RE: UK Funky/Afrobeats
Dotstars been on this thinghttps://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 anthemhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryVJ2MdTc2o
another old one but fits i thinkhttps://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!
― Benny B, Monday, 28 May 2012 18:48 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Homosexual Satan Wasp (Matt DC), Tuesday, 29 May 2012 08:04 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 10:57 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Homosexual Satan Wasp (Matt DC), Wednesday, 30 May 2012 11:02 (eleven years ago) link
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
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 14:49 (eleven years ago) link
more Azonto goodness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEtzKUvYnPo
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 14:50 (eleven years ago) link
and how about this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR5ItzlDhJc
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 14:52 (eleven years ago) link
killer track from Nigeria - a bit old, but new to me, and definitely still fresh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS9O7AIA7g8
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 14:55 (eleven years ago) link
^ follow this person's lead (re azonto)
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 14:56 (eleven years ago) link
yeah them EL tracks are biggles. I believe he produced that daft Eddie Kadi/Funny Face tune I posted upthread too.
― Benny B, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 22:43 (eleven years ago) link
Looking forward to giving this a listen soonhttp://djneptizzle.com/download/
― Benny B, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 22:49 (eleven years ago) link
more Azonto:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCPfKBNILKw
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 31 May 2012 20:46 (eleven years ago) link
^^ my undisputed #1 song of the year ^^
― r|t|c, Thursday, 31 May 2012 21:13 (eleven years ago) link
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
― r|t|c, Thursday, 31 May 2012 21:20 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4P-gOrdeZk. This is on that Neptizzle mix, very nice.
― Astrochimp32, Friday, 1 June 2012 06:31 (eleven years ago) link
you can listen to EL's double album here: http://elrepgh.bandcamp.com/.4 out of 25 tracks in, it's pretty great!
― rob, Saturday, 2 June 2012 20:37 (eleven years ago) link
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)
― breastcrawl, Saturday, 2 June 2012 22:05 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Astrochimp32, Thursday, 7 June 2012 18:43 (eleven years ago) link
Love the Neptizzle mix so so so much.
― Tim F, Friday, 15 June 2012 22:22 (eleven years ago) link
yes!
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 16 June 2012 05:09 (eleven years ago) link
What's this about Bert Jansch? Ok. Leaving thread...
― Pacific Rinko (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, 16 June 2012 07:16 (eleven years ago) link
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
― chilli, Saturday, 16 June 2012 10:29 (eleven years ago) link
love everything about this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7_bpL4zSLw&feature=share
― Benny B, Thursday, 21 June 2012 20:55 (eleven years ago) link
yeah that one's a belter
rhythmically fairly unique from what i've found too
(save el's 'kaalu' maybe-ish)
― r|t|c, Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:09 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, you mean with those 4x4 kicks coming in and out?
I am also pretty in awe of how stylish these dudes look tbh.
― Benny B, Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:16 (eleven years ago) link
i love that neptizzle mix! what are the chances we can get marcus mixing afrobeats? he would be killing it.
― hardhouse banter (tpp), Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:20 (eleven years ago) link
"obuu mo" is absolutely my shit.
― hardhouse banter (tpp), Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:24 (eleven years ago) link
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?
― boxedjoy, Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:31 (eleven years ago) link
really?
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:34 (eleven years ago) link
the neptizzle mix just keeps on giving:
http://youtu.be/AktSWz4Gowg
― hardhouse banter (tpp), Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:36 (eleven years ago) link
i've gotta say i'm looking up these tracks from the neptizzle mix on youtube and i'm kind of astounded. every song i've looked up seems to be single with an HD video. it's like uk funky never died just moved to ghana and got popular! is this stuff actually influnced by the uk funky scene or it just happens to sound similar? so much of this stuff would fit perfectnly into a golden age marcus set.
― hardhouse banter (tpp), Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:48 (eleven years ago) link
― hardhouse banter (tpp), Thursday, 21 June 2012 22:20 (24 minutes ago) Bookmark
ya tell me about it, i tried realising this big vision of a mix i had in my head but it turns out the required mak10/maximum type ninja skillz do not come easily to the relative traktor n00b :(
i mean none of the afro dj's i've heard have been actively bad exactly but idk it could just be so much more in the right hands
― r|t|c, Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:48 (eleven years ago) link
Despite the obvious similarities, I think its easy to overstate the UK Funky connection tbh.
