“Don’t call me the best female rapper” boldly rapped Fatts, as she declared she is the best rapper period; male, female, trans or androgynous. Fatts spoke to us at Hip Hop Africa about her come up, growth, heritage, comparisons and future endeavours. The East London born Gambian emcee shot into the industry during the COVID-19 lockdown through a viral internet challenge she did for “fun” before finally settling fully into making music.
Taking her rapping seriously last year, she has made so much progress with 3.16k YouTube subscribers and about 98, 000 views.
She is literally putting The Gambian Flag on the map as she and her cohorts are always seen brandishing one in her videos.
“If you watch my videos or listen to me and not know that I’m from The Gambia, then I’m doing something wrong”
Even her upcoming debut EP is titled “Our Motherland” and her collective of creatives is known as Gambino Gang.
On being compared to other UK female emcees, the Queen of the Gambinos had this to say, “I don’t really mind, it’s actually a thing of honour for me if you think I’m good enough to be compared to these artists, and I’m definitely open to working with other female rappers in the UK.”
Her next single she revealed will be featuring an Afrobeats artist, as she also said she is not one to shy away from branching out into other genres and sounds.
“Because I came up rapping people only view me as a Drill rapper, but I want to do other things and show that I’m capable of so much more, I mean people don’t even know that I can sing too…my EP is going to showcase all of that,” said Fatts.
You can keep up with Fatts via Instagram @fatts1_ and on Twitter @fattsbw.
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South African Hip Hop duo Stino Le Thwenny shared a tweet celebrating a new milestone for their song ‘You Want Some More?’ which features Klerksdorp rapper Maglera Doe Boy.
The duo took to twitter to announce that the sing which is the lead single for their upcoming album has amassed 100 thousand views on YouTube in just three weeks of release.
In the tweet they could be seen celebrating and rapping along to the song at Lesedi FM in Midrand.
— You Want Some More ? (@StinoLeThwenny) May 16, 2023
The duo are looking likely to fulfill their promise to fans about releasing an album in 2023, as they have already dropped the lead single off the album.
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Siya Metane has been an icon in South African Hip hop for decades and is still very impactful to this day. Since his days as an emcee in the legendary Skwatta Camp rap group, to his solo career and now his entrepreneurship endeavours as a media personality. Two weeks ago at the Metro FM Music Awards Slikour talked about the official launch of his self titled memoir and how he felt about the reception of the book.
“I’m pumped, I’m pumped, I feel like I have so much potential as a human being, my book is getting me pumped.”
The book was released on the 6th of May 2023, and the official launch event has been slated for tomorrow May 18th, 2023. We expect to see a plethora of A-List personalities present to celebrate Slikour’s life and career.
The launch will take place at Exclusive Books in Rosebank at 6pm South African time.
Two weeks ago at the Metros, @SiyaMetane said he was pumped about his memoir, ‘The Life Story Of A Hip-Hop Pioneer’. The official launch is finally happening tomorrow at @ExclusiveBooks in Rosebank! pic.twitter.com/a8nymkOVA2
Flow Jones Jr. has an EP cooking and he plans to drop off a new single before the project is released to the masses.
“My first single from my upcoming EP drops this Friday, it’s called ‘Mawubuye,'” shared the rapper on his social pages previewing a video of himself raving to the Dj Sliqe-produced banger inside a tall building.
Flow Jones Jr. last released back in March where he partnered with Blxckie and MagleraDoeBoy in his smash hit, Pramis, Swuh which has garnered hundreds of thousands of streams across multiple platforms including YouTube and Spotify.
Keep your eyes peeled on our website for the official release!
Clearly, Africa’s no.1 genre is seeing its biggest success story thanks to the Trinity (Burna Boy, Wizkid, Davido), but their efforts to take Afrobeats to the top didn’t just benefit them, it opened doors for the next generation of artistes, and other genres, and it’s been a walk through for them since. From Rema, Tems, Asake, Buju, Ruger to Ckay, the next generation have made an entrance with their own style, tailoring their story as they go. Mavin’s Rema has been one of the unstoppable forces, and HipHop Africa looks at how he has been able to push his music through dimensions, with trap music as his right hand.
