By Yinoluwa Olowofoyeku
Greetings, fellow adventurous listener! This week, I had an absolute blast fishing for amazing music from all across Africa and her Diaspora! Sadly, I can’t populate the playlist with full albums, but I can recommend that you check out every album I’ll mention today because they were thrilling experiences in their own rights.
Remember, if you’d like to thrill us all with your own work, send an email to yinoluu@afrocritik.com for further details. Also, the editorial mega-playlist for the first month of the Spotlight can be found on our Afrocritik Music DSP profiles and on our socials @Afrocritik.
With all that out of the way, I present to you the sixth edition of the Afrocritik Weekly Music Spotlight. Together, let’s brave this week’s selection which happens to feature:
- Some Big Names: Superstar Olamide enlists megastar CKay for assistance on “Trumpet,” Ghanaian-American rapper Bryan The Mensah gives us something with “Something,” Empire Music signee L.A.X teams up with Dancehall sensation Konshens on “Change Your Life,” immaculate singer Ric Hassani provides another song for the ladies, this time “Amina” especially…
- Highlights from Stellar Projects:I implore you to give each of these records a slice of your time! Sute Iwar’s Ultralight is well represented by “The Pleasure Principle” and “Meditate,” Kenyan singer Bensoul releases his flavourful The Lion of Sudah album represented here by “Row,” “Chizi,” and “Dondosa,” Xbusta’s Xuper Xtar Xtatus is immaculately constructed as exemplified by “1 Billi,” and “Shower,” South-African songstress Hunter Rose blesses us with a classic R&B EP titled Butterfly, as seen on “Grateful” and the remix of “Forever Yours,” South African alternative artiste Petite Noir absolutely blew my mind with his work like “Numbers,” the Sampa-assisted “Blurry” and “Simple Things” off his new Mother Father album…
- Standout Singles: Libianca’s evergreen earworm “People” is back with a new remix featuring Latin-American singer Becky G, C3VN follows suit with his emotional “The One!,” Umoja Sounds puts together a unique Afro fusion single with Emma Cheruto titled “Fill Up,” TAR1Q sings his heart out on “Pretty Like,” sonic collective Immaculate Taste blesses us with a Pan-African femme-fatale feature-driven hard-hitting rap single titled “Sauce”…
- The Return of South African Electronic Music: Black Coffee remixes Snoh Aalegra’s “Do 4 Love,” Felo Le Tee, Mellow & Sleazy deliver a fantastic album The III Wise Men represented by “Gedlela,” “Full Set,” and “Back 2 Basics,” Killervybez and Siribeatz bring us interesting instrumentals with “Serenity” and “Sirious Riddim” respectively, Mas Musiq displays his Amapiano mastery on “Nini Nannini”…
All these highlights and more are waiting for you to give them a listen on the playlists you should see to the right of this page. You’ll also find some of my favourite hold-overs from last week. Feel free to listen in the curated order or shuffle the playlist if you’re feeling brave. Either way, be sure to give the songs time to work their magic on you. Please listen to all the albums mentioned today. You shouldn’t regret it.
Don’t forget to add and follow the playlists, save your favourite songs as updates will be frequent, share the playlists with the people you care about, and get the information necessary to submit your own songs (or those of your people) by reaching out to yinoluu@afrocritik.com.
ENJOY!