rolling afropop 2022

Yay, Asake album is lush

Somewhat reticent profile of Asake: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/asake-afrobeats-new-album-mr-money-with-the-vibe-1234588970/

Tbh a Magicsticks profile might be more revealing (not that I have any idea how they collaborate)

Anyone watched the Afrobeats documentary series? On Netflix, at least in Canada

hey, did you know we had a trend going on?

http://thenativemag.com/asake-davido-anthemic-chants/

I shall have no qualms posting Amapiano in this thread (there's a nice spectrum here after all).

Mbosso from Tanzania has a nice track with Costa Titch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKWey2e8NY0
Mbosso Feat. Costa Titch & Phantom Steeze - Moyo

Going back to SA, very chill amapiano "ballad" here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErB9HJU2vOk
K.O feat Young Stunna & Blxckie - SETE

Nomfundo Moh still in her space but I don't mind a romantic duo with Kwesta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnrWXf5yuU8
Nomfundo Moh feat. Kwesta - Sibaningi

And finally, afrobeats-wise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ommOZ_493yU
Mr Eazi - Personal Baby

asake album is really lovely but i wish he let the songs breathe a little they're so short & he definitely has enough ideas to carry them a bit longer

the occasional amapiano beat makes it particularly fascinating, a 2 minute amapiano track just seems perverse

Much as I am loving the proliferation of amapiano, I am starting to get (only slightly) concerned that quite so many artists within and without SA are taking on the sound to the point where everyone has to have at least one amapiano song in their repertoire (usually a lot more)

you can spare yourself your ever so slight concern trolling - that ship has long sailed.

this is from a year ago already:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rphoHc0JLU

and as Davido said in an earlier incarnation of this phenomenon, it’s The Sound!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVNPkCI-ytY

Nowadays I feel like the Amapiano export industry is where all the creative potential is. I especially appreciate it when it's really well integrated and subtle. Compared to the deep and hard sound that tends to be crushed under its own dark gravitas and sluggish block structure (Felo le Tee, another 3-hour album by KdS). The core sound is a little behind. I will still lend an ear to Busta 929, Focalistic, but I haven't even listened to the aforementioned KDS, couldn't get into the new Mr Jazziq at all, I find myself skipping and getting tired, too many songs are absorbed in that opaque internal space, that inner conversation. So I get the Amapiano fatigue and I've been wondering when the next sound is due.

Part of my own fatigue is the exacting challenge of finding songs from Spotify though.

thanking you for rating an album you haven’t even listened to, very useful information.

it’s a great album by the way, can’t be mentioned enough

Lol, I will eventually get to it, if only out of loyalty to the artist. I was just pointing to the obvious that artists going deep into the rabbit hole may discourage even original fans of the sound, and widen the divide between the DJ-side and the pop-side, which feels more vital and interesting right now. There's something for each listener though, I just don't have the dedication to line up 100-minutes+ albums, and I think KDS can take a little blame for this excess.

I've always tried to keep up and posted Amapiano in our threads, so please don't get mad at me breastcrawl :)

I found this tune by a new Canadian artist in an Apple Music R&B playlist. Very distinct amapiano influence.

https://open.spotify.com/track/68qSx0qS9nfVm4X0wFIBx1?si=up-UF1tpQuS2uvoiaEdKJQ

According to this, it's not so much influence as intentionally trying to make ama: https://www.onscenemagazine.com/home/news/music/2022822-luna-elle-is-crazy-off-love-for-her-amapiano-debut

Oh right! Fascinating.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what's most interesting about the genre's spread is there isn't really a particularly prominent artist or track leading the wave, right? Unlike afrobeats' slow rise to prominence, which was punctuated by both one-off hit singles and artists like Wizkid and BB consistently releasing tracks & albums, making guest appearances, having mediocre US/UK features on their songs, Drake taking an interest, etc.

on second thought, I gather this might be somewhat different in Europe?

That track/artist will surely come along. But you’re right. It seems to spread in an… organic sort of way. As much as I enjoy current SA amapiano though, I am a bit frustrated that so little of it seems to be at all concerned with the genre’s pop potential - if only because someone outside SA looks set to be the one or ones spearheading the movement globally. Looking at the Apple Music London charts today, Oxlade’s Ku Lo Sa is number one (!) while Asake and Burna Boy dominate the list. Which is great. But seeing a “real” amapiano track in the mix would be awesome.

From the little time I've spent in SA, Amapiano is played as is on the radio and blasted in some popular restaurants / taverns / shops, public space, and obviously in clubs. Afrobeats has relatively little penetration and influence, since SA produces so much music of its own, it's there but a little further in the global periphery. The pop side is already well covered between the gentler house, hip hop, the gospel type of stuff. At its core, Amapiano remains dance music from the lokshin, an underground culture, much like Gqom was.

