The Don Billiato, Cassper Nyovest has been sitting in the studio hard at work on his forthcoming album and we’re about to get a taste of what he’s been cooking.
This past month, we retraced Cassper’s steps – from his philanthropic work in Mahikeng to his collaborations with MagleraDoeBoy and Tweezy. He mentioned that he would drop a track to build anticipation for his album and it appears Solomon is the very same song.
In a short visual snippet, the Mmabatho rapper strolls outside his mansion, glass in hand, draped in Root Of Fame as his new song plays in the background. Opulence personified, Cassper raps about his riches while also poking fun at the competition.
Solomon is set for release on July 28th, we’ll keep you posted.
After much anticipation, we finally get to hear from K.O and Toss as they officially drop their track, ROCKABYE.
You may remember not so long ago, many rappers were under scrutiny for jumping onto the Amapiano wave as it caught fire and overseas recognition. Now we see an artist known to represent the Amapiano genre, Toss, hop on a Hip Hop song and rip it apart. How the turntables?
Interesting times but at the end of the day, an artist makes art and expresses themselves in ways they see fit, whether others approve or not.
ROCKABYE is very lively as it plays on the idea of a lullaby, with K.O cleverly driving the phrase that he can “do this in his sleep.”
Both rappers deliver a stellar performance, and although already expected from the Skhanda God, it came as a surprise to listeners who were blown away by Toss’ impressive delivery.
Stino Le Thwenny have released a new banger and I’m afraid there’s just no stopping them.
This past month, the duo dropped their MagleraDoeBoy-assisted song, You Want Some More where the music video inevitably drew in over 120 thousand YouTube views.
Today, they have a new song titled Shiselwa that revisits the early days of Kwaito, accompanied by a music video. Produced by PROFOUND (Prxfnd), the song is reminiscent of the Yizo Yizo theme songs, while the visual follows a tale of what happens when you cross the wrong guys.
Following an unfortunate incident that lead to the theft of his equipment over a week ago, Flvme swore to release an EP titled THE LOST PACKS: Vol. 1 to help counter any possible leaking of his music by the criminals.
Keeping to his word, he officially drops the 7-track project, complete with some of the songs he had previously previewed leading up to the robbery.
The project opens with THANK YOU JESUS followed by GRATEFUL, where Flvme shows gratitude for life, his support system, and the ability to make a living doing what he loves despite the challenges.
Though recorded long before the robbery occurred, the songs speak volumes considering that despite what happened, Flvme is alive and well, and is getting back on his feet to fight harder.
He carries his signature trap style throughout the project. HOW I LIVE is a high-energy song as Flvme describes his day-to-day; working hard and making hits.
He soon switches it up, wearing his heart on his sleeve as he seranades his love interest in SHE LIKES ME down to ALL I AM.
As winter fast approaches, many fans had been requesting the rapper to drop something soft to accommodate the snuggle weather and I believe many of his supporters will be very happy with these additions.
Dj Sliqe was recently invited over to Entlek Entlek, a YouTube channel that hosts local artists to decipher their lyrics, to break down Sta Soft along with Flow Jones Jr. who is also featured in the song.
The track forms part of Champion Music 2, Sliqe’s collaborative project with 25K and MagleraDoeBoy released in late 2022.
As it also features Emtee as well as a verse from Don Kilo; Sliqe and Jones humorously deciphered some of the bars while linking them back to the central theme – grinding and working hard to stay soft.
Kenya’s finest poet, the rabbit king, has embarked on a tour that will see him visit different locations to connect with his fans abroad. The top-tier lyricist will stage shows in various cities in Europe and the U.S.A.
The tour kicked off with an electrifying show at the Royal Regency in London. Dubbed the Madaraka Festival, the series of concerts will take place over a span of two weeks.
The Madaraka Tour dates and venues.
The 2023 festival is uniquely curated to empower cultural diversity and inclusion across the African diaspora across the United States. It aims to reach more than 30 million people online.
The Festival has deepened the relationship between African and African American communities and fostered partnerships with other global communities.
One Vibe Media, the organising company, will host a series of concerts across the United States, culminating in New York. It will celebrate community and culture by bringing together different African musicians.
The lineup for performances includes Sauti Sol, Eddy Kenzo, King Kaka, Draze, Anthony Cole, and other award-winning and influential artists.
