rolling afropop 2022

loool you’re going to apple-and-orange me with an *Oxlade* track? of course that one is much better, it’s from last summer’s Eclipse EP, one of the musical highlights of 2021, as noted upthread. didn’t know he dropped a video for “More” after all this time, so thanx for the headsup!

(you really should listen to that whole EP tho!)

I have! I'm super grateful for your Oxlade hyping

And yes that was an extremely deliberate thumb on the scales / hey check out this new video :)

thanking you for your Oxy fan service!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZquVz7FBdQg
Gyakie - Something

been loving ruger - "girlfriend" ... just a sublime song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1D6qsTEVj0

lasmid - "friday night" ... big song out of ghana right now, love this chorus. a bit reminiscent of fireboy "new york city girl". very sweet, memorable song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrghLct81sc

yes, “Friday Night” is so good! it’s like the friendly cousin of Kuami Eugene’s “Take Away” - you can tell that Lasmid’s favourite nightspot does *not* have a VIP section

cucurucuu!

yes, Ruger has ever so slyly established himself as a serious player in Omah Lay’s slipstream.
“Girlfriend” spells out his cock bandit persona times two. it’s a great song, but I love “WeWe”, another new track on his upgraded The Second Wave EP even better: https://www.youtube/watch?v=kG68cdAC_Do

it has distinct echoes of W4’s decade-old, semi-legendary “Kontrol”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udDglAxeV0c

https://thenativemag.com/shuffle-re-visit-kontrol-w4s-afrotrap-afrotrap/

(although Ruger doesn’t seem like a guy who would relinquish control to his female partner, at least not on (the) record)

btw, this was the biggest banger on the first edition of The Second Wave, which came out in November: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzFUM5AW1YQ
Ruger • Dior

cucurucuu!

“WeWe”, once more, with feeling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG68cdAC_Do

Enjoying Girlfriend
Speaking of Omah Lay, his new album is finally coming out July 15

So I'm digging the Omah Lay. No surprise, it's on the introspective and minimal side (see cover), only two features and no obvious hit, but it's consistent, heartfelt, like a little brother to Rema's album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=258haho4GRE
Omah Lay feat. Tay Iwar - Tell Everybody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Eu7rMtmcc
Omah Lay - Never Forget

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmq2txrRu2w
Omah Lay - Bend You

I could have posted I'm a mess or Soso rather than Bend You
They don't outline his whole program like those lyrics though

I put my all in till I see evidence
For her face and her leg e dey shake
Like say she get epilepsy
She say the taste is a sweet and e bitter
At the same time peppermint
Crocodile teeth, Skillibeng
Yes my thing strong no fit bend oh
By my face I innocent
Until I bend you

no obvious hit

I haven't gotten to the album yet, but I thought "woman" was nice when I heard it—which doesn't make it a hit ofc

this is spectacular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpnlnMq2S3I
BNXN fka Buju ft. Wande Coal • Kenkele

sound and song-wise it reminds me of nothing so much as Wizkid and Duncan Mighty’s “Fake Love” from 2018, another new-star-with-inspirational-veteran duet, coincidentally or not.

…which, and this is totally coincidental, I nominated for the 2010s Poll - search under ‘Starboy’ and consider voting for it!

that is great... "BNXN" has to be one of the more confusing midstream name changes in recent music history

That is nice...not sure it reaches the heights of Fake Love, but good lord that's an extremely high bar! (I do hear why your mind went there though.)

I was listening to some slightly older BNXN the other day (Cold Outside, Confident, For Days), and he definitely has that special something.

Joining the chorus on Ruger's Girlfriend: that song is fantastic. I would not have gone with a lyric video though lol

yeah his catalogue on Tidal is a total mess thanks to the name change: entries for BNXN, BNXN fka Buju, and Buju

yes, “BNXN”, let alone “BNXN fka Buju” is just terrible in every respect. they should have gone for *Daniel ‘Buju’ Benson* or something, but it was probably deemed not modern enough as artist names go.

BNXP lol

LMAO

now that i know it's supposed to be read as "benson" i'm like "ok..." but removing all vowels and having the x stand in for two diff letters, it's just a lot

ANYWAY... great song

Kenkele really interesting use of autotune and singing by Buju, it wasn't always clear he could diversify his style, but he's been taking it one step at a time and is always interesting to follow. Very good song indeed.

First Video for Boy Alone after Woman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOGJ76ct8G8
Omah Lay - I'm a mess

halfway during “Kenkele” Buju seems to invoke the Dutch snack kaassoufflé, which is very distracting indeed

exciting chart news: Oxlade’s “Ku Lo Se” seems to have gone TikTok-viral. apart from giving him his first proper Nigerian hit since “Away” and blowing up all over Africa and the Caribbean, this has also resulted in a UK chart debut, at #96 no less. hurrah!

