E.L UPDATE:
My actual favourite on the ELOM album is this glitterball of a track with Efya: "On And On":
YouTube linkSpotify link
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 20:18 (eight years ago) link
…and a big Woof! to the L'vovo!
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 20:34 (eight years ago) link
'soweto bb' was on my year end list
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Tuesday, 26 January 2016 21:41 (eight years ago) link
4 x New Naija, pt. 1:
Skuki promised us a Young John joint, but okay, Masterkraft will do for now: "Zero Competition":https://soundcloud.com/skukiofficial/skuki-zero-competition
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 28 January 2016 20:06 (eight years ago) link
4 x New Naija, pt. 2:
Understated party track by Kiss Daniel label mate Sugarboy, "Hola Hola":https://soundcloud.com/gworldwideent/sugarboy-hola-hola
4 x New Naija, pt. 3:
Is Naija's no 1 female rapper finally blowing up? Eva (Alordiah) ft. Phyno & Reminisce "Kanayo"…
…& her dog (track starts at 1:38):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTyWwNDjZ3o
full track: https://soundcloud.com/eva-alordiah/kanayo-eva-alordiah-ft-phyno-x-reminisce
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 28 January 2016 20:07 (eight years ago) link
4 x New Naija, pt. 4:
2Baba (=2Face Idibia) ft. Phyno & Chief Obi "Coded Tinz":https://soundcloud.com/hypertek-digital/2baba-coded-tinz-ft-phyno-x-chief-obi
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 28 January 2016 20:08 (eight years ago) link
3 x Francophonique, part 1:
New Reniss: "La Sauce".https://soundcloud.com/new-bell-music/reniss-la-sauce-prod-by-le-monstre
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 28 January 2016 20:13 (eight years ago) link
3 x Francophonique, part 2:
Los Grumos "Baa W33". Are they French-Ghanian?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKs4fuXDPzc
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 28 January 2016 20:14 (eight years ago) link
3 x Francophonique, part 3:
From last year's thread, now an actual hit in La France: Franko's "Coller la petite".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LndrLOLJgrs
This is where Naija soaks up the Ghanian alkayida beat and starts doing its own things with it:
Phyno "Ezege (Wickedest)", as produced by Del B:https://soundcloud.com/dj_kbs/phyno-ezege-wickedest-prod-delb
and, holy fuck!,...
Yemi Alade "Koffi Anan", as produced by PhilKeyz:https://soundcloud.com/dj_kbs/yemi-alade-koffi-anan-prod-phil-keyz
― breastcrawl, Saturday, 30 January 2016 00:31 (eight years ago) link
Yeah! Been having Koffi Anan on repeat all day!
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Saturday, 30 January 2016 01:10 (eight years ago) link
Fucking loved this last yr, just got a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vSXgEQ-ou8
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Saturday, 30 January 2016 08:26 (eight years ago) link
Pretty wild stuff:
Zoro ft. Flavour "Ogene" (produced by KezyKlef & Major Bangz):
https://soundcloud.com/freemedigital/zoro-ogene-ft-flavourv
― breastcrawl, Sunday, 31 January 2016 17:23 (eight years ago) link
Really wild stuff!
Serge Beynaud "Mawa Naya":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbAKsAUlfg
the full dance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0INE56HQewg
― breastcrawl, Sunday, 31 January 2016 17:24 (eight years ago) link
Yemi Alade's "Johnny" is truly a joy! I feel that with the right push it could be an international hit, it's got the video for it too.
― breastcrawl, vrijdag 4 april 2014 23:10 (2 months ago)
I guess Yemi got that idea too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op6te9u2IFU
Not sure if Google Translate-ing your lyrics and not having anyone checking your pronunciation (I mean, "fakon" for "façon"?) is the way to go though…
― breastcrawl, Saturday, 7 June 2014 20:10 (1 year ago)
She's just released a Swahili version of "Na Gode" with a video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_7fy-UiHfM
Found via http://www.chickabouttown.com/kenya-gets-hat-tip-in-swahili-version-of-yemi-alade-na-gode/ , after I'd been mildly obsessed with Franko's "Coller la Petite" (heard it a bunch in Xiaobei clubs last year but never twigged the title) and found Biche's translations/annotations on the Camfranglais lyrics helpful: http://www.chickabouttown.com/franko-coller-la-petite-lyrics-with-english-translation/ ... oh, and despite Yemi's debut being a bit of a disappointment, Mama Africa's a promising title ...
