rolling afropop 2022

that glissando bass sound

haha I tried to explain the difference between trap and drill to a friend recently and "glissando bass" is about the only way to do it quickly

fun to listen back to Yeeko with that in mind btw, I definitely hadn't picked up on that either given how different the vibe is (this time I also noticed he says "drilly" at one point...I think)

Interesting how Free Mind from 2020 is outperforming most of the songs from If Orange Was A Place

I had no idea either, but I just checked the YouTube comments: people are seriously feeling this song

Less glissando bass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErIwMUm91Xs
Pabi Cooper, Focalistic & Ch'cco - Banyana Ke Bafana

Focalistic is still on a roll, beyond the fact that something in his pitch is the definition of (bafana) charisma

This is also delightful and proper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsRwRaOqrxw
June Freedom, Djodje - Si Ki Min Krè

I don't remember we posted that song with Buju which is on Basketmouth's all-pleasant Horoscopes EP (if you want 20 Nigerian stars pocketed in a EP size).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg5yK6aZ2C8
Your Body

Video for Emiliana is out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypr5QN7Xn_M
Ckay - Emiliana

“all-pleasant” is selling Horoscopes short, I feel. It was my favourite afrobeats/afropop album/EP of the year until Rema came along.
it’s world-famous-in-Naija comedian Basketmouth’s second project as a musical curator, after 2020’s Yaba, which was also very good. Remember “Myself” with Show Dem Camp and Oxlade?
On the new one he’s also included Ghanaian artists like Efya and Kwabena Kwabena.

A very important factor in the success of these projects is producer Duktor Sett, who has managed to forge a wonderful, unifying sound for all these different performers (a sound with lots of oldskoolisms - I’ve never drunk it, but I always wish I had some palm wine at hand when I’m listening to this stuff)

Read more about it in this Joey Akan piece

There’s also an accompanying podcast with Basketmouth and Duktor Sett, I just discovered. (I haven’t listened to it yet)

Anyway, this is “Money”, featuring Oxlade and Efya:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHhgx1M9itg

(btw we really need to talk about Oxlade! the guy is responsible for both my favourite song (well, it was a tie) and my favourite afropop “project” of 2021, and I can’t find any mention of either on ILM!)

this is Oxlade’s first single of this year, “Want You”:

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

(btw we really need to talk about Oxlade! the guy is responsible for both my favourite song (well, it was a tie) and my favourite afropop “project” of 2021, and I can’t find any mention of either on ILM!)
― I'm too sophisti for the pun generator, so sophisti it hurts (breastcrawl), Friday, April 1, 2022 6:47 PM (forty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Which were those ? He didn't really have much to his name last year, even if I usually like everything he's on, Kolo with Ice Prince being a big one, Ojújú maybe ? If we are talking about the Dunnie Remix (technically 2020), then as sole voter in the YEP I feel entitled to ask for explanations :D

I think the production on such all-star projects, which requires no risk taken, is what holds back more of my enthusiasm on the Horoscopes EP. I tend to see them as a showcase, a pretty polished postal card for Nigerian music. I did hesitate in also linking Celowi and the closer, my other two favorites on first listen. Also seeing The Cavemen. being featured again made me think I should get interested in whoever is doing highlife in 2022. Anyway, all-pleasant was meant positively.

I really like Want You, it starts vibey, but then the bass pulse comes, and it finishes almost funky.

oh, I’m aware “all-pleasant” was meant positively, but it felt too much like damning the ep/album with faint praise when it’s actually damn excellent.

but let’s talk Oxlade >>>>>>> oh yes, “Ojuju”was definitely *that* song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzvDyh0DOIY

…and the Eclipse EP it’s from is *that* project - all four tracks produced by a magically rejuvenated DJ Coublon, all four among my most played tracks of the year.

(for some reason, these August releases were given “Troniq Music” as their main artist after having intially been simply credited to Oxlade - Troniq Music being nothing more than the name of the (his own?) record label. very confusing and commercially unwise. I suspect a Starboy-like situation, as in: after Oxlade signed an international deal with Epic Records, he may no longer have been allowed to release that stuff under his own name. haven’t been able to verify this tho)

the long and short of it is that Oxlade has become my favourite singer in afropop. the guy’s in love with his own voice and all the things he can do with it and I love him for it.
his feature-to-own-material ratio is about 10 to 1, I think, but this year should see more, more, more of solo-him. either way, most of his features are very exciting as well - this vocal tour de force from last year was a big hit in Ghana, for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqmxpTbOHX4
Sarkodie ft. Oxlade • Non Living Thing

At first I thought the hook on Fireboy DML's new single was a bit light and I've rapidly changed my mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaC6tL7zYxo
Fireboy DML - Playboy

Also since we've established that remixes are a good thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7wqi1HZFq8
1da Banton - No Wahala remix feat. Kizz Daniel & Tiwa Savage

Ojuju is beautiful! I'll have to check out the rest of that EP as I loved "Away" back in 2020 but he hasn't crossed my radar since. "I Want You" didn't make as much of an impression, but I'll revisit it later.

I'm into this new BNXN that's in a hazy, relaxed & warm mood, sounds like an afternoon nap with the windows open

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COgIYkIzg1k

BNXN - For Days

new Black Sherif, “Kwaku the Traveller”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb6I7GoTvzI

can’t remember the last time a Ghanaian artist did so well in Nigeria, if at all: this song is Naija’s most streamed track, the Burna remix of “Second Sermon” is at 10 and he’s got features at 3 (“Always” with Darkoo) and 19 (Poco Lee’s “Yard”).

his delivery is so dramatic, with that great voice he has

“For Days” is lovely - hints at r&b (which it has in common with some of the Rema and, of course, MiL-Wizzy).

