rolling Afropop / Afrobeats / Afrodance 2019

cool

She just got a big feature in fader btw

https://www.thefader.com/2019/10/31/lady-donli-enjoy-your-life-interview

Interesting, and it’s by Joey Akan.

Niniola back with Sarz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCxEvJR5Dng
Niniola • Omo Rapala

Lusophone Afro House - this time from Mozambique, not Angola:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyQp9MXwEFg
DJ Cisne ft. Os do Momento • Feiticeiro

I've had Omo Rapala on repeat this morning. Niniola is unstoppable. You could argue that someone like Tiwa is the better artist, but Niniola is the one that somehow manages to hit my sweet spot every single time. Boda Sodiq has kept growing on me ever since it first dropped.

Sha Sha/ShaSha’s Blossom EP is fantastic. I’m plugging it over on the Sun-El thread because it fits better there, but this track is a great companion piece to the Niniola:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPJ_rhv0uuw
Sha Sha • Water

Spent more time finally w the lady donli and I really do love it. She has great musical range. I feel like I need to do my homework on her influences

This is lovely:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRZBuz5dAM0
Supta ft. Indlovukazi & Prince Kaybee • Tsa Tsa

(plus it kicks ass)

This year’s Naija pop distilled into one song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9A0fQu28Gk
Mayorkun • Up To Something

That’s a good one. Also liking that Lady Donli album

Another Guilty Banger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POQvDT4PjD8
Pappy Kojo • Thomasy3yaw

This is also from Ghana, and pretty awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsL8i6gEX0I
Fokn Bois ft. Mr Eazi • True Friends

A little bit of background:
https://pan-african-music.com/en/fokn-bois-true-friends-2/

(nice to have this back to back with the Amaarae video D-40 posted)

Wonderful highlife pop from Simi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFK7v_-tkEU
Simi • Selense

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjCVx8i2PCA

For the appetite for French in this thread. Good DRC-stamped lovers song. Sounds so close to Aka Nakamura.

I love Simi. So pop, so nice, yet so hypnotic and complex.

More stuff from the francosphere is definitely welcome!

(btw, for searching purposes and suchlike, the track in question is “Katchua” by Ya Levis)

Your daily dose of Nini:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Nmf_ul9FI
Ycee ft. Niniola • Chocolata

I love FOKN BOIS

This hardly ever happens: an East African jam blowing up in West Africa, but this track from Uganda is currently top 10 streaming in Naija and Ghana:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMfMuZ9fjjI
BigTril • Parte After Parte

Love it

I'm thinking of putting on an afrobeats DJ night, possibly focusing on contemporary pop, dance and more out-there sounds from around Africa, potentially incorporating modern music from other parts of the world too if it feels right. Having difficulty knowing how to label and market the idea though. I know the term 'afrobeats' comes with baggage, or applies specifically to Nigerian and Ghanian music for a lot of people. Plus I'm wary of lumping lots of countries into one genre. There are a lot of 'world dance' music nights in Bristol, but they tend to focus on vintage vinyly stuff (actual afrobeat, cumbia etc) than new electronic and pop vibes. What would be the most succinct and polite way of putting it? A friend told me that he and his mate used to refer to it as 'global wreckage' for whatever reason!

I'm really enjoying the Davido album. Such a nice vibe.

Global wreckage does sound catchy fwiw.

davido album is indeed lovely, glad to see it get some recognition from p4k too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZBsYtLsT_w

anybody heard of this guy sonyjojo? i believe he's nigerian. this song "monicar" is awesome... it sounds like someone took a wizkid song and kinda smeared it with their hand a bit. the production is really cool.

it took me a week of it idly bugging me but i realised davido's "1 milli" rips its synth line from dua lipa's "be the one"

Anyone seeing end of year lists that include Afropop? Was hoping Burna Boy might crossover to some, but haven’t really noticed that. A twitter search of “Burna Boy top 2019” did bring me to a list of top south of the Sahara streamed songs, that included him.

I'm seeing burna in best of album collections but that's about it.

Jazz & more critic Ted Gioa has a 100 album list and then a follow -up 100 honorable mention list. Burna Boy is on the honorable mention list!

NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

Yep. Ok, Amanda Petrusich has Burna Boy ( & Mdou Moctar) in her New Yorker top album list

pretty banner year for afrobeats on my best songs list (comin monday)

Colour me curious. I always enjoy your EOY lists a lot.