― etc, Sunday, 31 January 2016 19:30 (eight years ago) link
Didier Drogba!
http://www.jewanda-magazine.com/2015/10/video-coller-la-petite-meme-didier-drogba-et-mokobe-ny-resistent-pas/
― etc, Sunday, 31 January 2016 19:48 (eight years ago) link
Sugarboy's vid for "Hola Hola" just dropped. Loving this sly banger more every day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYyk98g7UKo
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 2 February 2016 20:32 (eight years ago) link
Brand new video for Qdot's "Ibere (Question)" as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-qndheV038
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 2 February 2016 21:51 (eight years ago) link
some definite killer trax on here; i immediately gravitated to 'Koffi Anan' and 'Soweto Baby'
playlist updated, will check back in a month
Rolling Afrobeat & Afropop Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist
― from the perspective of a gay man, i will post them now (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 3 February 2016 16:19 (eight years ago) link
merci beaucoup, forks!
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 4 February 2016 07:39 (eight years ago) link
been loving Soweto Baby as well, great song.
just heard this one yesterday from Tanzanian (via Uganda), very sweet song, I like it a lot already
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jilmBzLQZHA
― kruezer2, Thursday, 4 February 2016 12:48 (eight years ago) link
omg "koffi anan"
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 4 February 2016 15:55 (eight years ago) link
as an aside, I feel like a lot of new Kwaito is referencing Mandoza over Oskido & TKZee and others, which is a nice if only slightly different direction for the genre, which come to think perhaps is causing the GQOM reaction, but I'm not in Durban and couldn't really say.
but this old Mandoza track feels more current than it would have last year...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqkVq3u4_fY
― kruezer2, Thursday, 4 February 2016 20:37 (eight years ago) link
Yes, it's him again! Eez Young John d wicked producer: Dammy Krane ft. Olamide "Solo":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNsLfMYNXOA
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 07:35 (eight years ago) link
Yes!
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 07:38 (eight years ago) link
Miscellaneous Naija offerings:
Fun track, lots of great sounds in the mix: Skiibii "Sampu"
Real banger, and again, this track just SOUNDS so good: Mella ft. P-Square "Ginger"
New Patoranking "Another Level"
Humblesmith ft. Davido "Osinachi (Remix)". I posted the original (with Phyno) last year. Thanks to this remix it has now blown up big time.
Girl power: DJ Lambo ft. Cynthia Morgan, Seyi Shay & Eva "The Motion"
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 21:22 (eight years ago) link
Indulge me while I post some Ghanaian alkayida variations:
Sherry Rose ft. Liwin & Flint Stone "Tumbin Giiwa"
Kwabena Kwabena "Tuamudaa"
Dobble "Otan Hunu"
Strongman ft. Kesse "Mene Woaa"
Trigmatic ft. Stonebwoy "Gbedu"
I cheated, those last two aren't alkayida, but they're very Ghanian and very good nonetheless.
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 21:31 (eight years ago) link
And you know, feel free to discuss. People seem to think this thread is too quiet for them to participate in it. Then again, don't discuss too much, it might scare off people from participating in it. (my takeaway from the Rolling threads Spotify playlists discussion elsewhere)
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 21:41 (eight years ago) link
Turns out I've been seriously sleeping on Simi's "Open And Close":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hk0MDGH0J8
― breastcrawl, Sunday, 14 February 2016 14:59 (eight years ago) link
Just popping in to mention that Tiwa's album is finally on spotify and Tidal. I'm enjoying it.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 18 February 2016 07:54 (eight years ago) link
― etc, Sunday, January 31, 2016 7:30 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I was in the room when she shot this video... she's just the coolest fuckin person, extremely humble and down to earth. i was shooting a little minidoc on Afrobeats/Naijapop and got the chance to spend a little time with her. the way she relates with journos is A+ ... very professional and warm. im rooting for her
spent a lot of time with Ice Prince, curious if people here are still interested in checking for dude or not, i wasn't a huge fan of Trash Can but 'mutumina' hits. I shot a great show he put on with the rest of Choc Boys, Timaya, and Sarkodie in Jos, looking forward to putting together a cut
― unkyoka, Thursday, 18 February 2016 14:56 (eight years ago) link
I always felt like Ice Prince was one of the least interesting rappers qua rappers. He does have a few nice songs though.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 18 February 2016 15:14 (eight years ago) link
agreed his pure rapping is not very good, but he's had some strong songs. 'whiskey' and 'gimme dat' are jams, and obv oleku is what it is
― unkyoka, Thursday, 18 February 2016 15:28 (eight years ago) link
Def feel like this deserved more love than it got
http://youtu.be/jPNy1zE99rA
― unkyoka, Thursday, 18 February 2016 16:28 (eight years ago) link
http://www.thefader.com/2016/02/18/davido-cover-story-interview
― cozen, Thursday, 18 February 2016 19:21 (eight years ago) link
Wow.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 18 February 2016 19:51 (eight years ago) link
really does feel like 2016s primed for a serious crossover to happen
― unkyoka, Thursday, 18 February 2016 20:01 (eight years ago) link
"Mutumina" is okay, but Ice Prince doesn't do much for me in general. I mean, "Oleku" was one of the first Naija songs I fell in love with, it's a classic, but what makes it special is Brymo's hook. "Gimmie Dat" is a jam, and so is last year's "Boss", but I liked that one for its Tekno-ness first and foremost.Unkyoka, how do you like Yemi's "Koffi Anan"? Is there a video for it in the works?
