Afrobeats

Preceded by a crew of gymnasts who shot fire — and themselves — high in the air, Black Sherif earned a hero’s welcome when he took the stage at the El-Wak Stadium in Accra, Ghana, to headline the AfroFuture festival last December. The event, which has become one of the hallmarks of winter celebrations in West Africa, attracted roughly 40,000 attendees across its two days, according to its founder. Black Sherif was the sole Ghanaian artist to headline, and he stands as one his country’s brightest stars thanks to his…

Back in the beginning, Davido used to dream of just wanting “to hear my song on the radio once or twice” — getting to the Grammys was barely a glimmer. But last night the Nigerian-American superstar let Rolling Stone tag along as he rolled up to music’s biggest night for the first time, and with three nominations to his name. “To have transcended to this is just amazing,” Davido said en route to the big show. “Just being nominated, just being recognized alone, is enough to make me proud of myself.”  Davido…

It’s a fascinating and complicated time to be an Afropop lover, with so many people outside of Africa joining the ranks. Consider Afrobeats, a broad subgenre under the even broader umbrella of African pop, which earned 2.5 billion streams by the midpoint of 2023, per Luminate, an entertainment analytics company. That represented a 34 percent jump in streams over the year before. All of this newfound attention has made for great music, collaborations, and IRL spaces to jam — from Atlanta to Amsterdam to Abuja — but has…

In late January, Teni, the Nigerian Afrobeats star, told me the meaning of “Bourdillon,” a standout track I had received on a draft of her latest album, Tears of the Sun. “Bourdillon is a wealthy place in Ikoyi, where wealthy people stay,” she said of the Lagos neighborhood. We were dining at a local Caribbean restaurant in another relatively wealthy neighborhood: Midtown Atlanta. “So, I’m just saying on this song that from the strip club to Bourdillon — from Bourdillon to the strip club,” she explained. When…

On April 5, 2023, London’s KOKO was set alight with the spiritual sounds of Davido.It was an intimate show, with UK band The Compozers on-hand to celebrate the release of his fourth studio album, Timeless, where the Nigerian star serenaded an audience with a timeline of his greatest hits before performing some of the newer ones for the first time. It was a wholesome night: the sweet-to-the-ear combo of Davido’s grand discography and The Compozers’ electrifying instrumentation saw the packed-out crowd flow together through…

The first thing Dee Williams noticed was that it felt like home.It was December 2019, and the Los Angeles-based photographer had just touched down in Accra, Ghana, for the first time. What she found hardly resembled L.A., but after being raised in a Jamaican family and taking frequent trips to the island, the atmosphere in Accra couldn’t have felt more natural.“The connection between Jamaica and Ghana is so loud and proud — I absolutely love it,” Williams said. “Online, we have all the diaspora wars, but once you touch…

On a Saturday afternoon in Soho, a collection of art kids are caught up in what you might call the Rema whirlwind. The Nigerian artist is making an appearance at a pop-up for London brand Places + Faces to promote a recent clothing collaboration. Never mind the gawking crowd; it’s hard to miss his star quality: the glistening jewellery, cowrie shells in his hair and immaculately manicured nails are a dead giveaway.Divine Ikubor, 22, is a shining star in the new school of afrobeats. He first broke out in 2019 with the…

It has been a whirlwind couple of years for Nigeria’s Asake. Armed with a sparkling voice and a gift for penning lyrics that speak directly to the soul, the rising musician has been churning out blissful tunes since 2018, but he got his big break in 2020 with cuts like “Lady” and “Mr. Money”, which blended his woozy, warm vocals with sweltering Afrohouse and jazz production. Asake’s trajectory in the music industry should not come as a surprise to anyone—especially with his unmatched tenacity on the creative front. Since…

Tems is Afrobeats’ current golden girl, playing a summer of sold-out shows in the capital. The only way to see the Nigerian singer on stage is to cock your head and close one eye; her crowd full of early twentysomethings all jostle to get to the front, handheld fans in tow, determined to brave the tail end of the day’s heatwave.When she arrives she appears pleasantly coy, even coquettish to her audience. She glows under mood lighting: “It’s so hot but you still came out,” she says sweetly. But when she sings any shyness…

Kofi’s introspection over the last three years has fueled the flames of his second album, Why Not? releasing May 20th on Red Bull Records. The Toronto rapper, singer, and producer spent the final year as a professional volleyball player in his Los Angeles dorm room questioning the limitations others have placed on him yet meticulously crafting his conflicting thoughts into 12 tracks. “All my life, I’ve been told what I couldn’t do—you can’t be an athlete and a musician. You can’t be a producer and an artist. You can’t be…