Category: African Music Legends
Celebrate and honor iconic figures who have significantly contributed to the African music landscape.
Baddo Never Misses a Moment: Olamide Opens a New Chapter on Afrobeats Heat Different
Olamide returns with “Burukutu” as this week’s Afrobeats Heat Different selection brings together Nigerian street-pop, Ghanaian melodies, alternative voices and a new generation of African music makers. A familiar voice, a changing musical landscape Few Nigerian artists have maintained a relationship with popular culture quite like Olamide. Across successive generations of listeners, his music has…
Afrobeats Heat Different: Mr Eazi’s “Comfort” Leads a Week of Old Languages Finding New Forms
From Mr Eazi and MOLIY’s Ghana-Nigeria conversation to Terry Apala’s reworking of Apala, DopeNation’s Ghanaian rhythmic vocabulary and a new generation of street-pop and rap voices, this week’s Afrobeats Heat Different finds African music moving forward without becoming distant from where it came from. African pop does not have to abandon its old musical languages…
Spotify’s Surround Sound Turns Back the Clock on Tems, Runtown and Two Enduring Nigerian Catalogues
Six years after For Broken Ears and a decade after “Mad Over You”, Spotify ’s Lagos showcase asks a bigger question: what keeps older Nigerian records culturally alive? There are songs you remember, and then there are songs that remember you. Runtown’s “Mad Over You” belongs to the second category. For many listeners, the 2016…
Davido, Dangote, and the New Grammar of Afrobeats Influence
Davido did not go to Times Square to sing. He went to stand beside a billionaire, beneath a message that had nothing to do with music: “Made in Nigeria. Built for the World.” No stage. No setlist. No crowd chanting his name. Just a Nasdaq billboard, a refinery IPO, and two Nigerian men who have…
In Malawi, Tiwa Savage Saw Survivors Building What Comes Next
Tiwa Savage arrived in Malawi expecting to cry. She had prepared herself for it. As she later recalled, she had even packed extra tissues because she expected the stories of women and girls who had experienced violence to overwhelm her. Instead, after spending four days meeting survivors, activists, students, creatives, government officials and representatives of…
“No AI Needed”: Chaka Khan Reminds the Internet She Was Already There
As social media users turn to artificial intelligence to imagine themselves in the 1980s, Chaka Khan has responded with something better: the archive. The internet is busy imagining itself in the 1980s. Chaka Khan has receipts. Across social media, a new AI-driven nostalgia trend has users transforming present-day photographs into imagined portraits from the decade…
Angélique Kidjo ’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Marks A New Milestone for African Music
Beninese music icon Angélique Kidjo has become the first Black African artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, adding one of the entertainment industry’s most recognisable honours to a career spanning more than four decades.The five-time Grammy winner’s Hollywood recognition marks a landmark moment for African music while reflecting more than…
Africa Took Centre Stage at FIFA’s Historic First World Cup Final Halftime Show
On Sunday evening, as Spain lifted the FIFA World Cup trophy before more than 80,000 fans inside New York New Jersey Stadium and millions more watching around the world, football introduced a new tradition. For the first time in the tournament’s 96-year history, the FIFA World Cup Final paused for a halftime show. The spectacle…
Lira ’s Return: Music, Neurological Recovery, and the Reconstitution of Artistic Identity
Lira’s return following her 2022 stroke offers a deeper lens into music as therapy, the reconstruction of voice, and the question of sustainability within African music. The trajectory of an artist’s career is often evaluated through continuity. – measured by sustained output, public visibility, and uninterrupted engagement with audiences. Within this framework, interruption is frequently…
Black Coffee Set for Lagos Return on April 5 at Royal Box
Global house music icon Black Coffee is set to return to Lagos for a highly anticipated performance on April 5, 2026, at Royal Box Event Centre. The event, presented in conjunction with M:E Entertainment and Dapo Awofisayo, marks another significant moment in the ongoing cultural exchange between African electronic music and the continent’s most vibrant…