Oh dear... I just always assumed it was patois for (a) “pop gun”, so I guess you’re not the one embarrassing yourself here! I did just now find this on Urban Dictionary (I know) though: Popcaan is the Jamaican Patois spelling for the English word Popcorn. Popcaan means that you pop a corn caan, in other words Popcaan really means you pop or fire gunshots or bullets. A Caan is the Jamaican Patois word for corn, caan another word for bullet or shots.“I use my brand new gun to popcaan or fire bullets when i am in danger.”https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=PopcaanSo maybe we can split the difference (please)?
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 00:19 (five years ago) link
Ha that’s interesting! Popcorn is definitely a weird nickname so I could see that definition being true
― rob, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 02:42 (five years ago) link
Okay, people. So which songs have you been voting for this time around? I'll enter my ballot soon but thought I'd probe for some minimal consensus first.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Wednesday, 16 January 2019 10:39 (five years ago) link
I will probably compile my ballot at the very last minute (Friday night), like always. Sure shots are “Soco”, “Fake Love”, “Akwaaba”, “Banomoya” (and “Club Controller” too, probably), “Logba Logba”, and either “Gbona” or “On The Low”, or maybe both.
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 11:04 (five years ago) link
No Ye?
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Wednesday, 16 January 2019 11:08 (five years ago) link
I was asking myself that very same question. Still haven’t made my mind up about “Ye” - I think I prefer the other two, but...
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 11:15 (five years ago) link
(and thanks for reminding me of Ne-Yo. Queuing up “Miss Independent” now!)
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 11:19 (five years ago) link
"ubala" and "on the low" are definitely on my ballot as well as the sun-el musician, mlindo, and busiswa albums
― ufo, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 11:19 (five years ago) link
Not the Simmy album? Will probably my number one.
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 11:32 (five years ago) link
it's definitely in contention but i'm not sure if it'll make my ballot, this year's been too good
― ufo, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 11:37 (five years ago) link
I think I entered something like 8 African pop songs. I also left out Ye. Two each for Wizzie, Burna and Kaybee, one each for Nini and Teni. Also two danceall songs, including a late exchange of Juggernaut for Stay So. I was surprised that no one nominated Black Hypocrisy.
― Nabozo, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 14:13 (five years ago) link
I should have nominated the whole Spice album/mixtape. Def one of the stronger releases of 2019.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Wednesday, 16 January 2019 14:18 (five years ago) link
I had Outside so high on my albums ballot, I decided to just vote for Gbona. Narrowing down the Wizkid noms was extremely hard--so much so that I voted for Fever, Fake Love, Kana, and Soco. Plus Macala, Drogba, and Akwaaba.
― rob, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 14:37 (five years ago) link
Narrowing down the Wizkid noms was extremely hard...and “Commando”, “Master Groove”, “Lagos Vibes” (and “Immediately”, and, and...) weren’t even nominated. (Also, I ultimately decided against nomming “Manya” again - I was the only voter for it last year. It was probably to fresh then (late-Nov release), and now it also misses the 2018 EOY. Shame really, because it’s the song that heralded Wizzy’s Golden Year)
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 16:30 (five years ago) link
Listening to ILX Listen: 2019respect to your own playlist; will be adding music on here into the big ol' everything in the hopper one as well
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 16 January 2019 17:08 (five years ago) link
Ghanian Hausa rapper Kiryani Ayat (f/k/a “AYAT”) is on a track-dropping spree right now. I looove “Memuna”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6ouZ2yh7wgThat’s just the audio - hope there will be a video for it, and that it will be as stunning as the one he did last year for “Guda”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMVa8BS_SrQ
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 21:50 (five years ago) link
Sorry, his name is Kirani Ayat, not Kiryani.
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 21:51 (five years ago) link
At once very 80s housey and very recognisably 2018-19 SA clubby, I love it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ge_zyYIn6UKwiish SA ft. C’Buda, Macfowlen & Vukani • Iskhathi(This is the vocal mix, the instrumental ‘Main’ mix seems unexplicably to be more popular in South Africa)
― breastcrawl, Saturday, 19 January 2019 23:22 (five years ago) link
A great song from a year ago I had completely forgotten about:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zivT9GVayPcZirra ft. Koker • AgbadaThe kind of track that doesn’t fit in current trends, even though Zirra’s singing style is unthinkable without Wizkid’s example. (Is that guitar riff a “Going Back To My Roots” sample?)
