylistically maintains a technical clarity that never dulls the emotional impact, sounding equally commanding over abrasive, distorted trap beats as he does within the sparse, haunted production that defines his more contemplative tracks.

Soulja has kept pushing forward with striking consistency, refusing to let displacement paralyze his output. His creative frequency remains startlingly high. In late 2024, he released ‘SUITS,’ a collaborative EP with Montiyago and producer 77, bristling with gritty, trap‑leaning tracks. Last month saw the release of the shadowy, beat‑leaden “Location,” delivered through an interactive video-game format. Armed with a sharp voice, a sharper flow, and a relentless sense of direction, Soulja is now actively campaigning for pole position in the evolving tier of MENA Hip-Hop.