As for DJing, Neptizzle seems pretty tight, Abrantee not at all. How much does it really matter though? Slapping the tunes on dancehall style seems enough for me.
― Benny B, Thursday, 21 June 2012 21:54 (eleven years ago) link
yeah you could make a vague case for cross-pollination i suppose (uk funky djs were touring africa for a while right) but i'm firmly seeing it as a natural indigenous mutation of the usual hiplife via the azonto "dance" injecting the speed and purpose (sometimes a new name is all it takes) to make it dancehally
but i do agree a lot of the ghanaian stuff can be startlingly funky-esque. like i give world music tourism brutally short shrift and i feel as if this stuff has naturally come to me and my londoncentricism (rather than me towards it)
― r|t|c, Thursday, 21 June 2012 22:00 (eleven years ago) link
dancehall djing isn't "slapping the tunes on"!! ur bang out of order
― r|t|c, Thursday, 21 June 2012 22:07 (eleven years ago) link
cool ur boots man, I just meant short transitions rather than long mixes. Obv selection is key!
I think this thread has been mainly azonto so far so lets have some naija
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oa5KVZtAnU
― Benny B, Thursday, 21 June 2012 22:09 (eleven years ago) link
right well yeah but even within short transitions you see the difference i'm making between neptizzle and co riffing through the tracks quickly and a then potential mak 10 grime style intensity bringing the best out of the material
― r|t|c, Thursday, 21 June 2012 22:16 (eleven years ago) link
seen
― Benny B, Thursday, 21 June 2012 22:26 (eleven years ago) link
what pirates are playing this stuff incidentally. Maybe there is already some ninja djs out there playing this stuff we don't know about yet?
― Benny B, Thursday, 21 June 2012 22:28 (eleven years ago) link
actually, this guy Wavy J is a good dj. Not Mak 10 levels or owt, but his AFROBEAST mixtapes are well mixed. Other than Abrantee and Neptizzle I haven't heard any other afrobeat djs tbh.
http://soundcloud.com/wavyj
― Benny B, Thursday, 21 June 2012 22:40 (eleven years ago) link
i know its quite old, but did anyone see this horrible, mean-spirited and utterly stupid article in the Voice?http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/step-back-afrobeatreggae-still-rules
― Benny B, Thursday, 21 June 2012 23:39 (eleven years ago) link
ugh^
nice video this but the second track of her EP is better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h-ptJ-nZ7g
― rob, Friday, 22 June 2012 02:07 (eleven years ago) link
ut i do agree a lot of the ghanaian stuff can be startlingly funky-esque. like i give world music tourism brutally short shrift and i feel as if this stuff has naturally come to me and my londoncentricism (rather than me towards it)
Yeah this makes sense. Like this is a total assumption and possibly way off-piste but I'd guess a fair proportion of these guys come from relatively wealthy backgrounds and will have spent time in London including going to clubs and absorbing music from over here, including funky.
― Matt DC, Friday, 22 June 2012 09:05 (eleven years ago) link
I mean that's not even taking into account the sort of cross-pollination you get from Youtube etc. Dunno about the Ghanaian artists but Don Jazzy, who's produced a shitton of Naija stuff has been living in London for a decade.
― Matt DC, Friday, 22 June 2012 09:09 (eleven years ago) link
hadnt seen that voice article but i feel like that's not the first time i've come across butthurt jamaicans wait let me rephrase that detected a resentful antipathy from that side
basically a belated realisation of how faddishness works after years of telling themselves all manner of nice things to soothe why the early to mid 00s limelight went away. insert your own proud wifebeaten tart with a heart analogy
again i think it's partly a misapprehension born of sometimes inadequate, sometimes novelty-ish presentation; you never know how serious robbo ranx is with this stuff (can be slyly very cutting in the margins of geniality) but recently on his show he'd been pressganged into having (the pleasantly pointlessly avuncular) dj edu guesting as part of 1xtra afrobeats week and it was a crying shame listening to edu's miserable attempts to convince robbo with the most uninteresting blatantly dancehall-derived stuff, like dudes speaking in ja patois and so on, everything to back up the suspicion of afro as shonky facsimile dancehall. a revelatory opportunity missed
not that it particularly matters what robbo thinks of course. the most interesting thing is that edu was convinced dancehall was sounding more like afro! (with particular reference to konshens 'stop sign/gyal a bubble part 2' iirc). oh how you could hear robbo silently bristle at that
― r|t|c, Friday, 22 June 2012 09:47 (eleven years ago) link
really hating the way that daytime R1 DJ's seem to be treating Robbo Ranx and this track as some laughable onetime breakout.