― breastcrawl, Sunday, 20 January 2019 02:04 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4_xrzuPgDUDanish remix (by Nandu) of a South Sudanese song (by Nyaruach) on the inevitable MIDH afro-house label. One day I'll just check all their catalogue.
― Nabozo, Sunday, 20 January 2019 13:56 (five years ago) link
Was just looking at the Shazam charts for Atlanta and fall by davido is currently at number 2?
― just sayin, Monday, 21 January 2019 08:08 (five years ago) link
Very interesting. More here:https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/davido-fall-us-radio-shazam-780079/
― breastcrawl, Monday, 21 January 2019 09:33 (five years ago) link
Seems consistent with someone (here? I forgot) mentioning hearing Davido blaring from cars in New York all the time these days.
― breastcrawl, Monday, 21 January 2019 09:38 (five years ago) link
After a disappointing 2018, “Cette Année” things might be looking up for Serge Beynaud:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TObwKz8RjvM(I am a bit shocked by the fact that he seems to have lost his dance crew though)
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 22 January 2019 20:20 (five years ago) link
The new Vanessa Mdee is interesting in that it’s the first time Distruction Boyz venture across the border (apart from a Mr Eazi remix) and also the first time they’re doing a pop production:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI3SlwH_dXcVanessa Mdee ft. Distruction Boyz, DJ Tira & Prince Bulo • That’s For Me
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 22 January 2019 20:26 (five years ago) link
Naija Dance Special, Vol. 1“Change your style, another style”: Things are moving really fast - DMW and Davido have traded in the FreshVDM sound for that brand new Rexxie + Zlatan thing:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBs9vrPS9ocDMW feat. Davido & Zlatan • Bum BumI like Rexxie (and hey, there’s Zlatan again) better on stuff like this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2jLq7aKxqkAkintunde feat. Zlatan • CapableI can see this sound burning out real fast with all the exposure it’s getting. Better enjoy it while it lasts!The wonderful thing is that there are all kinds of crazy dance tunes coming out of Naija right now. Check this one with an almost Ghanian feel (compare it with Eddie Khae’s “Speak In Tongues” upthread, for instance).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h_B8liZdEQDJ Wizziano ft. BaseOne, Mr. Real & CeeBoi • MalokakoI love that skittery hi-hat or whatever it is, and what’s that brass thing doing there?
― breastcrawl, Friday, 25 January 2019 09:05 (five years ago) link
Those Rexxie tracks sound to me a lot like the circa 2012 "afrobeats" that kicked off ilm's interest in this stuff: Lapaz Toyota, Skelewu, etc. Things got so lush last summer, I'm not surprised if there's a swerve back toward these lower-fi, dancier sounds
― rob, Saturday, 26 January 2019 19:23 (five years ago) link
61: Wizkid (Starboy) – “Soco” – 180 points – 6 votes – 1 first place vote in ILX 2018 top 77 tracks vote
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 January 2019 20:44 (five years ago) link
Cause for celebration, for sure. But still: Too fucking low!
― breastcrawl, Monday, 28 January 2019 22:10 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMuFO9nhtfA
this is from last year but just discovered it and i love it, chill nigerian rap
― ufo, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:44 (five years ago) link
Yeah, nice one, and alté at that!(for searching purposes, that’s “Rapid Fire” by Santi ft. Shane Eagle & Amaarae)I like this Ghanaian rap track, “Pawa” by Worlasi:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIeRrgRSr_E
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 20:53 (five years ago) link
Naija Love & Blessings Special:• Teni is going from strength to strength. Here she is helping out Boj on “Obe”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao5yjF_qZoQ• Adekunle Gold and Simi celebrating their marriage on “Promise”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXZBrx_H-yA• Simi solo, produced by Legendury Beatz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3dymeqbtOU• Tekno low-key celebrating gender equality on “Woman”. It’s a good look for him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obadozWVeCo
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 21:28 (five years ago) link
ok I think that's the first Teni song I've really liked, was really wondering what I was missing with her
― rob, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 21:46 (five years ago) link
(btw, the title of the Simi is “Ayo”)
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 22:23 (five years ago) link
BREAKING NEWS:The Sun-El Musician - Africa to the World thread has been repurposed. From now on, and with immediate effect, it will be known as THE HOUSE OF SUN-EL: Sun-El Musician, Simmy, Mlindo The Vocalist, and other related artists, I repeat: “THE HOUSE OF SUN-EL: Sun-El Musician, Simmy, Mlindo The Vocalist, and other related artists”. And if you don’t know, now you know.
