rolling afro 2020

since we're doing the Guardian, they ran an interview with Davido yesterday.

Also noticed One Leg Up.
Singles I'm considering to appear on my year-end lists: Cool Me Down (DJ Tunez), Away (Oxlade), Infinity (Olamide), Addicted, Woman, half Wizkid's songs, Ojah (C Natty), Again (Wande Coal), Damn or another (Omah Lay). Follow-ups: Beynaud, Rayvanny, Innoss'B, Zlatan, Terri, GreyC.

Album-wise: Wizkid mainly. The rest was frankly disappointing and I hate Tiwa Savage with a passion.

some good choices there, but “hate Tiwa with a passion”? care to elaborate?

Hmmm, I'd say there's something stiff about her singing that is constantly rubbing me the wrong way, also it would be nice if you could sometimes hear her voice through the autotune.
I can do Simi next.

no please Nabozo don’t hurt Simi!

Bring on the boys:

🔻The new Rema is another naijapiano track, but very different in vibe than “Woman” - wounded and contemplative instead of ludicrously lustful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNR7F3AuIhY
Rema • Peace Of Mind

(it’s Kel-P’s first foray into the genre, I think)

🔻More naijapiano, this time by trailblazer Mayorkun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu8txVby2RY
Mayorkun • Your Body

(Busiswa was practically begging him for a collab on Twitter the other day btw. We *would* love to see it)

🔻Buju finally came through with a new single. his previous one was early-pandemic. still hoping big things from him, even if it feels like Omah Lay might have stolen some of his thunder:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-xLGjzDgOk
Buju • So Lovely

So many men, so little time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxclLinAj18
Mr Eazi ft. J Balvin • Lento

produced by Killertunes

posted about it on the Rolling R&B thread, but the Amaarae album that came out last month is very good (and Pitchfork-approved)

Which are the songs that have a shot at the top 77?

Uwrongo? Cool Me Down? Ngihamba Nawe?

Jerusalema? Hehehe

would think/hope Woman, Dangerous Love, No Stress, Emcimbini, Emakhaya, Your Love are contenders, possibly others as well

eMcimbini for sure

My spotify eoy was 99% kabza this time

after a great first few months Ghana seems to have slipped away (from my mind at least), but here's Joey B and friends to save the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0LR0dDUfQU
Joey B ft. Kofi Mole & Medikal • Akobam

a new Davido signee with a lovely label debut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_7NMl5W91A
Liya • Melo

man, “Godly” is so good. the organ that comes in in the chorus after he mentions God

nna, nna, nna, nna, na, ah-ahh

love that one!

Am I correct that this was discussed in another thread?

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

Dj Manzo Sa feat. Comado and Mthandazo Gatya - "Senzeni"

yes, here:
THE HOUSE OF SUN-EL: Sun-El Musician, Simmy, Mlindo The Vocalist, and other related artists

it’s a brilliant track!

Oh ok didn't know there was a Sun El connection, thanks
Yeah it's ridiculously beautiful

there isn’t a Sun-El connection as such, but it fits the brief of beautiful South African house(y) music that’s not amapiano, generally speaking. or something.

just want to thank this thread - and especially regular posters like breastcrawl and Nabozo - for being my window into African music over the course of this (and every) year. about 10% of my "favourite songs" list was discovered here. http://www.saidthegramophone.com/

my pleasure, sean. anything to make your wonderful yearly list even better!

Which are the songs that have a shot at the top 77?

Uwrongo? Cool Me Down? Ngihamba Nawe?

Jerusalema? Hehehe

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, December 8, 2020 5:01 PM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Omah Lay deserves a shout either through his first EP, Damn, Godly or Infinity.
Jerusalema definitely. I've seen people try to build hype around Makazi, Yaz Abantu. Tugela Fairy is deserving.
Thanks for following Sean, tbh it's really hard to get in front of breastcrawl's military-grade radar.

lol please keep coming up with potential new display names, Nabozo!

was just listening to Omah’s “Lo Lo” again, thanx to sean’s list. that was his first song I fell for, but man, did I give him a hard time. couldn’t see what made him worthy of his instant stardom at first, but he’s proven this mere mortal being very wrong.

also #teamjerusalema here (for the second year running)

my tracks ballot is going to be a nightmare for sure, and Omah Lay is partic hard to narrow down. I actually most responded to "Ye Ye Ye" but also love "Lo Lo" and "Damn." I liked "Green Light" so much on the Olamide album I may have overlooked "Infinity."

tbh it's really hard to get in front of breastcrawl's military-grade radar

so otm, if I actually find a song that hasn't already been posted here, it's generally safe to assume it actually came out last year

as for the meaning of #86 on sean gramophone's list, from the ever-useful YouTube comments:

El Comentarista:
Please can someone tell me what it means "Ngongingo "?

