rolling Afropop / Afrobeats / Afrodance 2019

Manqonqo - whose big hit “Eyadini” I momentarily forgot has a similar beat (must be all those current AmaPiano hits confusing me) - is also on this amazing track from the recent-ish (and very good) Dbn Nyts album, SeXtion 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fbIF3eoL6g

Dbn Nyts ft. Manqonqo & Cueber • Bawele

G) Rema • Dumebi (new signing on Don Jazzy’s Mavin Records) Spotify link

― breastcrawl, Saturday, April 6, 2019 4:07 AM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hey this song is pretty sweet and seems to be blowing up a little? There's a cute video now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUU1bIWpH5c

thank you to all of you posting this stuff. i'm really having a great afternoon listening to all of it and going down youtube rabbit holes related to it, etc.

sincerely, thanks!!

Good to hear! What are some of your favourites, whether from this thread or from the rabbit holes you fell into?

Dumebi is officially the jam.

So how do you (all) rate the new Wizkid?

You can find it here, on the designated Starboy thread.

breastcrawl, the DBN NYTS stuff is undoubtedly my favorite of the recent stuff you've posted. "Bawele," "Shumaya," "Gqom User," they're all pretty dope!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAg2iLMEf-Y

I’m behind on just about everything but the new Wizkid is good and Jealous(y) is excellent.

not too sure about what is exactly being said here. it's been described as "prayerful," but i do like this a lot, the chorus is hype.

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

Some background on the “prayerfulness” of Zlatan’s “This Year”:

https://thenativemag.com/music/zlatan-shares-inspirational-prayerful-new-single-year

(props to producer Rexxie for making his highly recognizable sound still sound so fresh here)

finally caught up on the last two months or so of this thread and I really like "Designer"! a lot of the gqom posted lately has been really nice too

Runtown has an EP out, called Tradition. This is the Spellz-produced single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwVAm41vHng
Runtown • Emotions

Patoranking is playing it quite safe on his second album Wilmer, trying to cover as many African markets as he can. I like the DJ Coublon-produced “Nakupenda” with Kenyan singer Nyashinski: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nkEWbUGIFA

But the biggest album in Naija right now is Mandy & The Jungle by Santi. A similar hype to Odunsi surrounds him, but he’s the more interesting Alté artist, I think.

Santi • Sparky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpc-qsVY-BA
He’s also on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD1Ce3Xft7s
prettyboyDO ft. Santi • Pull Up

As for Rema: yes, “Dumebi” is the jam and it’s most certainly “blowing up a little”. It’s been the biggest song in Naija practically from the day it dropped (so that’s two months and counting), and “Corny” (another goodie) off his EP is doing very well also. The song is also big in Ghana and crossing over to other African countries as we speak.

I liked this profile on him: https://thenativemag.com/featured/meet-rema-kid-benin-world-feet

This single with mentor D’Prince is also good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGIwGyW6X14

D’Prince ft. Rema • Lavida

love that first Santi track, thought it really does sound like he's saying "i'm a lawyer" during the bridges? am i hearing things?

i've started following the Native more closely because of this thread!!

love "Lavida," too. good stuff.

am i hearing things?

ohhh sparki is awesome

xpost to breastcrawl: god, i'm such an idiot, i should've figured that.

Maybe these love jams can lift your spirit?

Both from Ghana (with some Nigerian input in one case):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXoWrKHp9f8

Amaarae ft. Wande Coal • Spend Some Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I5898XrWlg

T’neeya ft. Kwesi Arthur, B4bonah & TimiBOI • Bend It

(Some badly needed female voices as well)

Spottie, Sparki or Santy? I think we need to poll this...

xps

Just climbed aboard the Santi train. Thanks, guys.

It’s DEFINITELY lawyer though, lol

My only question would be why Santi seems to be getting some sort of push that other african artists aren’t getting in the West atm? He deserves it but it’s not as though that usually matters.

Another yes for Santi

"Lavida" is awesome, and Rema really makes it what it is. Not surprised it's doing so well in Nigeria, but ftr when I said it was blowing up a little, I meant I saw it on the Fader lol

I don't recall the Odunsi album well enough to articulate why I like that Santi more, but "Sparky" is dope, I'll have to check out the whole album.

