also i agree on Davido, he was on a steep decline this year.
― Will (kruezer2), Thursday, 15 December 2016 14:59 (seven years ago) link
I should adjust the last line of my earlier post to 'post-colonial history'
― Will (kruezer2), Thursday, 15 December 2016 15:06 (seven years ago) link
Pree Me is good. I also liked three of the songs on Davido's EP. None of them are better than The Money, but not much is.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, December 15, 2016 3:04 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
'the money' is like his 9th best single or something though.
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Friday, 16 December 2016 22:07 (seven years ago) link
I don't disagree with that.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Saturday, 17 December 2016 12:06 (seven years ago) link
it's funny that the two afropop artists really getting the western push - davido and wizkid - mostly spent 2016 failing to get long-awaited albums out
― lex pretend, Saturday, 17 December 2016 18:06 (seven years ago) link
but something i've always said about genres or scenes is that their health can be measured in how good the b-tier artists are, not the auteurs and stars and a-listers.
― lex pretend, Saturday, 17 December 2016 18:08 (seven years ago) link
I guess the main reason for them not getting albums out is their attempt to breach the western markets and not quite figuring out how. Your point still stands though. .
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Saturday, 17 December 2016 18:17 (seven years ago) link
davido got a project out and it was bad
wizkid spent part of the year appearing on the year's most streamed record. i think they're just being strategic w/ rolling him out, not 'failing'.
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Saturday, 17 December 2016 18:56 (seven years ago) link
Wizkid did try to crossover on his own, though. Remember this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-EUPC7SGaw
It went exactly nowhere.
The weird thing to me is that the crossover moments on Davido's EP, the Tinashe song and the ATL trap joint were the songs I liked the best on it. I had to overcome a bit of initial resistance with regards to the Tinashe joint but it's really pretty good. She overdoes it in the video though.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Saturday, 17 December 2016 19:12 (seven years ago) link
he released one records where he was a bit player along w/ two singers and a rapper, i don't think that qualifies as an effort to 'cross over.' that wasn't pushed to radio, it didn't get a video
labels monetize 'artist development' now, i'm sure that's all that's happening here
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Saturday, 17 December 2016 19:16 (seven years ago) link
the Davido ep is fine, not bad
the Eva Alordiah album is excellent throughout, dare I say the best afrobeats album of the year that I heard?
Judging from what's been nominated so far we're in for a repeat of no afropop songs placing in the ilx poll because everyone likes different ones; here are mine I guess
1. Mazi Chukz ft. Maleek Berry - Dem Hail2. Yemi Alade - Koffi Anan3. Kiss Daniel - Mama4. Krishane ft. Patoranking - Inconsiderate5. Tekno - Pana6. ShiiKane - Loke7. Kwamz & Flava - Take Over8. Eva Alordiah ft. Phyno & Reminisce - Kanayo9. Babes Wodumo ft. Mampintsha - Wololo10. Young John ft. Lil Kesh - Bend Down Select11. Mella ft. P-Square - Ginger12. Serge Beynaud - Remanbélé13. AY ft. Diamond Platnumz - Zigo (Remix)14. Stunnah Gee ft. Davido - Dengeme15. Reniss - La Sauce
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 20:08 (seven years ago) link
yeah, i don't know there was any one song to rally around this year, will probably vote Wololo higher than any other afropop. that said, maybe the Kiss Daniel album in the album poll? I will be voting that one really high, seemed well loved earlier.
― Will (kruezer2), Tuesday, 20 December 2016 20:41 (seven years ago) link
kiss daniel is one of my favs this year for sure album wise
kontrol is prob my highest individual song
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Tuesday, 20 December 2016 21:32 (seven years ago) link
classixx - whatever I want (young john da wicked producer rmx)
this is so fuckin' good and accesses the actual good song i was certain was buried in the og
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Tuesday, 20 December 2016 22:07 (seven 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