Culture & Society

Emerging into the African pop scene two years ago, Ayra Starr’s immersive records have won her the adulation of a constantly expanding fanbase. She is now embracing a wholesome experience of what it means to be a pop star in this age, branding and all things considered.

Burna Boy’s discography and lived attitude to Nigerian audiences presents a local-global dialectic. His irreverence towards local fans and the narcissism that pervades his latest musical offering, I Told Them, are suggestive of a growing individualistic ethos within the Afrobeats collective.

The trope of grass to grace is not Davido-esque. Instead, Davido’s run so far has been from grace to grace. His interluding humbling moments cater in part to his resilient spirit, his persistence in the face of multiple adversities, and his eventual solid status in the arena of African creatives, and hordes of them, each one striving to assert their voice in Africa, America, Asia, and Europe.

In a time when rap music in Nigeria was almost in a state of inertia, M.I Abaga, with a cohort of ‘Jos boys’, gave it life once again, this time, introducing an original aesthetic that transformed the sound of Nigerian rap.

Twenty years since the Nigerian twin band, P-Square, released its first studio album, the beautiful thing about P-Square’s songs is how they take you back to where you were when you first heard them.

Against the backdrop of a misogynistic society, Tiwa Savage’s long-term success—as a woman who creates Nigerian popular music—is an anomaly, and such success has not been without backlash.

From local to global stardom, Wizkid has established himself as a preeminent star, with a footprint unmissable in the sands of Nigerian music. As Afrobeats continues to coast into and conquer new territories, Wizkid has established himself as an artist whose immense talent and star power helped connect Nigerian music to the rest of the world.