King Kaka has already rocked several shows, staging spectacular performances. He has treated his fans with a great time, and his promise is more is still to come.
The rapper is fresh from dropping his latest hit single. A collaboration with singer Masauti. This ensures that audiences are presented with new projects from the star.
The festival has two shows left before it wraps up on the second of June in New York.
This has been a season for Octopizzo fans to eat. The rapper has dropped yet another hit, a timely addition to his fantastic catalogue. The song is titled “Sijawai”, referring to never recognising mediocrity.
With an upbeat tempo, the jam is a certified summer anthem. Octopizzo flexes his lyrical ability with laid-back bars that a slick enough to require a second listen. Listeners have to stay attentive to grasp the intense wordplay.
Octopizzo has been a versatile artist, able to incorporate new sounds and navigate away from a comfort zone. His projects are works of art with creativity in his artistic expression.
The song is exciting, with a dancehall beat intro before the catchy beat kicks in.
One spectacular aspect of this latest project is the visuals. Mr Namba Nane, as he is popularly referred to, puts great emphasis on videos with an appealing aesthetic.
You can tell how invested he is in making his videos stand out. He has established himself as top tier from the video quality to set locations. There clearly is an endeavour to make an impressive impression on the audience.
Octopizzo has maintained his creative status, raising the bar for his peers in the game. The rapper displays growth in the project, appealing to a broader audience while catering to his loyal fanbase.
Taking to his Twitter handle, he flexed by assuring that the video would cross the 1 Million view count within 24 hours. It had amassed an impressive over 900k views by the 20th hour.
Last year a video went viral on Nigerian twitter where a you g Nigerian was playing a Roddy Ricch song and incorrectly attributed it to Lil Durk and said the Yoruba phrase, “trap l’anje” meaning “Trap is what we will eat.” Then later said “Roddy Richy Omo werey” loosely translated as “Roddy Ricch is crazy.” This scene attributes to the love Nigerian Youth have for Lil Durk, Roddy and his trap/emo compatriots from across the Atlantic.
Lil Durk L’anje
O-Block’s finest and OTF de facto leader Durk Derrick Banks, popularly known as Lil Durk has recently debuted just one spot off the submit of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and not just that, he has also made it to the submit of the Apple Music Nigeria and Spotify Nigeria Charts.
The ‘All My Life’ trapper is known to be notoriously popular amongst urban crowds of young hustlers, party goers and fraudsters (read as hustlers) in major Nigerian cities like Lagos, Abuja, Benin and Poet Harcourt etc.
This love the streets of Naija show to “The Voice” is because he really is the voice of the young hustlers on the streets and the ghettos, he speaks about their daily realities in his music including Police harassment, poverty, profiling, a shared sense of fashion and music, internet money and a penchant for recreational drugs.
But so does Psycho YP, Erigga, Kaptain, Odumodublvck, Cruel Santino, Blaqbonez, Zlatan etc.
One can argue that Odumodublvck’s ‘Declan Rice’ recently made it to the top of the charts in Nigeria, but one must realize that it was so celebrated because the feat is an anomaly in the Nigerian mainstream music scene.
The Afrobeats and Pop acts always have an upper hand amongst Nigerian music listeners and party goers.
Nigerians’ Love For American Hip Hop
Nigerians have been recorded in the past to be the second biggest consumers of American Pop and Hip Hop music, after the country of its production.
Nigerians are some of the biggest fans of Eminem,Lil Wayne, DaBaby, Roddy Ricch, NF, Kendrick Lamar etc.
In 2018, five days after J.Cole released his fifth studio album, he visited Nigeria for the Castle Light Unlocks Concert and even the Dreamville emcee was surprised at the reception from the fans during his performance of his five days old album.
The crowd of thousands at Eko Hotel were singing along word for word to the intro of the album ‘KOD.’ That’s right, an intro, not a hit single.
At the same show MI Abaga, arguably Nigeria’s biggest hip hop expert ever, had a lukewarm performance (read as lukewarm reception from the fans during his performance.)
This has been the case for the better part of the last decade and this decade, foreign rap acts get more clout from our local listeners than our local artists, and even the treatments of these artists by even organizers differ significantly.
