"See I like Beyoncé, but she dey with Jigga / I like Nicki, her yansh is bigger..." // D'BANJ - OLIVER TWIST // afrobeats in the charts

ok, makes sense that Ball J, Krynkman and EL (among others) all came up through the Accra rap collective Skillions/Rickaby productions. As far as I can tell 2010 seems to be have been the big bang moment when all these guys switched from straight hip hop beats to Azonto.

Case in point, this is what they were doing in 2009
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygdx-4E5H1c

Im glad that Ball J seems to be concentrating more on producing now rather than rapping, his Jay-Z impressions are pretty cringeworthy.

African Jay-Z impressionists are unintentionally hilarious. There's a Nigerian rapper called Vector who's even more brazen about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luEZ1vTPwQM

I made a playlist of this kind of stuff:

http://open.spotify.com/user/awesomewells/playlist/3EuKYmZnaAkTao9NGXMPNB

Honestly this is probably the single most joyous playlist I've ever put together.

did you make it public big fella?

Should be yeah...

well spotify must be doing its semi-regular bork-out

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502 Bad Gateway

nginx

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It should be working now, because someone's just subscribed to it.

It's working yes.

this mix is absolute solid gold, loads of Ball J/Krynkman/EL productions on here. I put a TL together for it

DJ RANDY - Azonto Fever Mix Tape Vol. 1 Supported by NuAfrika Records(Ball J Beat)
http://www.hulkshare.com/7nrrcgp8bu68

1. Agbeko ft Guru - U go Fly
2. Skillions (Ball J, Jayso, E.L., J Town, Frank P)- Hop To Da Beat
3. ???
4. Saucekid – Carolina ft Davido
5. Kwaw Kese - Let Me Do My Thing (Feat. Black Prophet)
6. Skinny Loso & Episode - Lets Party (Chicken & Beer)
7. Sarkodie ft. E.L. - Dangerous
8. Timaya - Shake your bum
9. Stay Jay - Prepaid girl
10. Dami Duro instrumental
11. Fiifi Selah - Survival ft Stone Bwoy
12. R2bees & Wizkid - Dance
13. T-Blaze ft. Ball J and Guru - Wa Sei Bebiaa
14. Mr Hm hmm - Non Fa
15. Yaw Siki - Jeggings party
16. E.L. - Kaalu
17. Keche - Aluguntugui
18. E.L. - On a long tin

then after this it starts repeating tracks for some reason and the mixing isn't too hot, great selection though.

Track three above is this should anyone care
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIQKu2RmMPE&feature=plcp

krynkman/Amadaa continues to impress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf-wRvtf-hk

There now appears to be a Fuse ODG album, which deserves a run-out this weekend.

i am so behind on this stuff i could cry basically

btw if someone sees a video that looks like a fake 'only girl in the world' filmed at the lambeth country show on brockwell park please holla cos i was sat looking at those dudes trying to work out who they were for ages (it wasnt fuse, they were def og african)

don't be sleeping on VERA and Azonto Bomb, seriously. Its awesome how many hits Krynkmans been behind over the last year.

Loving Antenna by Fuse ODG, where can i hear the album?

It's on Spotify, as is the EL album and, ooh, loads more.

The Fuse ODG album is delightful. He has so much charm that he manages to carry even the bits that that would otherwise be a bit ropey.

Heres a link to a handy youtube playlist of all the videos posted in this thread so far, stops your browser from crashing

http://www.youtuple.com/tuple?url=http%3A//www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet%3Faction%3Dshowall%26boardid%3D41%26threadid%3D92402%23msg3586140#

Theres like 60 of em or something!

btw, how do you post a youtube link on here without embedding it?

iirc, if you use the shortened links, they won't embed: http://youtu.be/MRWsmqZOksA

Cheers.

Couple of new ball j beats just appeared

Sun Rich - D33D3W.COM.
http://youtu.be/eDQQbMAeHII

Conzy - Megye hit
http://ghanandwom.com/music-conzy-megye-hit-prod-by-ball-j/

The Conzy one is particularly banging, classic ravy diva sample and huge kickdrums that swallow the whole track when they hit (could just be over-compression, but what the hey it sounds good)

If you've been listening to his stuff you'll know the template by now but I could listen to riddims like these all day, they're so full of detail. That 'Carry dey go' track I posted above is a nice example of his more tuneful side though, its really grown on me that one.

Also this is a hot beat but wtfs up with that name?!!

http://ghanandwom.com/music-hitla-k3-tsi-se-train-feat-snuupy-prod-by-oilcity-vybez/

Results of the latest Ball J binge. Enjoy...

