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 […]
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 […]
Thirty years after Reasonable Doubt introduced Shawn Carter to the world as Jay-Z, the rapper stood beneath the lights of the Stade de France with something few artists can convincingly claim: a catalogue that has become part of the architecture of popular culture. On September 10, 2026, Jay-Z brought his JAŸ-Z 30 celebration to Paris for a two-hour performance […]
Ayo Maff has added another remarkable milestone to his fast-rising career, becoming the first African artist to be featured as a character in PUBG Mobile, one of the world’s most influential mobile gaming franchises. The collaboration places the Nigerian singer and songwriter inside a digital universe with a global audience, marking an unusual but increasingly important intersection between African […]
For more than four decades, Angélique Kidjo has carried the sounds of Benin into rooms, stages and audiences far beyond the continent. On 18 August 2026, that journey found a permanent address on Hollywood Boulevard as the five-time Grammy winner became the first African musician, and the first Black African artist, to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk […]
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 […]
Wizkid’s catalogue has travelled further than most Nigerian artists of his generation. Remember the streetwise confidence of “Holla at Your Boy”, the intimate storytelling of “Ojuelegba”, the global phenomenon of “Essence”? His biggest records have become part of the soundtrack of modern African pop. But behind those songs are writers, producers and collaborators whose contributions are often less visible […]
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 […]
Some artists become successful by fitting comfortably into a genre. Pongo has built her career by refusing that approach. The Angolan-born, Portugal-based singer has quietly assembled one of the most distinctive catalogues in contemporary African music, combining Kuduro, electronic production, Afro-pop and global dance influences into a sound that feels unmistakably her own. Yet, despite critical acclaim across Europe […]