Culture & Society
Narcissism and the Aggrieved Art of Burna Boy How Burna Boy Represents Afrobeats’ Growing Individualistic Ethos
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. Read More...
A Cat With Nine Lives The Many Sides to Davido’s Longevity
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. Read More...
Mr Incredible The Resounding Verses of M.I Abaga
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. Read More...
You Had To Be There The Beautiful Thing About P-Square
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. Read More...
From Moral Panic to Water and Garri Tiwa Savage within a Globalized Afrobeats Climate
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. Read More...
Big Wiz How Wizkid Became the Paragon of African Music’s Golden Age
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. Read More...
‘I Had to Sink Into Various Forms of Culture for Inspiration’ Christian Adofo’s First Draft
Ghanaian writer, Christian Adofo, had to sink into various forms of culture to get inspiration and build context for his book. Read More...
A Personal Review of Mami Wata CJ ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s Mami Wata and the Repositioning of Nollywood
CJ ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s Mami Wata is a meticulously crafted film with the soul of true filmmaking in it. While it is worthy of the celebration it has had, is it truly a great movie? Read More...
Dirty or Clean December? Will Nigerian Artists Treat Their Fans Better This Year?
Afrobeats is enjoying a great cultural moment globally, but why are Nigerian fans excluded from this by a toxic concert culture? Read More...
We Need to Talk About the Nobel Prize Bias Why Are Black People Still Not Winning Nobel Prizes in the Sciences?
Winning the Literature and Peace Nobel Prizes has been crucial to Black literature and resistance. But what does a history of omission in the other elusive categories mean? Read More...