Fiifi Selah (feat. Stoneboy) - Survival
http://youtu.be/TV3oasNjRwU

Nickmoah ft. Stay Jay - Head and shoulders
http://youtu.be/MB1A9i3Qcng

Gasmilla - Innit (UK-Zonto)
http://youtu.be/5VregwFPC5M

Nashay - Sea Side (feat. Guru)
http://youtu.be/uCIohdj2Q9c

Prodonz - Virgin
http://youtu.be/ILQFmSD16Eg

Not sure if these last two might not actually be Ball J but they sound like him

Konz - Baakor
http://youtu.be/P1XoOA1HyTk

Da little - This London Girl
http://youtu.be/XkzvomL3GLU

I'm aware I'm mining a pretty narrow seam with this stuff now but no one else is joining in!

Trust me your work is greatly appreciated.

I heard a full-on afrobeats power-ballad last night. Freeman Nawado & Slim Flex's 'One More Chance' is sadly not on Youtube and the song itself is no great shakes but the producer's willingness to employ ludicrous sci-fi orchestral bombast ensured I played it three times in the row.

Seconded - keep bringing those Ball J beats!

Well alright then!

http://www.mixcloud.com/bennybrassic/ball-j-beats/

Download
http://www.mediafire.com/?uhz9osdd1uw7s5v

1. Sun Rich - D33d3w Dot Com
2. Conzy - Megye Hit
3. Kwaw Kese ft. Black Prophet - Let me do my thing
4. Nickmoah ft. Stay Jay - Head and Shoulders
5. Guru ft. Edja- Lapaz Toyota
6. Guru ft. Joe B - Karaoke
7. Guantoa - Asore party
8. Agbeko ft. Guru - U go fly
9. T-Blaze ft. Ball J and Joe B - Wa Sei Bebia
10. Prodonz - Virgin
11. Black Kat ft. Zador - To dey be to dey
12. Mr HmHmm (Obrekuo) ft. Joe B - Non Fa
13. Nashaay ft. Guru - Sea Side
14. Joe B ft. Guru - Dongor
15. Castro ft. West Side Legacy - Faa No Saa
16. Stay Jay - Twaame Lala
17. Stay Jay - Prepaid Gurl
18. Guru - Anything goes
19. Gasmilla - Innit (UK-Zonto)
20. Nadjat - Gbaa Alert
21. Obour ft. Mugeez - One People
22. Nyame K ft. Ball J - Pay her
23. Dr Poh ft. Castro - Ebe Ko

Oh, awesome. Appreciate the ability to d/l yr mix, too, as this thread had been crashing my browser something fierce.

LOVING this mix, thank you!

oh shit The Thing and Lapaz Toyota are so hot. djing them both next time i dj something.

Refreshing the thread with some Naija stuff, not exactly recent, but still good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YvzTizFakk

Wizkid (who has an album out now) with an older track: "Pakurumo":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S4S-2sMS5w

And this one from Ice Prince feat. Brymo "Oleku". Brymo's hook is gorgeous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQoyjrDUCuY

Yes I love that one too. Ice Prince has an album out as well but I wouldn't say it's essential listening outside the singles. Obviously Superstar is all-time though.

boss mix benny, sorry i didnt get round to it earlier

when will i be able to clone another me to have time for all the music i wanna hear :/

i think it's fair to say afrobeats has not bled into the rest of the world even in the relatively minor way i had envisaged, like 'oliver twist' might as well be the macarena now

i mean obv it was always going to be a novelty hit but the tide beneath it hasnt particularly risen and seems to have subsided if anything

I dunno the commercial infrastructure behind D'Banj is pretty hefty now so maybe he's just the outlier. Difficult to tell without a follow-up. Oliver Twist doesn't sound particularly African either which may have helped it crossover.

Like so much of the rest of this stuff, especially the best stuff, isn't in English. Although I'm not sure its a blessing or a curse that no US mainstream producer or UK hipster type has started knocking out fake Ball-J or Don Jazzy beats.

Also I thought I'd commented on Benny's mix but apparently not - one thing that you really notice when you listen to them all back-to-back is how much variety he's able to get out a fairly small number of sounds. Like he makes a handful of sounds do so much work, there are constantly little surprises popping up all over the place, it's all ravey in the best possible way.

tbh my pov there is overly azonto-centric

i would dearly like to think there's still a space for melodic naija pop to carve out on a mtv 93 euroreggae tip

if we could just get ace of base to reform and cover 'oleku' we're laughing

http://www.naijapidginenglish.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/AsernalAzonto-dance.jpg

Like I challenge you to find anything dorkier than that.