Per numbers, he is currently the biggest artiste out of Africa, with his smash single “Calm down” remix featuring Selena Gomez climbing up to number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, he also surpassed wizkid’s record for longest charting song on the charts spending its 36th week on there. He is definitely the prince of Afrobeats, but how has he made his way to the crown and penetrated other markets that his fellow peers have not? Though the Nigerian singer has been carrying the Afro-cross, his heart has always been for trap music, as a kid who grew up in the mumble era, you’d expect that.
Realistically, Rema is a diverse creative, per his last interview, he listens to almost everything, from K-pop to hip hop, trap, which explains his early days starting off with freestyles of trap music, “Dumebi” shot him into the spotlight, making him one of the genre’s exciting prospects, but he never let shy away from his roots, in the midst of his afro-bangers, he still made Trap records, EP’s actually, highlighting his love for the sub-genre, this balance grew both fan bases on an equal level, his trap fans and afro fans. The music eco-system too helped, its flexibility has created space for any genre, and with that right marketing strategy, you’ll be accepted. That is Rema’s stronghold, his ability to adapt.
In just 4 years, he has been able to bend the rules, move past the narrative that you have to release a mainstream banger to keep your name up there or make waves, with quality production from his right-hand producer London, and recent collaborator Alex Lustig, Rema has explored “Afro-trap”, with his debut album, celebrating its success with an Ultra version, boosting it with new songs that lean on trap, amassing 1.3 billion streams on Spotify alone. “Reason You”, “Dunno Me Freestyle” and “Hov” are seeds of trap music that have germinated into fan favourites, with a new fanbase leaning more on that side of his career since Calm down. His use of social media and and quality contents have created and executed next-level marketing strategies that have contributed to his success. Whiles everyone was focused on the west, Rema looked the other way and created a path to the east, his tour took a stop by India, which is no surprise if you’ve been a raver for long, 3 years ago, during an interview with capital Xtra, he said he wanted to take Afrobeats to the next level, quoting “Why Can’t we shut down India?”. Well, fast forward, his dream came through and in the most iconic form, he was welcomed by Famous Indian designer Manish Malhotra, who designed a fit specifically for the prince of Afrobeats for his concert. Welcomed by the whole country, you just knew the show was going to be a memorable one, and it sure was. Over 60,000 people showed up for his show as he gave them back to back performances, as crazy as it sounds, it’s also inspiring. In such a short while, he has pushed Afrobeats and its sub genre to new continents, creating a cult while at it.
Rema is incredibly creative, and his success is largely in part to his strategic, innovative marketing that keeps him viral and on top of the game, and under the shelter of Mavin, your dreams are made easier to achieve, with his world tour on-going, he is likely to explore other parts of the industry and make Afro-Trap a prominent sub-genre, a potential door for the future generation to explore.
American rapper Lil Durk recently took to his Instagram story to share that he would love to visit Nigeria soon.
The rapper was excited after his song “All My Life” with Rapper J Colewent Number One on the Nigeria Apple Music chart, took to Instagram to announce he would love to visit the country and shut it down with a good show soon.
The Unkut hip-hop rap challenge, officially launched last month, has only two weeks left to go. It kicked off in honor of the 420 holiday observed in April and expected to run for two months. Rappers from around the East African region are invited to front their best bars over select beats.
Jua Cali, a veteran artist, released beats for the challenge. He is one of the OG’s who have taken it upon themselves to mentor upcoming artists.
In honor of 4/20, we’ve decided to drop the drill beat earlier than anticipated for round 2 of #UnKutRapChallenge.
He officially opened submissions by inviting artists to rhyme over a set of rap beats. Hyping the challenge, he requested the participants to bring their A-game and spit the best 16 bars that define them. This is an invitation to display the rhyme capability, dope lyrics and flow to showcase top-tier artistry.
