Ayra Starr delivered a stunning performance against a backdrop of the Eiffel Tower at Power Our Planet: Live in Paris, on June 22, 2023 her example and others have ushered in a plethora of Afro beat talent to the global climate conversation!
The pan-African pop movement has generated significant talent in recent years. And a large number of Afrobeats artists who are bringing their unique voices and perspectives to the scene are also putting their talents behind global initiatives to halt climate change.
The name Ayra Starr has become the bellwether for a burgeoning genus of African artists. The last five years have been the most formative for Afrobeats, as the music and culture have grown into a globally recognized force, all while spawning newer subgenres, scenes, and fusion sounds in Africa and across the diaspora. Ayra Starr was on stage with President Ruto in Paris as a climate activist at the Power our Planet Concert in Paris, France to advocate for action on climate change.
Afrobeat artists like her regularly and actively engage with various environmental causes and organizations, using their influence to raise awareness and drive change. Their commitment to a greener world resonates with fans and demonstrates that artists can be powerful advocates for environmental stewardship. It could be argued that 2023 was African music’ biggest year ever. The stars shined brighter, the hits went further, and the global music industry is taking notice. The Recording Academy announced the 2024 GRAMMY nominees for its inaugural Best African Music Performance award. Some of the continent’s biggest talents are getting the spotlight: Rising artists like Ayra Starr, ASAKE, and Tyla competed against global megastars Burna Boy and Davido in the history-making category.
But there was much more going on than hits and highlights. Afrobeats embraced continent-spanning sounds, from traditional genres to South African club music. Female artists from the continent shined as brightly as their male counterparts. Across the board, bold, experimental new sounds began to creep into the landscape. As an exciting year in Afrobeats and African music came to a close, some of the trends that defined this broad soundscape in 2023 like the work of DJ Power a Nigerian star who's tour also embraced sustainable living and green culture.
Even if the GRAMMYs hadn’t decided to shine a light on Africa’s music industry with the Best African Performance category, Afrobeats artists made major inroads into the American music market in 2023 solely on their talent and global appeal. ASAKE appeared on "Good Morning America" and "The Tonight Show" to promote his album Work of Art, and recently released a collab with H.E.R. And Burna Boy — one of the genre’s biggest forces — sold out Citi Field in New York and played to a massive Coachella crowd.
Afrobeats artists played festivals across the country, none more significant than the first-ever stateside editions of AfroNation. Burna Boy headlined both legs of the genre-specific festival alongside WizKid in Miami and Davido in Detroit, while each one featured an undercard full of incredible artists. Rema, ASAKE, Ckay, and BNXN performed in Miami, while Detroit featured Kizz Daniel, P-Square, Stone-bwoy, and others. Artists, fans, and organizations like Black Coral Inc are coming together to create a more sustainable future for live music events.
Renowned Kenyan musician and activist Eric Wainaina, for example, uses his music to address environmental issues, including deforestation and climate change. His song “Daima” has become an anthem for environmental awareness in Kenya, inspiring listeners to take action and protect their environment. But in terms of chart success, one song dominated above all. An international chart topper long before a remix featuring Selena Gomez, Rema’s "Calm Down" smashed Billboard records. The song in multiple versions became the longest-running No. 1 in the history of the U.S. Afrobeats chart, spending more than a full year at the top. It eventually crossed over to the Hot 100, also becoming the longest-charting African song in its history, peaking at No. 3.
There’s more where that came from. Rema’s success with "Calm Down" shows the potential Afrobeats artists have to connect with audiences across the world! South Africa’s long history of flirting with house music — from kwaito in the post-Apartheid ‘90s, to the Afro-house of Black Coffee and Da Capo — is finally taking the country’s music global thanks to Amapiano. The dance genre typified by sweltering grooves, sizzling shaker rhythms, and the bombastic log drum, was all over Afrobeats last year. Rema became the first African artist to win the Best Afrobeats Award, which was introduced last year at MTV VMAs.
Meanwhile, Nigeria superstar Burnaboy released a song and 16 minute documentary on the environmental damage caused by oil on his Nigerian hometown called "Whiskey"; it spotlights the decades of poverty, unemployment and damage that Big oil has caused his hometown Port Harcourt, friends and family and entire region. During a London screening of the documentary, Burna Boy said, "Everything was a lot worse than the way I left it. The air was fully polluted, everything would be black when you wake up, even the cars. It’s really what you see in the documentary. This is real life, everyday life for my people. I feel like we’ll make songs about everything else, so why not make songs about what’s really going on and what’s really affecting the people in real time."
Heartthrob Ckay tapped the sound on "Hallelujah" with Blaqbonez. Davido collaborated with Musa Keys on his GRAMMY-nominated track "Unavailable" [fellow nominees in the Best African Music Performance category are "Amapiano" by ASAKE & Olamide, Burna Boy's "City Boys," "Rush" by Ayra Starr, and Tyla's "Water."] And Mr. Eazi recruited Focalistic, Major League DJz, and others for the debut record of his ChopLife Soundsystem side project. Artists as far away as China are also putting their own spin on the sound, such as Vinida Weng with "WAIYA."
South African starlet Tyla’s R&B-inflected "Water" became a crossover hit, unseating Rema from No. 1 on the Billboard Afrobeats chart and reaching (as of this writing) a record-setting No. 1 10 on the Hot 100 — the highest-ever for a South African artist. Both U.S. legs of AfroNation also featured a Piano Power stage, with sets by Maphorisa, Musa Keys, Major League DJz, DBN Gogo, Focalistic, TXC, and Uncle Waffles, who also performed at Coachella.