Oh wait:

http://www.djshyne.com/index/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/azonto-530x378-e1347492535330.jpg

why is this gif not moving xp

Glad you guys enjoyed the mix. Ball J is crazy prolific, there was about another 10 tunes from this year I wanted to fit on there. Was quite surprised (and somewhat flummoxed tbh) to learn from an interview that he sees himself primarily as a hip hop artist. His whole attitude seemed to suggest he thought this Azonto thing is just a sideline for him. Thing is, his hip hop stuff is awful Jay-Z impersonations over standard-as-fuck beats!

This new one goes hard though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=39ypFYi5Yak#!

This one too from a London based singer.

Gizo - Makofa Aba (prod. by Ball J)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvTJnzfMZ7Q

The first few seconds of this had me thinking of early Wiley riddims. I always kind of wanted Wiley to have jumped on producing funky, it might have sounded a bit like this. Also, wouldn't complain about more Grime like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2sHpvmZ9Ts

Here's my top 50 azonto songs for the year (or really since the abrantee mixtape). Might be a few from last year and the order is fairly arbitrary after the top 10 or so but whatevs. Also no Naija cos i don't really have enough knowledge.

1.Guru - Lapaz Toyota
2. Keche - Aluguntugui
3. EL - U Go Kill Me
4. Zigi ft. Amanda
5. Keche - Sokode
6. Kwaw Kese ft. Black Prophet - Let me do my thing
7. Guru - Karaoke
8. D-Black ft. Joey B - VERA
9. Yaw Siki - Wupe Dodo
10. EL - Obuu Mo
11. Fada Gran pa - To da centre
12. Obour - One people
13. Joey B - Azonto bomb
14. Sarkodie ft. EL - Dangerous
15. D-Black - Ha mi shoulder
16. Flexy Da Don - Tsofi sausage
17. EL - Kaalu
18. Mr HmHmm ft. Joe B - Non-fa
19. T-Blaze - Wa Sei Bebia
20. Greenfield ft. EL - Carry dey go
21. Fuse ODG - Antenna
22. Stay Jay - Twaame Lala
23. Stay Jay ft. Tiffany - Shashee Wowo
24. Eduwodzi ft. Stay Jay - Yenko Nkoa
25. Guantoa - Asore Party
26. Gasmilla - Innit
27. Funny Face & Eddie Kadie - They doubted
28. Humble Dis - Corner corner
29. Guru - Akonta Fried Rice
30. Stay Jay - Prepaid girl
31. Buk Bak - Kolum
32. Nadjat - Gbaa Alert
33. Bluebox ft. Bottlez - Spedede
34. Castro ft. Sarkodie - Swagger
35. Sun Rich - D33d3w Dot Com
36. Tiffany - Akyee wo
37. EL - On a long tin
38. Joe B ft. Guru - Dongor
39. Eyi Rap ft. Va - Serkle
40. Nyame K - Pay her
41. Edem - Over Again
42. Yaw Siki - Jeggings party
43. Black Kat ft. Zador - To Dey be to dey
44. Conzy - Megye hit
45. Gizo - Makofa Aba
46. Da Little ft. Limit - This London Girl
47. 4x4 & MarcusBeatz - Casanova
48. Fifi Selah ft. Stoneboy - Survival
49. 4x4 - Moko Ni
50. Fuse ODG ft.Tiffany - Azonto

Great list, Benny. That's some of the very best music of the past year imo. I can't wait to listen to the ones I haven't heard yet.

(btw, #3 U Go Kill Me is by Sarkodie (featuring EL).

...wish I had enough knowledge of Naija pop to make a coherent list...

xp oh yeah, should also read 'Zigi ft. Sonniballi - Amanda' at number 4

My top three: Gbaa Alert (Nadjat), Chop My Money (P-Square), Oma Ga (Tiwa Savage). Lots of co-signs with Benny's list, e.g. Obuu Mo, Twaame Lala, the two big Guru tracks...

The latest from Keche is another good one: Body Lotion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqBlLNsbESA

Dr. Slim - S3k3 (Seke) (feat. Double)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_n51HQPBKI

"Let Me Do My Thing" is amazing, was the highlight of yr Ball J mix, Benny. Gonna take a while to get through yr top 50, thanks for all yr work in this thread!