Of course. I’d just like to see some of the originators get a little of the crossover action that must surely be on its way.

I think amapiano succeeds in part by playing the long game

Africa’s most out there music festival (afaik) is blossoming and Museveni’s government doesn’t like it:

https://thequietus.com/articles/32062-uganda-s-government-issues-guidelines-for-nyege-nyege-festival

wow…

This just made my year 🤍🌴🦅 pic.twitter.com/eQsNHwAIa2

— Ozedikus Nwanne 💯 (@ozedikus) September 17, 2022

just wow…

…Just some boys from surulere doing what they know best pic.twitter.com/mbg3UE1EbI

— ᴏғᴀ (@oxladeofficial) September 17, 2022

asake album debuted at no 66 in the US, outselling ari lennox (among notable other debuts last week). wild times

highest-charting nigerian debut album of all time

yep, also debuted at #22 in the UK album chart. not so much outselling as outstreaming tho, it’s #12 on US Apple Music Top Albums today, and the #1 (!) on UK Apple Music Top Albums - two weeks after its release. wild times indeed.

streaming = selling these days

clearly not to the chart compilers or it would be much higher up there

j0rdan is right. there are multiple streaming services and the albums in front of him seem to have more cross-platform appeal

for example, asake is doing much better on apple than spotify, where he’s not in the global or us top 50 album charts

just checked the uk album chart on spotify and he’s not on there either

Steady green like broccoli

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crtQSTYWtqE
Ayra Starr - Rush

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TZAt8mPvnU
Kwesta X Kabza De Small Feat Masterpiece - yvk-K’shubile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNzLp2OChBU
Costa Titch & Diamond Platnumz feat. ma Gang - Superstar

That Ayra Starr track is right up my alley. I especially love the subtle synth bass.

Yeah it's infectious, lots of hooks (Aje Aje Aje, chorus, bridge), backing vocals & pulsating bass doing wonders, her best track so far.

https://theface.com/music/black-sherif-interview-album-the-villain-tour-burna-boy

Black Sherif interview

Moliy's new EP Honey Doom is very enjoyable if you dig her voice (as I do)

Hard w/Moonchild Sanelly isn't quite representative, but is fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhwBr5VkrpI

Young Jonn, "Xtra Cool"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWWCj-EbevI

I don't much about this guy, but this is kind of a perfect distillation of the amasake sound

talking about making it against all odds:

So what do we think of Young John's apparent attempt to become a solo artist over other people's production?
https://soundcloud.com/dee-moss-374676760/dj-hol-up-feat-young-john-gbagbe-prod-mojarz

― human and working on getting beer (longneck), woensdag 24 februari 2016 10:57

Hmmm, it's nice enough (though really nothing special), and I wish Young John all the success in the world, but I think he's already found his calling.

― breastcrawl, woensdag 24 februari 2016 18:29

I hope so too, lol

― human and working on getting beer (longneck), woensdag 24 februari 2016 21:15

wait it's that Young Jonn??

none other

He’s still a boring vocalist lol. Wish him all the best nonetheless.

ok lol that thought did occur to me (since "Young John the wicked producer" is perma-lodged in my brain) but he looks so, well, young in the video I assumed it couldn't be him

My favorite non-Asake song at the moment is probably Electricity, which just suddenly started to make all the sense in the world to me.

this is his biggest hit yet, massive in Naija and getting there in the rest of Africa, #43 on Shazam worldwide. perseverance pays off, people! he seems more interested in this than in production (although he’s had some big hits as a producer in the past couple of years, that distinctive sound he used to have has long since been buried in the past)

he looks so, well, young in the video I assumed it couldn't be him

I thought Zinoleesky looked like a child and he’s like 26 so I know how you feel.

haha wow yeah I wouldn't have guessed 27, though dang 20 is impressive.

I kind of agree about him being a boring singer, but I think that tracks works anyway—or at least, I'm not surprised it's popular

I mean, someone like P.Priime is only 20 *now*, and he came up three years ago

sheesh

speaking of palm wine (well people were speaking of it months ago), came across show dem camp's 'palmwine music 3' album, and it's worth checking out. reminds me a bit of the juls album from last year in concept (though that one was clubbier and more influenced by uk sounds) in that it's a revue-style compilation featuring one artist collaborating with some of the best and brightest in the nigeria scene.

loved this one with bellah, who i am def checking out more of after this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=232XULY-SJA

and this one with our guy boj
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r49K9xwf3UM

bellah seems to be more for the r&b thread, but "wyw" still goes