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNQF86yX/?k=1

#kulosachallenge

just noticed I’ve been spelling it wrong up til now: it’s “Ku Lo Sa” - thanks TikTok people!

Mogoya is an all timer for me (along with its incredible remix companion album featuring Sampha, Sun-El Musician among others) so I was really happy to see Oumou Sangaré has a new one out called Timbuktu. Here's the lead single and album opener. It's got some interesting American folk and rock production, supposedly due to her being stranded in the US during 2020 for the pandemic. Interesting textural contrast to the Berlin production of Mogoya. It's Malian through and through though, and classic Oumou. Definitely one of the better releases of the year so far for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tulfimCd6JE

yeah i adore that earlier Sangare album too

curious to hear the new one - early singles lacked the intensity (feels like a production choice) but oh well

tems' 2020 song "free mind" has been charting on the hot 100 for a bit, what's going on there? tiktok?

i think it's organic, although it did take off after a song from the same project was sampled on that future/drake single & that hasn't felt coincidental to me. i will say on a purely anecdotal level tems is the no 1 artist i've heard playing from cars/street corners etc in bed stuy this summer. i think ppl just fuck w/ her in a real way, she makes classic R&B music that also feels fresh and i think it's connecting deeply on an artist level w/ ppl in a way that transcends stuff like tik tok

this from upthread:

Interesting how Free Mind from 2020 is outperforming most of the songs from If Orange Was A Place

― human and working on getting beer (longneck), woensdag 30 maart 2022 23:38

I had no idea either, but I just checked the YouTube comments: people are seriously feeling this song

― celebrating ten years of constant posting (breastcrawl), donderdag 31 maart 2022 0:07

Crazy that Vibe Out is the least played song (on Spotify) from that EP

that’s how little clout Obama has these days

(it’s on his 2022 Summer playlist)

different EPs tho, “Vibe Out” is from last year’s one, “Free Mind” is on the one before that.

Vibe Out is such a jam.

"free mind" is great, but it's weird for an album cut from years ago to take off like this. seems like it's just a product of mainstream fans digging into a newly-popular artist's back catalog and landing on a gem.

delightful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1idqvGdCitU
Zinoleesky ft. Tiwa Savage • Jaiye Foreign
(produced by Pheelz)

hey, the guy partly responsible for the best track of the 2010s just dropped a new song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYAiEtyoAE0
L.A.X • Para

Jaiye Foreign: A+

let’s count down the Naija hits, shall we?

.@fireboydml’s “Bandana” with @asakemusik spends a third week as the No. 1 song in the country while the viral ode to Wizkid debuts at No. 2

1. @fireboydml Bandana
2. @carterefe__, @TigaBerri Machala
3. @burnaboy It’s Plenty
4. @asakemusik PBUY
5. @burnaboy For My Hand pic.twitter.com/9pEsKGgYBU

— TurnTable Charts (@TurntableCharts) August 12, 2022

love this slice of Tanzapiano, so pretty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmv_0Fpw5zk
Marioo • Dear Ex

that is some seriously smooth beatmaking

Kreyòlapiano?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9QJ4-SjJM4
Mickael Marabou ft. Davido • Mwen Love Ou

yep

https://musictalkers.com/latest-news/92-featured/8397-mickael-marabou-davido-teams-up-on-new-upbeat-romantic-pop-hit

Mickael describes the genesis begin with both her and Davido’s willingness to take a risk. “Once we decided to collaborate, we sent Davido two songs he chose this “Mwen Love Ou”, it was an honor to have them choose this one because it was in my native tongue Creole” Mickael explains. She continues on, “So it was great working with him on a sound that’s not his usual Afrobeats sound, it is more of a mix of house music techno mix with Afrobeat, which is called “Amapiano”.

Born in Brooklyn from Haitian parents, Mickael Marabou

AfroKreyolapiano it is then

*not done chanting:*


following up “Finesse”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhS0aKygDww
Pheelz ft. Davido • Electricity


following up “Omo Ope”, “Sungba”, “Sungba (Remix)”, “Palazzo”, Peace Be Unto You (PBUY)” and “Bandana”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrIP_igi76U
Asake • Terminator

Ooooooooooo! New Asake!

Those are both great! But lol they're not exactly deviating from the formula are they, though I appreciate the ambition in Terminator. Electricity kind of just evaporates

I have nothing positive to say about Asake - find him tacky, don't like his voice and "arena" effect, and this aside he brings nothing new. Bullshit mediocre artist.

He will be forgotten fast

peace be unto you