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 31 January 2019 13:33 (five years ago) link
Nice.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 31 January 2019 14:11 (five years ago) link
Interesting P Sherburne piece on "Township Funk": https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/the-strange-story-of-township-funk-the-unlikely-hit-that-helped-south-african-dance-music-go-global/.
I had no idea about Dissensus's role in its popularity, that is wild
― rob, Thursday, 31 January 2019 15:03 (five years ago) link
This was playing in a sneakers shop here in Oslo today:
https://youtu.be/K3zRmjY6Vcg
It’s nothing special but I was delighted to hear the Spellz drop while I was trying on shoes.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 31 January 2019 20:20 (five years ago) link
Ha, did you get bored during the rollout too, longneck?Narrator: longneck posted Bils ft. Kida Kudz & WavyTheCreator • DND
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 31 January 2019 21:17 (five years ago) link
Lol, yeah. I’m afraid the best part of the poll is over now.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 31 January 2019 21:22 (five years ago) link
lol hence my reviving the soca thread yesterday
― rob, Thursday, 31 January 2019 21:27 (five years ago) link
Mayorkun’s voice and the Killertunes sound gel really well, so this is fun:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djHBEqabUhEBusta Pop ft. Mayorkun • Masha Kilo
― breastcrawl, Monday, 4 February 2019 08:34 (five years ago) link
Naija Dance Special (Interlude)Fuji gqom anyone?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsvAJ69YNvAQdot • GbeseDamn, this is a GREAT video. I remember “complaining” a year ago that Naija shaku shaku dancing was kids play compared to what the Angola kuduro crews were doing, but they’re catching up!
― breastcrawl, Monday, 4 February 2019 22:49 (five years ago) link
Gqom fuji would be more apt, I guess. Anyway, great track, and once again, GREAT video.
― breastcrawl, Monday, 4 February 2019 23:03 (five years ago) link
Mayorkun - Sope (from his nov. 2018 album)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwIdk6EWbEg
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 11:17 (five years ago) link
only just started delving into Kenya's Muthoni Drummer Queen album but it's terrific so far
https://youtu.be/KpgCf5ZlDqk
― frame casual (dog latin), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 11:33 (five years ago) link
I’m going to personally will Serge Beynaud into a great 2019. His new one (so quickly!) is a lot more fleshed out than mission statement “Cette année”. Most importantly, the dancers are back!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv7zREjc9f0Serge Beynaud • Kota na Koto
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 17:32 (five years ago) link
Any thoughts on this Okayafrica piece?
Call Us By Our Name: Stop Using 'Afrobeats'
It does seem to me to be a very reductive name, but at least it's better than "world music."
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 18:06 (five years ago) link
"kota na koto" rules so much, glad serge is as great as ever
that piece is interesting and pretty agreeable. it would also make it easier to talk about and dig further into african pop in general beyond my current dabbling if i knew what all the various genres and regional scenes were actually called, hopefully i'll get there eventually
― ufo, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 19:46 (five years ago) link
A much simpler and respectful solution, is to refer to what is currently known as Afrobeats as pop music from a specific country (i.e. Ghanaian Pop Music) and to other established musical styles by their local names—"highlife," "fuji," "gqom," "bongo flava" and so forth, equipping new listeners with the right vocabulary to experience the varying cultures.
This seems pretty inarguable; the comparison to k-pop/j-pop/c-pop is also a good point. We talked at one point last year about separate threads for different scenes/countries but the feeling was that ilm couldn't sustain it. Idk, maybe we should have done it anyway?