― owenf, Sunday, 24 June 2012 00:11 (eleven years ago) link
from the observer today - 'The impossibly infectious "Oliver Twist" was a calculated attempt to crack the market in the UK. "I thought we could do with a sort of funky house sound. I thought: 'It's not like the music is that different from the music we listen to here.'"'
― just sayin, Sunday, 24 June 2012 08:30 (eleven years ago) link
The EL album is fantastic.
― Tim F, Sunday, 24 June 2012 12:13 (eleven years ago) link
killer track from last year i just came across on youtube. Amanda's getting it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6WvHVHkM7I
― Benny B, Sunday, 24 June 2012 22:27 (eleven years ago) link
plenty of freshness on this new Selecta Maestro mix
http://soundcloud.com/selectamaestro83/afrobeats-workout-session-vol
― Benny B, Saturday, 14 July 2012 20:09 (eleven years ago) link
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...
― mike t-diva, Thursday, 6 December 2012 15:12 (eleven years ago) link
The latest from Keche is another good one: Body Lotion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqBlLNsbESA
― breastcrawl, Friday, 7 December 2012 00:05 (eleven years ago) link
Dr. Slim - S3k3 (Seke) (feat. Double)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_n51HQPBKI
― breastcrawl, Friday, 7 December 2012 00:18 (eleven years ago) link
"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!
― etc, Friday, 7 December 2012 05:16 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Benny B, Friday, 7 December 2012 09:52 (eleven years ago) link
Quite digging this London-based crew from Nigeriahttps://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 herehttp://www.thefader.com/2012/09/05/lungu-lungu-too-much-senrenre/
― Benny B, Saturday, 8 December 2012 12:34 (eleven years ago) link
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
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 15 December 2012 20:17 (eleven years ago) link
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
― curmudgeon, Monday, 17 December 2012 20:01 (eleven years ago) link
I know it's old now but I flat out adore Guru's "Anything Goes".
― Tim F, Tuesday, 25 December 2012 07:16 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Astrochimp32, Wednesday, 26 December 2012 01:36 (eleven years ago) link
"The debut Gospel Porn album by the most politically incorrect Christian Rap group of the times"
http://foknbois.bandcamp.com/releases
― Benny B, Tuesday, 15 January 2013 22:00 (eleven years ago) link
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/
― rob, Wednesday, 16 January 2013 02:29 (eleven years ago) link
^ 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 Krynkmanhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAEXXmcOoaM
― Benny B, Wednesday, 16 January 2013 10:22 (eleven years ago) link
"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
― Benny B, Wednesday, 16 January 2013 23:26 (eleven years ago) link
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 :-)
― breastcrawl, Friday, 18 January 2013 21:37 (eleven years ago) link
yeah this one has become a little unwieldy. I'll start a new one.
― Benny B, Friday, 18 January 2013 21:45 (eleven years ago) link
cool :)))
― breastcrawl, Friday, 18 January 2013 21:50 (eleven years ago) link
new thread for 2013: Afrobeats 2013
― breastcrawl, Friday, 18 January 2013 22:21 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6zixMk7gnQ
has someone posted this yet? It's the jam
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Tuesday, 1 October 2013 22:55 (ten years ago) link
obv not
Yansh yansh yansh yanshYowsah yowsah yowsah!
― how's life, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 00:03 (ten years ago) link
that's great, reminds me I meant to post this beautiful azonto tune a while ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWsuzm650qw
― rob, Wednesday, 2 October 2013 01:52 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iziTfxtaVMM
does anyone write about this stuff in a way that contextualizes it at all.
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Friday, 23 May 2014 22:40 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiHh2-6jmnU
this jam actually makes me think of
The Ibadan Sound: Jerome Sydenham, Dennis Ferrer etc.
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Friday, 23 May 2014 22:45 (nine years ago) link
Oops:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiHh2-6jmnU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Lv7PedBIU
Lil Bucie
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Saturday, 24 May 2014 01:33 (nine years ago) link
this dude Heavy K makes some jams, damn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhD_c9O1L2s
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Saturday, 24 May 2014 01:35 (nine years ago) link
Rolling Afrobeats thread 2014
― breastcrawl, Saturday, 24 May 2014 12:59 (nine years ago) link