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 18 February 2016 20:27 (eight years ago) link
The Tiwa up on Spotify includes the bonus tracks, so I *finally* got to hear the track with Wizkid. It ain't half "bad", but as male/female Wizzy duets go, the best by far remains "Oh Baby" with Efya. Also possibly the only time he was out-hooked by a singing partner ever. Is this why he decided to leave it off the Ayo album?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKNC3zxz-Vw
Legendury Beatz ft. Efya & Wizkid "Oh Baby"
Oooh, just noticed that Davido post. Reading now.
Nothing afrobeats about it, but as an older guy, I found this quote amusing:
"There was no Snapchat, no Instagram. There was barely Twitter,” he says. “I just went off the radar.”
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 18 February 2016 20:36 (eight years ago) link
Wow at Davido and Wizkid's kiss-and-make-up performance, fucking amazing. Had totally missed that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsNC2qaCamw
Interesting piece. Just hope he will drop that album soon (the details in the article are vague), and that, with Sony's backing, he can make some serious waves. But: back in 2012, Sony signed a deal with D'banj as well, and basically nothing happened. Davido's ambition seems to be becoming the African alternative to Jeremih, and the Sony guy is looking at an African "Cheerleader". But this music deserves to be heard worldwide as more than just another novelty. I'm not getting my hopes up, it's very hard for any musical genre that's perceived as exotic to get a real foothold within the Western musical sphere, especially when its rhythms are so different - Jamaican music being the glorious exception obviously.
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 18 February 2016 22:09 (eight years ago) link
Not sure about the glorious bit. People like Vybz Kartel, Busy Signal and Popcaan are hardly the household names they should be.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 18 February 2016 22:14 (eight years ago) link
Anyway, I've been playing Mella's Ginger a lot lately. Strong tune. I'm also enjoying this remix of LK Kuddy's With You, featuring Wizkid and Yung6ix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-Y1DKdomjA
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 18 February 2016 22:17 (eight years ago) link
I couldn't agree more, but I'm talking about the permanent place Jamaican music in general (ska > reggae > dancehall) has acquired within the fabric of Western pop music over the past decades. It's still a very modest position, but something African music can only a dream of.
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 18 February 2016 22:26 (eight years ago) link
(Popcaan is probably a thousand times better known than Davido or Wizkid)
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 18 February 2016 22:30 (eight years ago) link
idk if this has been posted or not but fans of afrobeats are likely to enjoy this interview with tony allenit was interesting to hear him talk about the way his style evolved and he has a lot of quality life advice to boot(i am not a shill, i just don't post to this thread regularly) http://www.thetrapset.net/052-tony-allen-fela-kuti-afrika-70-solo-artist-rocket-juice-and-the-moon-team/
― La Lechuza (La Lechera), Thursday, 18 February 2016 22:31 (eight years ago) link
xpost
True. Mostly because he made an album that somehow crossed over to people who aren't into dancehall though. The people who reviewed or bought his album are hardly checking for his new singles or riddim contributions.
But why isn't SA house bigger than it is? That's a pretty universal sound. It's big, has melodies and lyrics about love and hope and you can dance to it. Its obscurity puzzles me.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 18 February 2016 22:32 (eight years ago) link
They're club tracks though. Their structure and length don't lend themselves well to the charts and to (mainstream) radio play. (Always felt that Busiswa's "Lahla" was just one Rihanna retweet away from blowing up worldwide though).
