Lagos has seen international stars arrive with spectacular production, elaborate stagecraft and promises of unforgettable nights. But when Dave brought his The Boy Who Played the Harp tour to the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts on 16 and 17 October, the significance ran deeper than another name on the concert calendar. These were the British-Nigerian rapper’s […]
Nigeria is back in the Oscar conversation, and this time the film carrying the country’s hopes is a quiet family drama rather than a spectacle built for easy headlines. Damilola Orimogunje’s Dear Ajayi has been selected as Nigeria’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, putting the Nigeria-Germany co-production on the road […]
Don Jazzy has spent more than two decades making music, but his most consequential work may have happened away from the microphone. The hits made him famous. The businesses made him formidable. Somewhere between the producer behind Mo’ Hits, the founder of Mavin Records and the executive who helped build careers for some of Africa’s biggest contemporary stars, Michael […]
Meet Baddo’s new alter ego: Alagemo Merindinlogun, the visual-art identity behind his latest creative experiment Olamide has spent more than a decade turning Yoruba language, street culture and Nigerian life into music that travels. Now, the YBNL founder is moving into another form of expression: the canvas. The rapper has unveiled Alagemo Merindinlogun by Olamide, a new visual-art identity […]
Half melancholic, half haunting, wholly human and it has a Shadow too. (Caveat: I have tried as much as possible to keep this largely spoiler-free, especially around the film’s more important turns and revelations. But because I’m talking about the story, some context is unavoidable) Akinola Davies Jr.’s My Father’s Shadow (2025) is the kind of film that does […]
Kenya has chosen a story rooted in the Maasai community to carry its cinema to the 99th Academy Awards. One Woman One Bra, written and directed by Kenyan filmmaker Vincho Nchogu and produced by Nigerian filmmaker Josh Olaoluwa, was selected on 23 September as Kenya’s official submission for the International Feature Film category. The Kenya Oscars Selection Committee considered […]
Adekunle Gold’s “Many People” is taking its journey from Nigerian streets and Fuji traditions into one of the world’s most recognisable gaming environments. The song has been selected for the official eFootball 2027 soundtrack, placing the Nigerian singer-songwriter’s music alongside an international line-up of artists whose records will soundtrack matches played by millions of football fans and gamers around […]
Long before sculpture became a familiar presence in Nigeria’s public spaces, Felix Idubor was already asking a more interesting question: what happens when art becomes part of the building itself? For Idubor, sculpture was never confined to the gallery or the pedestal. It could live in an entrance, occupy a wall, define a civic space or become part of […]
For David Jonsson, the journey to Wakanda began far from Hollywood. It began in East London, in Custom House, where the British actor grew up in a community he has described with affection but without romanticising its difficulties. Now, at 32, Jonsson stands at the centre of one of cinema’s most consequential casting decisions: he has been chosen to […]
The most influential African artists rarely abandon tradition in pursuit of modernity. They reinterpret it. That philosophy sits at the centre of Bobo Wê’s creative identity. The Beninese rapper, songwriter and performer has emerged as one of West Africa’s most distinctive musical voices by developing Gangan Trap, a sound that brings together hip-hop, trap production and the unmistakable rhythms […]