Amapiano unequivocally has an iron-clad stronghold on South African dance floors. The genre dominates the airwaves and it rules South Africa’s streaming market. More so, the potent drum lines and rhythms of Amapiano are no longer confined within the country’s borders. For the past two to three years, the genre has travelled to Nigeria where…
Karun has been a fixture in Kenya’s music scene since she was a teenager as part of the BET-nominated Camp Mulla. Since her departure from the hip hop group, she has forged her own path as a solo musician. Her 2019 hit record, “Glow Up” established her as one of the faces of alternative R&B…
Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe or Ayra Starr exemplifies the spirit of the Nigerian youth — vibrant, creative, and savvy — and like many young people who love music, she would often posts herself singing covers to popular songs on social media. This led to one of her videos catching the attention of mega-producer and record label…
UK based David Adekiyesi better known by his stage name Crówn is a singer-songwriter with Nigerian heritage. Crówn is known for his afrobeat music which takes influences from Amapiano as well as Fela Kuti, Lagbaja and Majek Fashek. This month the musician released a new single from his next EP Humanity coming out later this…
Joeboy is the epitome of a modern African pop star. He first garnered attention on Instagram after uploading his cover of Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You”. That video put him on Mr.Eazi’s radar and he became one of the first artists to receive funding from the emPawa Africa initiative, a program dedicated to supporting independent…
For the past five years, Masego has been travelling the world, headlining major world festivals and spreading his neo-soul, R&B, and jazz-infused sounds across the globe. The pandemic has put a crushing holt to all of that, however, it has also given him a lot of time to think and create music. Study Abroad is…
This time last year, DJ Big Sky commanded South African dance floors with his hit single, “Fire”. The world was so different then and so was he. “I’ve been in the industry for such a long time and ‘Fire’ put me in the spotlight. It changed me. It changed how I work. Everything is different…
Coming off the massive success of her debut album, This is Me, which featured her 2017 summer smash hit single, “Maradona”, Niniola has catapulted to international stardom. The song would later be interpolated by Beyonce on the Grammy-nominated song, “Find Your Way”, that was part of the Lion King: The Gift soundtrack. Now, Niniola returns…
African music has come out on top in 2019. Afrobeats has become one of the defining genres of the year, with Burna Boys “African Giant” leaping up charts across the globe. The AfroNation festival, held in Lisbon this year, achieved what other fraud-ridden, Netflix-documented destination festivals couldn’t. Beyoncé’s seminal ‘Homecoming’ performance paid homage to the…
In her SoundCloud bio Canadian DJ OWABOWA explains that she wants people to “get in their bodies and connect with each other on the dance floor and beyond”. The exclusive mix she created for us is a reflection of this emphasis on connection. We spoke her to find out about the time she is spending…
‘In two more years, my sweetheart, we will see another view’. Bloc Party lyrics that once punctuated the playlist of a monthly Newtown party called Cellardoor. The Cellardoor parties ran from 2005 to 2007: a two-year slice in the history of Johannesburg’s nocturnal life. Co-founder, Marc Latilla, holds a catalogue of flyers and photographs from…