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 18 February 2016 22:48 (eight years ago) link
I believe someone like Prince Kaybee gets played a lot on the radio down there? Going to Cape Town in a couple of weeks so I guess I'll find out what sort of presence this music has down there.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Friday, 19 February 2016 07:12 (eight years ago) link
i luv "mama," "kontrol," "inconsiderate," "oh yay," sugarboy's "hola hola"
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Tuesday, 20 December 2016 22:09 (seven years ago) link
didn't really discuss Uhuru in this thread at all this year, they remained consistent in their appearances though
Jah Prayzah ft Uhuru - Tenge Doro Mdhara Vachauya ---This is a great songhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbPpQmfWdmg
Mzee & Rafiki ft Uhuru - Domba ----this is pretty run of the millhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0OtFOI9AIQ
Vee Mampeezy ft Uhuru, DJ Buckz, Mapho ---not amazing but a nice tune, attempts a Y-tjukutja style break at the end, just not as greathttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir4oXnXl0Bg
also been listening to this non-uhuru song alot over the last week, pretty love song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OStQJPpYudY
― Will (kruezer2), Thursday, 22 December 2016 02:58 (seven years ago) link
discovered iray mvmt's soundcloud - seems like a good hub for a lot of the afrobeats stuff emerging in the uk
https://soundcloud.com/iraymvmt
also this ep from a year ago is great!
https://soundcloud.com/dj-pmontana/sets/p-montana-loves-afrobeats
― lex pretend, Thursday, 22 December 2016 12:47 (seven years ago) link
"Mama", "Kofi Anan," & Tiwa Savage "If I Start to Talk" are 3 of my faves
― curmudgeon, Monday, 26 December 2016 18:38 (seven years ago) link
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-life/the-review/from-wizkid-to-shiikane-the-gunpowder-mix-of-afrobeats-is-catching-fire
Nice Lex overview
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 29 December 2016 16:19 (seven years ago) link
Dope piece, lex! The Shiikane sisters are actually London based. I recently discovered that we have mutual friends.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 29 December 2016 21:50 (seven years ago) link
Nice piece, Lex, a really good introduction/overview indeed. One tiny correction though: Although Tekno is a very able producer, he has never (so far) produced any of his own singles. He has only produced songs for other artists (and then often guests on vocals as well) - think Victoria Kimani's "Show", Bracket's "Panya" and Rima's "Feeling You". "Pana" was in fact produced by Krizbeatz, "the Drummer Boy".
On that note, and with high hopes for 2017:http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7633323/rb-hip-hop-artists-to-watch-in-2017
(You need to scroll down quite a bit, but it's worth it.)
― breastcrawl, Friday, 30 December 2016 16:34 (seven years ago) link
just seen this thread, glad you guys liked the piece. i haven't written much about afrobeats in general bc i think i'm so far from an authority but i had to really cram artists and tracks into that, and excise a lot of others, so i'm going to try to change this in 2017.
any reason tekno hasn't produced his own stuff?
― lex pretend, Friday, 6 January 2017 11:33 (seven years ago) link
Not sure why Tekno doesn't produce any of his own stuff. Not confident enough? Label policy (DJ Coublon and Selebobo are his labelmates)? Or is he just being smart by keeping things separate? It's rare enough for Nigerian singers to be producers as well to begin with, but Tekno's position seems pretty much unique. Now that he's made it into the big league and an album is in the works it will be interesting to see if there are any self-produced tracks on it.
Our favourite boy's most recent production job:
Stonebwoy ft. Tekno, "Last Station"https://soundcloud.com/afro-songz/stonebwoy-last-station-ft-tekno
― breastcrawl, Saturday, 7 January 2017 20:52 (seven years ago) link
There's a new thread for 2017: rolling afropop / afrobeats 2017
― breastcrawl, Saturday, 7 January 2017 20:53 (seven years ago) link
Late but hopefully welcome: playlist for the thread for the year is finalized and closed.
ILM's Rolling Afrobeat & Afropop Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist
― removed from the rain drops and drop tops of experience (ulysses), Monday, 13 February 2017 19:52 (seven years ago) link
It's always welcome, forks. Thanks for the good work!
― breastcrawl, Monday, 13 February 2017 22:21 (seven years ago) link
http://media.giphy.com/media/gFwZfXIqD0eNW/giphy.gif
― removed from the rain drops and drop tops of experience (ulysses), Monday, 13 February 2017 22:42 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5rMfLJKwIE
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 14 February 2017 18:40 (seven years ago) link
Although many locals refer to all the new pop in Nigeria as “hip-hop”—even though much of it is not really hip-hop as we know it—the term the local industry folks prefer is “Naija pop.” “Afrobeats” is also used by some, but Ade judges it a term imposed from the outside—a kind of appropriation—and also far too general to have much meaning. Seun Kuti sees a different appropriation here, the adding of an “s” to his father’s genre coinage of the 1970s, and in that, Seun senses a certain “insecurity” among those producing and marketing the new music; he predicts the term Afrobeats will not last long.
http://www.afropop.org/34229/dispatch-from-nigeria-3/
― curmudgeon, Friday, 17 February 2017 13:57 (seven years ago) link
With your permission, let me re-post this on the 2017 thread:rolling afropop / afrobeats 2017
― breastcrawl, Friday, 17 February 2017 20:42 (seven years ago) link