The challenge has drill and boom-bap beats to appeal to a broader section of rappers with different styles.
Rappers participating in the Unkut hip-hop rap challenge stand to get a feature on the Unkut Cypher. This is one of the significant components of the Unkut hip-hop awards.
This is an avenue for underground artists to gain recognition. The chosen artists will get exposure to a wider audience across the region.
Various rappers have already submitted their entries for the challenge. Browse the #TheUnkutrapchallenge hashtag to checkout the videos and experience the best.
For a lot of people this music genius, ThisToye only gained relevance this year after he released his now fairly popular record, “Ni Nigeria” which features both him and Tomi Tribe.
However, the star Alte singer has been consistent over the years, releasing loads of music and even getting credit for writing the cross-genre song “Shopping Spree” for Afrobeat Superstar, Davido.
International music star, Wizkid was spotted recently vibing to the song while in the studio. Singer BNXN fka Buju has been spotted vibing to the song a couple of times as well.
Toye prides his sound has been highly Afro-centric, however, elements of Hiphop are always very obvious in his songs as well.
We at HiphopAfrica look forward to seeing what direction he takes next.
It looks like the streets are about to feast this winter as one of PTA’s finest emcees, Wordz (Tha Prince) offers some new music to be released soon.
Aside from a few guest appearances, notably in Mashbeatz‘ This Is Religion, Wordz hasn’t released since 2021 – his most celebrated project, Product of a Praying Mother.
Today, the rapper shares the news of a new project on the horizon; “PEOPLE FORGET TO BE PEOPLE. A BODY OF WORK BY WORDZ.”
The announcement is accompanied by a short, cinematic visual that follows Wordz through an art gallery while a new song plays in the background.
I first bumped into Ricky Tyler’s Music on a random 2020 afternoon’s YouTube surf session. An interview he did with Slikour was recommended and I watched it to the end, hearing him talk about his come up and his debut album enticed me to search for his music. The tube was way ahead of me and suggested a couple songs. That was how my romance with the young South African from Spruitview, Gauteng. First song I listened to was ‘Thirty K’s’ but it was the melancholic hook and the pulchritudinous rap of ‘DeJa Vu’ that proved to me that Riky was more than just a one trick pony.
After watching the videos for the above mentioned songs and ‘Everything,’ I proceeded to listen to the album and I was totally blown away.
The RnB, trap-soul and hip hop infused project gives a psychedelic cocktail of Frank Ocean-esque vocals and the pen of a rapper to serve a tall glass of classic lover-hustler-family man-old soul in a young body.
I have listened to so many classic albums in my lifetime and Ricky Tyler’s classic debut ‘Small World’ just happens to be my favorite album of all time. Since I plugged in my headphones three years ago, I’ve not taken them off.
Born in Spruitview and raised in Edenvale in the East Rand, Bokamoso Kgomotso participated in The Applause Rising Talent Showcase, at the International Arts Convention.
He was then selected to model for three designers at the Plitzs New York Fashion week, as a result.
After competing in Battle of the bands as The Ricky Tyler Show in 2016, he won a scholarship to an acting school in Orlando,Florida whee he honed his craft and ultimately discovered his strength, which set the path of his career.
He met Will McNair and that’s when his career as we know I today began. Not long after he was signed sit Playground Productions and debuted as a mainstream act.
“My music is my mirror through which I tune into who I am. Then what I feel is what lands up moving out of mouth and into the mic… slowly unraveling my soul, which will make it easier for the world to see theirs.” —Ricky Tyler.
Ricky has collaborated on songs with Tellaman, Kojo Cue, Slique, Rowlene, MI Abaga, Alpha P etc. His latest single ‘Sunday Drive’ featuring Durban’s Tellaman also dropped today.
In 2021, Tyler joined the host of African artists recruited to contribute to the ‘Coming 2 America’ Original Soundtrack, and joined the rest of the crew to perform his hit song ‘Everything’ on the NPR Tiny Desk Concert.