New Afro B single (from Afrowave 3). My favorite since Melanin, I think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8K3onYQ44o

Here is sean gramophone’s list, if I may be so bold, and below are the songs on it that are relevant to our thread:

(3) Sarkodie ft. Akan • All Die Be Die
(16) Zlatan • This Year
(34) Niniola • Boda Sodiq
(42) Blick Bassy • Where We Go
(45) A-Star • Solege
(49) Afro B ft. Wizkid • Drogba (Joanna) (Remix)
(51) Beyoncé • Find Your Way Back
(61) Tresor ft. Msaki • Sondela
(69) Mahalia ft. Burna Boy • Simmer
(77) Fireboy DML • Jealous
(80) Santi ft. Shane Eagle, Tomi Agape & Amaarae • Rapid Fire
(88) J Balvin & Bad Bunny ft. Mr Eazi • Como Un Bebé

Huge overlap with These Threads, it has to be said (down to the Niniola recording session video!). Synchronicity?

(small point of order: A-Star is Ghanaian (by way of London iirc), it’s “Solege”s beatmaker Kel-P who’s Nigerian - he also produced “Boda Sodiq”!)

Looking forward to exploring the rest of your list, Sean!

haha, no synchronicity! ilx is one of my primary discovery nexuses (nexi?)

thanks for the A-Star correction - i correctly attributed him in the demographics, i think - but you're right the blurb is confusing

and thanks for all the recommendations this year and every year

just had to stop in to say Umona is my jam, TNS is really killing it this year.

Joburg is nice too but fuck Mamphi.

agreed on all counts

Half my favorite tracks are from Burna Boy
And still Wizkid can claim to have the biggest hit with Brown Skin Girl
Followed by Low btw
Inama is so fun
Solege
A few others

And then it just pales comapred to what's on the Mzansi side
Akulaleki
The entire Sha Sha EP
The sound of Kabza de Small
Labantwana Ama Uber
Sondela
Into Ingawe
Baby Are You Coming ?
John Cena (+ best video)
Joburg

ad “John Cena”: are you referring to the COLORS video?

I was aware of some kind of hype around it, but never investigated, mainly because the name ‘John Cena’ meant nothing to me. This is pretty wild though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElRhKFvQWGA

Yeah I was, she's hilarious in that clip. Chichichi chi chi chi. Though I heard a few bad things from people who got close to her via videomaking - but hey, celebrity is a burden to carry. I had no more idea about wrestling than you, but yeah her reaction is priceless.

...all of the above tying in nicely with her brand new video for the Shangaan Shake that is “Kona”, celebrating the first anniversary of her debut album (which I will consider a 2019 release for EOY purposes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jkXL_TMEig
Sho Madjozi • Kona

As I mentioned on the “Baby Are You Coming?” thread, DJ Sumbody’s Ashi Nthwela album is awesome. The new single/video is “4 The Kulture” with Busiswa, but right now I find myself drawn much more to the pop sheen of “Mabebeza” (with Mthe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_oDr9vGDuE

"john cena" is cool and all but i love "kano", will have to check out the album

Kabza* is truly unstoppable** right now. A 15-track (!) sequel to Scorpion Kings, one of the year’s best, is out already, called, who’d have thunk, The Return of the Scorpion Kings. Besides Piano Hub he also dropped an officially solo, instrumentals-only, mixtape, Pretty Girls Love Amapiano in the meantime, which is very good as well.

This is Return’s breakout hit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DR1HuRiAAA
Kabza De Small x DJ Maphorisa ft. Semi Tee, Miano & Kammu Dee • Lorch

“Sandton” with Focalistic, Kamo Mphela & Bontle Smith is another certified banger.

There’s tracks with Samthing and Mlindo (and Hugh Masekela!) as well.

*to be read as “Kabza De Small & DJ Maphorisa” for contractual reasons

**as for his unstoppableness, the following are the Kabza-produced tracks in today’s South African streaming top 10:

#1 Lorch
#4 Akulaleki (with Samthing & Sha Sha)
#6 Love You Tonight (with MFR Souls & Sha Sha)
#7 Nana Thula
#9 Tender Love (with Sha Sha)
#10 Sandton

And these are the top ranking Kabza-heavy albums in SA today, again as per Apple Music:
#1 The Return of the Scorpion Kings
#2 Isphithiphithi (Samthing Soweto)
#3 Blossom (Sha Sha)
#11 Scorpion Kings
#12 Piano Hub

And this is not a temporary glitch, it’s been like this consistently for the past few weeks.

Okay, Lorch is mindblowingly great, almost on the level of Akulaleki. This is becoming like when DJ Mustard was in his prime.

Happy holidays everybody!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCZVL_8D048
Master KG ft. Nomcebo • Jerusalem