“No Wahala” is one of those surprisingly (well, I’m starting to get used to it) big global Afropop hits on TikTok/Shazam. They’re going the “Love Nwantiti” route with it, with all sorts of remixes (there’s a French one out, for instance). Absolute banger, of course - the kind that sounds like it’s always existed. Love the slide guitar.

“Playboy” is good, not “Peru”-good, but very solid, and it might grow on me some more.

Can we take a moment to let Fireboy’s success sink in? “Peru”, in its *excellent* Ed Sheeran remix version, peaked at #2 in the UK for several weeks and is still in the top 5, and currently sits at 53 in the Billboard Hot 100. Man even has a video with Madonna under his belt. I wish him Elton John and of course Jon Bellion collabs next.

btw, the Peru remix spawned some of the dumbest reviews in TSJ in living memory, I’m talking about the second and third 4-scores.

and yes, rob and everyone else who hasn’t heard it yet, do check out that Oxlade EP, as well as the Basketmouth album!

loving this from Boj (who goes waaay back in the Naija scene) with Moliy and Mellissa (who you might both know from the Amaarae album, they’re sisters apparently):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyqSIHjvgUk
“In The Loop”

previous single, the Juls-produced “Culture” with Enny, is good too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWtCDU1EQmc

8-song EP on the softer side featuring two songs with Azana including title track Nanini

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DKNliP8Gac
Lebza TheVillain feat. Sino Msolo & Tosh - Sosha

Introducing Magixx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=divDTLBDmCw
Magixx - Chocolate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwsGYaF-cEM
Magixx feat. Ayra Starr - Love Don't Cost a Dime (Re-up)

hadn’t checked in on prolific Ghanaian (self) producer Magnom for quite some time, but “Sweetie”s low-key vibe hits the spot for me today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gs9kaxxI4U

"kwaku the traveller" is really something, isn't it? immediately commanding. idk if i've ever heard this kind of delivery over a drill beat

Mellow & Sleazy are dropping a 9-song album (EP ?) in three days. I am enjoying the drive and percussions in recent single SJEPA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkAeAc23vLU
Mellow & Sleazy (feat. Focalistic & M.J) - SJEPA

Actually, that edit is no good and they should all be credited
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHkm9Odpzw4
Focalistic, Mellow & Sleazy and M.J - SJEPA

went on vacation for a week so I'm behind here, but that Boj "In A Loop" song is really nice

Billboard profile on the newly Warner-signed Pheelz

he’s hoping for Cardi B and/or ***Ye and/or Rihanna and/or Drake on the remix for “Finesse”

I mentioned Poco Lee’s “Yard” upthread because of its Black Sherif feature, but it merits more than just a mention - it’s a great track!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbDSxVrT4ZA
Poco Lee ft. Black Sherif, Bella Shmurda & Alpha P • Yard

(the fact that it’s produced by P.Priime may have something to do with it)

BOJ feat. Wizkid & Darkovibes, Awolowo remix is alright

I'm out the loop and doing a DJ set on Sat. What's really making you tick?

people, don’t sleep on Oxlade’s “Want You”. textbook example of a grower, that one.

I'm out the loop and doing a DJ set on Sat. What's really making you tick?

― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), 26. april 2022 17:47 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Anything Fireboy and/or Rema, Sungba Remix, Kwaku the Traveller

New Burna Boy out 2 July titled 'Love, Damini' (his real name)

yesss

For fans of Osama

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZhKGa_d-Tk
Thee Suka - Aluwawa

Also we haven't posted either Mufasa or Jinja. Tekno has entered that sweet territory of effortlessness and he has endured remarkably well since his initial streak of hits (Duro - Pana - Rara - Samantha).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H0AEH3kPTY
Tekno - Jinja

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6LPkQyYdwg
Tekno - Mufasa

He has endured, but he is a bit past his prime, no?

There is no denying that Tekno has a formula, but it does not sound stale to me, rather like the classic afrobeats sound.

Playfully yours from Ghana, previously mentioned re-Horoscopes EP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Qfe8JZHJE
Kwabena Kwabena - Fingers

I like those two recent Tekno singles a lot, especially “Jinja”, but his problem is he hasn’t sounded current in ages, which *might* be by choice, but it has made him more or less irrelevant as a hitmaker.

there’s something sad about his career. he was almost on a par with Wizkid and Davido at one point (remember he gave “If” to Davido when Davido was at the nadir of his career), but when he finally released his debut album in December 2020, at least three years after the fact, I don’t think anyone talked about it, anywhere. at least the album’s bizarre title, Old Romance, made a lot more sense than when he came up with it in 2017 or whenever it was. I listened to it once, and it was nice enough, but again, out of touch with the times and no urgency to it whatsoever.

but who knows, he might catch a wave again someday 🌊

but speaking of endurance: this slept-on track from 2019…

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
― breastcrawl, woensdag 5 juni 2019 23:38

A friend turned me onto this great lo-fi afropop track from Nigeria (not to be confused with the Toronto indie-pop act of the same name):

Hotkid - "Star"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksEfm6MuJ0w`

^^ really nice, thanks to your friend

liking the boj album a great deal, even if he does tend to fade into the background and let the guests shine sometimes

Focalistic touring the US through June. In Houston MY 13; Dallas May 14

but who knows, he might catch a wave again someday 🌊

disclaimer: unabashed Oxlade fanboy here, but here’s yet another song of his I just•can•not•stop playing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x80x3_JqOws
Smallgod ft. Oxlade • Biou Biou

Oxy is permanently crazy in love, basically.

Smallgod is a Ghanaian-Dutch entrepreneur-turned-artist/A&R guy whose new album features an impressive line-up of Ghanaian, Naija, UK and Dutch guest artists: https://thenativemag.com/essentials-smallgod-connecting-the-dots/