Also I don't want to give the afrobeats thread its very own "that's where I'm a viking" clusterfuck but it's clearly LIAR

oh it's "liar" for sure - but I heard "lawyer" first and can't unhear it.

X-post - Seems like the Fader is almost only one giving the crossover coverage

yeah it seemed meaningful to me at the time since the Fader feels more parochial to me these days (meaning, at least, that their dancehall and afropop coverage has significantly dwindled compared to a few years back)

picking up on longneck's question, it's p interesting to see Santi on a list/site like this: https://music.avclub.com/5-new-releases-we-love-a-sexy-riff-heavy-collision-a-1835105291

ok scrolling through Reeves's twitter it makes more sense now

Well... when I tried to pitch Santi to some of my closest musical friends recently it turned out they already knew about him from another friend who usually doesn't follow this kind of music too closely. So I'm thinking he must have hit some sort of trendy nerve and could actually blow up.

It'll be interesting to see how the new Goldlink single featuring Maleek Berry (and Bibi B) does. He's on the Santi album so there might be some sort of connection here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP3YqHqDVVY&frags=pl%2Cwn

Btw, I stumbled upon this Big Zulu feat. Kwesta and it's growing on me fast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR7R_8LXGIY&frags=pl%2Cwn

ouch pitchfork does not like the Santi album

pffftfork

tbh his problem with Santi is similar to why I wasn't taken with Odunsi--though he's more comfortable with basically saying "this doesn't sound Nigerian enough" than I am--so I'll admit I'm less enthused about listening to it now. Does anyone here rep for the whole album?

I listened to the album twice so far, and though I quite enjoyed it, apart from the singles there was hardly anything that stood out for me or that I felt like playing again afterwards (well, maybe “Raw Dinner”), and the review does a good job of pinpointing why that might be. And yes, it’s very similar to the Odunsi situation, although I feel, as I said upthread, Santi is the more interesting of the two.

Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate and enjoy the genre as an extra flavour on the Naija (in this case) smorgasbord, it’s all that “heralding the future of Afropop” (© The Native) stuff that bugs me. If that’s the future, I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. I much prefer the present, thanks.

I guess I like the idea of Afropop infiltrating and upsetting the Drakosphere much better than the idea of the Drakosphere infiltrating and overtaking the world of Apropop.

Apropop? Yeah, that would be the perfect hybrid.

The song that ended Rema’s reign: Mayorkun + Kizz Daniel + Young John = the throwback that is “True”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLpfxDFSN7E

Footnote: So last week I left out something about Don Jazzy probably pinching his arm about Rema’s unexpected success after the protracted slump of his Mavin Records and the loss of Reekado and Tiwa - too much inside baseball, I felt. But lo(l) and behold, that very same day he came out again with his Mavins, pretending it’s still 2014 and we’re still living in Dorobucci Land. Will order be restored?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-pwj2SEUd8
Mavins ft. Don Jazzy, Korede Bello, Rema, DNA & Crayon • All Is In Order

(not sure how well this fits in with the plan outlined in that Native piece
to develop Rema as a not-your-typical-afropop artist)

In other news: Wande’s still got it (see also the Amaarae track posted over the weekend):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snpa4_kUkkg
melvitto ft. Wande Coal • Gentility

All is in order does sound very 2014, but it sure made me realize how much I've been missing the sound of Don Jazzy's voice.

And no, the Santi album isn't all that great and is not the future of anything, but it does have about three really good songs on it from a brand new artist and that's what matters.

In other news I woke up wondering if there had been a better artist producer combo in any genre over the last couple of years than Niniola and Sarz? Designer is sooooooo good.

Also... on the evidence of Diet I think Tiwa Savage could benefit a lot from working more with Sarz - he loosens up the tiny stiffness that is often holding her back just a bit.

hum. I tried a few Santi tracks (Sparky, Rapid Fire, Maria...) and... I don't really get the excitement : it's not bad at all but it's nothing special imo.

listening to the Santi album and "RX-64" is really lovely at the very least

i haven't really kept up with whatever hype there's been surrounding Santi in the western press lately but the album is quite enjoyable overall, though not really exciting. it is interesting to see the influence go back the other way, and he does this sound a lot better than Drake ever has

Santi is also on this nice Juls song:
https://youtu.be/BxHLZMeb7-Q