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

2012 summer jam number one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQP-etYU1ps&ob=av2e

keep hearing this everywhere in public which makes it even better

first heard it on this mix

http://www.okayafrica.com/2011/12/13/audio-dj-abrantees-afrobeats-mixtape-ft-wiz-kid-ice-prince-dbanj/

had no idea it was gonna become a thing this summer but there it is in the top 10

Only know it through the Funkystepz remix atm.

So, Kanye's involved somehow(?) - think this has any traction stateside?

the funkystepz remix is kind of pointless

no idea about kanye's involvement though whenever an amazing song gatecrashes the charts out of nowhere there always seems to be something like that behind it (cf jepsen/bieber) so i wouldn't be surprised

I first heard of it via Dan Hancox's Guardian feature on Afrobeats in January. LOVE that it's in the Top Ten!

Sneakbo version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiMaW8kTF0k

Donaeo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3iNJZ3Mqqg

I absolutely rinsed that Abrantee Afrobeats vol 1 mix a while back. He seems to have pissed quite a few people off by lumping so much different stuff under the Afrobeats tag, but what do i care, that tape was fantastic
http://soundcloud.com/djabrantee/sets/afrobeats-mix-vol-1

He seems to have pissed quite a few people off by lumping so much different stuff under the Afrobeats tag

really, like what? (and criticism from whom?)

as far as i recall the main flak abrantee copped from that article was to do with the misleading impression he himself invented afrobeats as a term and/or was one of its great originators in the uk

^ yeah you're right, that was the main beef people had with him (although i've never seen any criticism of Abrantee coming from the african artists themselves).

I suppose i was referring to a few people on the dissensus afrobeats thread, which quite depressingly turned into a moanfest about lumping together Naija, Hiplife, Boomba, kuduro etc, thereby misrepresenting these distinct musical styles/traditions etc...i suppose they have a point but slagging Abrantee seemed a bit cynical to me, he's doing a lot to promote this music.

this too
http://africasacountry.com/2012/01/27/the-whole-afrobeats-thing/

lol come on man, zhao talking out of his clueless backside is one of the stone tablets of the internet

yeah i've seen that piece too - first comment deals with it neatly

xp lol I knew you were gonna say that! Zhao, bless him...

still there is a controversy there, however tedious it may be, and I think these issues will keep cropping up as this afrobeats thing gets bigger i'm sure.

i agree the dude in the comments nails it for me

This is just wonderful. And thanks to Benny B. for posting that soundcloud link also.

SMELL MY ARMPITS YOU WILL LIKE IT!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb0BiSB4_aY

OH CALAMITY!

sup w kanye, big sean and MANNIE FRESH being in the "oliver twist" video

^ they're all on Kanye's G.O.O.D. music label I think

stands for 'Getting Out Our Dreams' apparently *pukes*

still, its a good look...

bit rich considering how many marcus 'natural artistic sounds touching you' sets you've heard in your lifetime :)

This thread needed to happen, there's so much good music coming out of this scene, I haven't been as excited for music since getting into UK Funky. This is my personal favorite atm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z4VrDu_ZYw&feature=related.

love that track! apparently atumpan is also a high school english teacher irl, which makes it even better.

in case anyone hasn't heard it, d'banj's previous single is also excellent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KIHJOLeyFk

Emmanuel Eboue ‏@TheRealEboue
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Blimey I had no idea that D'Banj was in the top 10, terrific song anyway, although this is my favourite of his:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWilwqonZ0Q

Can't be bothered with the laboured controversy (yawn unifying US and dancehall DNA throughout loads of this etc etc) but glad someone's pointed out the two-way traffic between funky and the Nigerian artists at least, probably others as well, cf this from a couple of years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c821wvSqrAc

Also lol at Donae'o popping up in the video for no apparent reason.

Heard this one on thesinglesjukebox a couple of weeks ago. As I said there musically reminds me of Paul Johnson’s Get Get Down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDwxhHwJ66M

RE: UK Funky/Afrobeats

Dotstars been on this thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MfEFe7Cbrk

always imagined this would fit nicely into a funky set (of yore, maybe not nowadays)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaduM38SFsM

Quite old and based on SA house more than Naija/Ghana i think, but this is an anthem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryVJ2MdTc2o

another old one but fits i think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP0MyfxT2y4

but Donaeo must be in his absolute element right now, I'm really pleased for him. He's come a long way!

A couple of years ago I heard 'Party Hard' on a dancefloor in Kampala and 'African Warrior' playing in some some random bar that was otherwise playing Nigerian and Ghanaian pop and the big US hits and it was a real penny-drop moment.

This ("Oliver Twist") was at first impossible to check out and then inappropriate to listen to for various personal context reasons for the past 6 days but OH SURPRISE it is in fact my favourite thing ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ1GYHZ_cTs

^^^ This is a couple of years old and corny as hell and has absolutely zero thematic development but is totally irresistible.

can't believe no one has posted this Azonto smash from Ghana here yet, could be the next "Oliver Twist" perhaps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTJ3bwDIyWc

more Azonto goodness:

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

and how about this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR5ItzlDhJc

killer track from Nigeria - a bit old, but new to me, and definitely still fresh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS9O7AIA7g8

^ follow this person's lead (re azonto)

yeah them EL tracks are biggles. I believe he produced that daft Eddie Kadi/Funny Face tune I posted upthread too.