What happened to Nigerian rap?
When did we leave the days of MI Abaga’ spitting “back with a banger for the hood, for the streets, for the zanga,” and he wasn’t capping because he really did have the streets and the charts in a chokehold.
The days when Phyno’s ‘Alobam’ and Olamide’s ‘Durosoke’ were chart topping anthems. With the latter’s ‘Baddest Guy Ever Liveth’ album spanking five chart topping singles on the MTV Top 10 chart in 2014/15.
The days when Vector chest beatingly christened himself ‘King Kong’ and a wave of remixes took over the whole country in 2015.
The days when Ice Prince’s ‘Oleku’ was the most played song on Nigerian and even African radios and became the most remixed song out of the country of all time.
We have the internet, but why are the corporates not supporting?
As stated at the beginning of this article The internet is an entirely different virtual universe, its reach knows no bounds, we are in an era where we have a million times more information in one day that our ancestors got all their lives.
The youngins are using the internet t their benefit but there’s so much you can do without corporate support, why are the corporates not tuning in?
Why is Ladipoe not receiving the same kind of budget and push the likes of Rema and Ayra Starr asre seeing.
Rema himself only taps into his trap/hip hop once ina blue moon and none of those songs gets the same push his Afrobeats singles get, the likes of Victony and Alpha P rap every once in a while with most of their fan base not even knowing they rap.
Khaid who alongside Psycho YP is the latest well known proponent of trap music in mainstream Nigerian music, is more known for his Afro signs than his trap and emo songs.
Why do rappers feel they have to switch genres to make it in the industry.
Rappers and trappers like Swayvee, Yarden, Sknny, Ifnyi, Preacher Kingz, Tonee C, Remy Baggins etc. who are making wavs on the internet are not getting the clout and push they deserve and this may just be the root of the problem.
Do we blame the market, the industry or the corporate executives?
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Few months ago Jesse Garba Abaga, brother of Nigeria’s biggest rap export Jude Abaga released his first single since returning from a music hiatus. Hip Hop Africa takes a look back at Jesse Jagz 2013 hit ‘Redemption,’ the song that began Emperor Jaggz’ Ragga era.
In 2013, the ‘Jagz Of All Tradez’ rapper released his sophomore studio album ‘Jaggz Nation Vol 1: Thy Nation Come’ under his indie label Jaggz Nation , after leaving Chocolate City.
The music video is set in the backdrop of a militant, civil war-esque/ apocalypse scene with the famous scene with the little boy brandishing the Nigerian flag for “Redemption” while Jesse raps about his whereabouts after taking so long to drop his sophomore:
“Man dem fi hear me out Everytin moving fast dey are wear me out Man puff spliff drink beer and stout Man dem na fi wear me out No fi wear me out I swear Babylon demma fear me clout Wanna know Jaga’s where about Everything in the news you ‘a hear about Jesse Jaga ‘a air it out Man never fear nothing”
His background and street credibility:
“Raised by the streets me na wear nothing (Blackout blackout) The youth never hear nothing Babylon empire never share nothing”
The state of the music and the politics of the country:
“Musicians are beer popping we near rotten Clergy na swear nothing The only sound in the air is tear dropping Electric out is near shocking But hear something piercing and ear popping Soul rebel my music is chair rocking Revolutionary air force air dropping Apocalypse vocals so clear cutting No bloodshed flow and clear spotting”
The video was shot by MEX films at Samklef‘s studio in Lagos. It was uploaded to YouTube on May 29, 2013, at a total length of 4 minutes and 24 seconds.
This song set the tone for the album and Jesse Jagz’ Ragga influenced and politically and socially charged sound which has endured till today.
The classic psychedelic, horn lead instrumental produced by Jesse himself is a herald of the early post Choc Boi era, in Nigerian Hip Hop history.
Where were you when this classic dropped?
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Back in October 2022, the prophet, Novl. released his album, H M B, L M R (Hold My Beer, Let Me Rap) to positive reviews. He has since promised to drop a mixtape which appears to be what he’s building up to.
Seemingly breaking his silence, Novl. shares a short teaser of his forthcoming song titled Searching where he’s seen seated with a jug in hand, rapping “Give me my purpose. Lord, I’ve been feeling like I am worthless.”