― rob, Tuesday, 5 February 2019 22:06 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzzNAMU5eWY
recently discovered "this is love" by lady zamar and it's lovely and quickly becoming one of my favourites this year. gorgeous south african house
the album it's from, monarch, is very good too, just way too long at 20 tracks/90 minutes
― ufo, Monday, 30 December 2019 02:12 (four years ago) link
Yeah, it’s definitely overly long, and without enough stand-outs imo. Fwiw, the other tracks I saved to my playlist at the time were “ICU”, “Delirium” and “Sharp Shooter”.
― breastcrawl, Monday, 30 December 2019 08:54 (four years ago) link
https://www.jonathanbogart.net/blog/100-songs-2019
He's got Afropop, caribbean sounds, Latinx reggaeton, US & UK and more
1. Seyi Shay ft. Runtown, “Gimme Love”; 2. Bad Bunny ft. Tainy, “Callaíta”; 3. Titica ft. Laton Cordeiro, “Giro Na Bicicleta”; 4. Lady Zamar, “This Is Love”;5. Tomasa del Real, “Contigo”;
― curmudgeon, Monday, 30 December 2019 16:10 (four years ago) link
Anybody made Obama's YE list
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Monday, 30 December 2019 17:07 (four years ago) link
Obama has Burna Boy "Anybody," Rema "Iron Man," and Angelique Kidjo " La Vida es un Carnaval" ( Rollo Tomasi remix)" and Jamaican vocalist Koffee "Toast" on his list
― curmudgeon, Monday, 30 December 2019 17:34 (four years ago) link
Go Obama lol! As for Jonathan Bogart’s list, it’s a super interesting one. I don’t know two thirds of the songs, but it looks right up my alley. I recognise quite a lot in the way he describes his musical proclivities in the introduction as well. However, **butthurt corner and full disclosure**, I soured on Bogart big time after the blurb he (of all people, as the only Afropop aficionado there at the time) wrote in the Singles Jukebox for my Reader’s Week entry for Tekno’s “Duro” back in 2015. I found it shockingly bad and pretty much disqualifying for a music critic. This was his blurb: ”Jonathan Bogart: Blame it on me being an old straight white dude who has rarely been in the market for what young loverboy crooners are selling; blame it on my having heard way too much recent West African pop that sounds practically indistinguishable from this; blame it on the YouTube commenters bringing up Chris Brown again and again. [4]”I thought it impolite to directly address it, being a guest on the site (and I was too fucking insecure anyway, I hadn’t even written a blurb for the song myself like I could have), and left it at a general comment.Interestingly, in his introduction here he more or less repeats the same argument and expands on it (which is why I felt the need to write this), but now it’s framed in a positive, dare I say it, half-baked woke kind of way, which I can’t help but find a bit disingenious.He does have a Tekno song in his list this time around though (as well as some other male cis het crooners!), I’ll give him that.**end of butthurt section / axe grinded**Anyway, diving headlong into the list as we speak - it really is a treat.
― breastcrawl, Monday, 30 December 2019 21:29 (four years ago) link
Here’s that number one on JB’s list:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0ligX9PupISeyi Shay ft. Runtown • Gimme Love(it’s a Sarz production; she currently has a remix out with Teyana Taylor instead of Runtown)
― breastcrawl, Monday, 30 December 2019 22:26 (four years ago) link
yeah bogart's list has been pretty interesting to go through - there's enough overlap with stuff i loved that didn't really get much attention from anywhere but with plenty of great tracks i hadn't heard too ("this is love" among them)
― ufo, Monday, 30 December 2019 22:45 (four years ago) link
this mix still goeshttps://soundcloud.com/djabrantee/sets/afrobeats-mix-vol-1
― ||||||||, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 16:10 (four years ago) link
Thought the Tekno (Bogart’s #71) had been posted here, but no:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KErqMcZR0KATekno • Skeletun
(lol at the idea of Tekno being some kind of left-field artist tho)
Also loving this Ugandan jam from that list. Let’s rock down to Swangz Avenue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROqYa4F1DvsVinka • Kona (Oluyimba Lwomwaka)
For true heads only: In a bizarre plot twist, it’s none other than Inna doing her bit for Afropop!
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 2 January 2020 18:38 (four years ago) link
(I’m hoping to start the 2020 thread this weekend, after the nominations are done and dusted)
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 2 January 2020 18:42 (four years ago) link
I made a new thread.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 13:13 (four years ago) link