Looking forward to giving this a listen soon
http://djneptizzle.com/download/

more Azonto:

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

^^ my undisputed #1 song of the year ^^

neptizzle is a fascinating character who i'm surprised the media havent really caught on to - a vietnamese dude from hackney and former grime dj who seemingly randomly picked up on afrobeats in 2007 and has become an international star

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4P-gOrdeZk. This is on that Neptizzle mix, very nice.

you can listen to EL's double album here: http://elrepgh.bandcamp.com/.
4 out of 25 tracks in, it's pretty great!

i was just listening to it as well... it's on Spotify, so fast!
(but really, putting that "this is crazy chale" thing in every single intro gets a bit annoying)

That Neptizzle mix is amazing, I can't stop playing it! There's some proper hard tracks, like the Dee Moneeey I put up above, or 'Bossu Kena', and some beautiful, sugar-sweet ones as well, like 'Big Momma', 'Onyame Ehyira', and 'Sweetio'. There's just something about the colorful synths, syncopated beats, autotuned african vocals, and the relentless, catchy fun of this that really does it for me.

Love the Neptizzle mix so so so much.

yes!

What's this about Bert Jansch? Ok. Leaving thread...

http://db8nv44adlng0.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Empire-State-of-Mind-album-art.jpeg

based on the singles this album is shaping up to be really good! wizkid, banky w & scales

love everything about this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7_bpL4zSLw&feature=share

yeah that one's a belter

rhythmically fairly unique from what i've found too

(save el's 'kaalu' maybe-ish)

yeah, you mean with those 4x4 kicks coming in and out?

I am also pretty in awe of how stylish these dudes look tbh.

i love that neptizzle mix! what are the chances we can get marcus mixing afrobeats? he would be killing it.

"obuu mo" is absolutely my shit.

at the risk of being thick, what defines this "scene"? Like, what distinguishes "afrobeats" from other stuff? I don't want to be the genre police, I'm enjoying it, but it just feels like uk-funky influenced house?

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!

yeah the vocal performances on that song are incredible. There's an radio interview with Ball-J floating around on the net somewhere and he singles out that song, saying that it was the craziest studio session he'd ever done.

Quite digging this London-based crew from Nigeria
https://soundcloud.com/studiomagicmusic

Apparently this dubstep influenced track is making waves in Nigeria

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

more info here
http://www.thefader.com/2012/09/05/lungu-lungu-too-much-senrenre/

Sony Music Entertainment is proud to announce the signing of Nigerian megastar D’Banj to its RCA Africa label. The breakthrough deal also includes a multi-album, worldwide exclusive contract with emerging Nigerian singer-songwriter star Kayswitch and a strategic partnership with D’Banj’s Nigerian record label DB Records, who’s catalog includes artists and producers such as J.Sol, Jay Sleek and DeeVee.

http://www.citifmonline.com/index.php?id=1.1189988

Maybe I missed this ilxer posting his list here that includes the below cuts (or maybe he didn't)

http://thecorner.co.nz/2012/12/14/the-corners-2012-year-in-review-50-best-international-singles/

D’Banj – Oliver Twist
Tiwa Savage – Kele Kele
Sarkodie ft EL – U Go Kill Me
Kwaw Kese ft Black Prophet – Let Me Do My Thing
Nyame K – Pay Her
Guru – Lapaz Toyota

I know it's old now but I flat out adore Guru's "Anything Goes".

That Ball J mix is great Benny, you always dig your mixes! I admire artists that have a fully formed unique sound, and can create a whole range of different tracks from a few simple elements- in Ball J's case those crazy technicolor, tropical, carnival synth stabs. With Azonto and Naija, Jersey/Philly Club, Jackin, and Funkystepz, 2012 been such a great year for music.

"The debut Gospel Porn album by the most politically incorrect Christian Rap group of the times"

http://foknbois.bandcamp.com/releases

I haven't listened to it yet, but there's a new (i think) Abrantee mix: http://www.okayafrica.com/2013/01/10/afrobeats-dj-abrantee-mixtape/

^ looks a bit crap, think I'll just be googling the few tunes I don't know from the tracklist. Conor Maynard Afrobeats remix? No thanks.

Couple of good Kwaw Kese cuts:
https://soundcloud.com/akwaabamusic/wossop-remix-feat-kwaw-kese

Shoelace (feat Buda) - this one produced by Krynkman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAEXXmcOoaM

"After the long drama and talk about his infamous boxer shorts at the Big Brother House, Keitta has finally released a new song that address the entire situation. The song is titled 'One Boxer' and was produced by Krynkman, aka Amadaa aka Nshorna Music. It's Azontomania...One Boxer!"

http://youtu.be/ZODE68sSmyA

How about we start a new Rolling Afrobeats thread for 2013? There's bound to be loads of exciting new Azonto, Naija, etc etc stuff this year (obviously!) Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel the current thread title is becoming increasingly irrelevant and confusing, and it would be nice to be able attract more people. Good idea or not? Mainly looking at you, Benny B, since you've been by far the greatest provider for the thread :-)

yeah this one has become a little unwieldy. I'll start a new one.

cool :)))

new thread for 2013: Afrobeats 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6zixMk7gnQ

has someone posted this yet? It's the jam

obv not

Yansh yansh yansh yansh
Yowsah yowsah yowsah!

that's great, reminds me I meant to post this beautiful azonto tune a while ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWsuzm650qw

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

does anyone write about this stuff in a way that contextualizes it at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiHh2-6jmnU

this jam actually makes me think of

The Ibadan Sound: Jerome Sydenham, Dennis Ferrer etc.

Oops:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiHh2-6jmnU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Lv7PedBIU

Lil Bucie

this dude Heavy K makes some jams, damn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhD_c9O1L2s

Rolling Afrobeats thread 2014