Salama Salum:
@el comebtarista Ngongingo mean small ass and wowowo mean big ass according to this song!!

an independent earlier source confirms the second part:

Wowowo – Pronounced “whoawhoawhoa”, it’s Kiswahili for “Big butt.”

(I guess there were some clues in both the artwork and video!)

guys, Infinity - banging softness / male duo / Nigerian fashion / put it in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu69SyqwPGg
and the EP on the albums poll

hahaha amazing, thank you bc!!

so otm, if I actually find a song that hasn't already been posted here, it's generally safe to assume it actually came out last year

― loose Orwellian mobs (rob), Monday, December 14, 2020 8:52 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha, and then of course it's breastcrawl who comes and points it out to you, and you can feel he's giving you the eye and you should get disciplined asap.

or kindly reminding you that you must have been distracted because the song has already been posted and is right here in the spotify playlist at number 242

breastcrawl: maybe "Gunnery Sergeant Starboy" ?

thanx, but I’ve decided to go with “That’s What Search Functions Are For”

just came across this "Infinity" write-up in Rolling Stone:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/olamide-omah-lay-infinity-video-1085971/

it namecheks producer P.Priime, the third guy in the video. check that brilliant shot at 2'40, coinciding with his tag.

*namechecks

bizarre news from Uganda:

https://thenativemag.com/communities/omah-lay-tems-police-custody-uganda/

After watching the "Infinity" video last night, I woke up with the song in my head, so good call there friends

One small complaint though: it's actually Olamide who's the weak link for me. I love him on other songs (cf. "Green Light"), but all I want to hear is Omah on that one.

uganda seems like a powder keg right now. glad to hear bobi wine is out of prison.

also out of Ugandan prison: Omah Lay and Tems. Both presidential candidate for the opposition Bobi Wine and his rival Bebe Cool, son a former Museveni cabinet minister, are claiming a role in their release - Bebe Cool after allegedly calling the police on them in the first placce.

anyway, there's a video for "Godly" (sugar, no creme lol):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqUd72pK15Y

I think Kabza De Small would have a fair shot at top 77 if there was a single consensus track or album but the problem is he releases too much good music.

here's some consensus for you:

🎹🎹PİANO! PİANO!🎹🎹 - a song appreciation thread for ”eMcimbini” by Kabza De Small & DJ Maphorisa ft. Aymos, Samthing Soweto, Mas Musiq & Myztro

Hey that's good. I'll be doing my part to get it on the countdown.

brilliant track to (perhaps?) close off this year, which in Nigeria was dominated by the #endSARS protests as much as by the pandemic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3BxmBQDfhQ
Ajebo Hustlers ft. Davido • Barawo (Remix)

(produced by... 1da Banton! - see Nabozo’s post one month upthread)

thanks to this thread for providing much of my fave music of the year btw!

a pleasure, as always

I'm only just getting around to the Amaarae album today, and it's so good! I was worried her voice was too wispy to sustain interest across a whole album, but I was very wrong.

Thanks for making up the playlists for the nominated stuff as always breastcrawl and everyone for all the songs this year, I’ve been too damn busy this past year and need to catch up. Sounds like a tonne of great shit came out.

thanx kruezer! let me put said playlists up here as well. the afropop one includes the amaarae album, which, rob is right, is indeed very good.

(copied from the 2020 EOY Voting & Campaigning thread:)

Just like last year, I made two Spotify playlists for all the (*very* broadly defined) African “pop” that has been nominated:

one for all the South African stuff: first the 47/48 nominated tracks and after that the 16 albums that were nominated (I counted the Keleketla! album Nabozo is championing as South African), 273 tracks in total, a lot more than last year. that’s 25 hours of music to get lost in: lots of amapiano, some Limpopo house, a bit of gqom and of course several representatives of the House of Sun-El.

link: ILM 2020 EOY🇿🇦SOUTH AFRICAN NOMS

...and one for all the non-SA African stuff, 62 tracks and 18 albums, 279 tracks in total, similar to last year.
I stretched “pop” to include Nyege Nyege, Tony Allen & Masekela (counted this one towards the non-SA side) and “African” to include Afro-Portuguese (by way of the UK and France) batida-makers DJ Danifox and Nídia. Oh, and Moroccan-French band Bab L’Bluz is there as well, because I like ‘em.

link: ILM 2020 EOY🔷AFROPOP NOMS

Please let me know if you think I forgot or overlooked something!