Although Afrobeats has largely been dominated by male artists — especially the big three of Burna Boy, WizKid, and Davido — the genre’s female stars are also proving their might. Tems gained fame thanks to features on songs like WizKid’s "Essence," but stepped further into the spotlight following the release of 2022’s For Broken Ears. Her latest song, "Me & U," is a soul-searching track that doubles as a love song and a paean to the almighty.
Tems' continues to receive industry recognition as well. At the 2023 GRAMMYs, she took home a golden gramophone for Best Melodic Rap Performance "Wait for U," a collab with Future and Drake. Her work co-writing Rihanna’s "Lift Me Up" from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack earned an Oscar nomination, and the song is nominated for Best Song Written For Visual Media at the 2024 GRAMMYs, alongside Barbie The Album's "Dance The Night," "I'm Just Ken," "What Was I Made For?" and "Barbie World. In the global spotlight she is a superstar, she cemented her spot in music history as the first Nigerian and female African artist to win the Best International Act at the 2022 BET Awards — proving that the world stage is exactly where she belongs. She is also the first Nigerian musician to debut at number 1 on the Billboard 100 chart.
And have you watched the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer? The cover of Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry”? That was TEMS, just in case you didn’t know. That’s right, her voice is part of the reason you were holding back tears while watching the iconic trailer.
In 2023 TEMS lent her voice in support of life-changing causes such as empowering girls, defending the planet, and breaking the systemic barriers that keep people in poverty. As a performer in the Global Citizen Festival in Accra Ghana as part of the End Extreme Poverty NOW campaign, built upon Global Citizen's continued expansion of the pan-African movement. At the festival TEMS world leaders, activists, artists, and Global Citizens came together to take action and make commitments for girls, for the planet, and to create sustainable change.
Ayra Starr, meanwhile, is universally seen as Afrobeats’ next big thing. The Benin-born starlet’s triumphant song "Rush" notched a GRAMMY nod, and she’s continued her dominant streak with singles such as "Sability" and "Stamina" with Tiwa Savage and Young Jonn. She’s also featured on tracks by WizKid, Ninho, David Guetta, and Tyla.
Two countries away from Nigeria, Ghana’s music scene is bursting with creativity. For proof, look no further than Atlanta-raised AMAARAE’s Fountain Baby, one of the most buzzed-about pop releases on either side of the Atlantic. "The record fuses Accra-attitude with 2000s R&B futurism for a bold, dangerously sexy sound that’s totally unique. In her cinematic sophomore album, Fountain Baby, her signature airy whisper swirls over tales of money and counterfeit bags, seduction and thwarted love. The formerly Ghana-based artist, whose real name is Ama Serwah Genfi, grew up between Atlanta and Accra and pulls influences from both places — a heady concoction of string and harp instrumentals, aughts hip-hop bravado, and Afrobeat rhythm. Her 2020 debut album The Angel You Don’t Know cemented her simultaneously as an American pop artist to watch (most recently, her song “A Body, a Coffin” was featured on the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack)." (Vulture Article by Isabel Ling)
Black Sherif, meanwhile, reps the streets. As a major representative of asakaa, the country’s take on drill music, the rapper has taken the gritty sound of Ghana’s ghettos to new places this year, touring his 2022 record The Villain I Never Was and its hit single "Kwaku the Traveler" at the MOBO Awards in London, Wireless Festival in Abu Dhabi, and events across the U.S. His latest track "OH NO" goes into ambitious new territory with influences added from highlife and soul. Currently Black Sherifs music is being studied by academics for its climate and social relevance.
"Taking cognisance of the social and linguistic power of trap music and its song lyrics as crucial avenues for language use in society, this study set out to conduct a corpus-assisted discourse analysis of selected song lyrics of Black Sherif. The study synergized... a socio-cognitive approach to CDA to interpret the song lyrics. The analyses revealed three linguistic strategies: (a) pronouns; (b) Ghanaian Student Pidgin; and (c) metaphors in the song lyrics that served as a means of empowering the youth to survive and strive for success despite social and psychological aggressions in life. Also, the individualistic self-representation in the song lyrics included plural identities of people who share a common experience of struggle, pain, survival, and self-empowerment..." (Emmanuel Mensah Bonsu University of Cape Coast)
Finally, the study highlighted crucial societal issues, such as economic hardships climate and social injustice, that may otherwise be overlooked by mainstream media.
Mr. Eazi may be Nigerian by birth, but Ghana is where he made his name and developed his signature "banku" sound, mixing Afrobeats with highlife and other local influences. After 10 years in the business, he finally released his debut album The Evil Genius with a uniquely artful twist: Every track is accompanied by a painting executed by an African artist. Eazi has called the album his most personal work yet. Mr Eazi is on a mission to be a part of the incubation and development of African talent across entertainment and sports and to educate future African leaders. "By 2030, we'll need to feed nearly 9 billion people around the world. We need to work together to change the way we produce food!" (Quote Mr Eazi Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade} better known by his stage name Mr Eazi, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and record executive.
Burna Boy took on hip-hop and pretty much everyone else hopped onto amapiano, but in 2023 artists in Afrobeats and beyond took turns trying to expand the genre. Fresh off the success of "Calm Down," Rema delivered a scorching new EP. Ravage flung the singer into dangerous new territory, with dramatic lyrics and dark, hyperpop-leaning production on tracks like "Don’t Leave."
Up-and-coming artists are also trying to break away from the pack with experimental new sounds. Blaqbonez, featured on Ckay’s "Hallelujah," spits over bouncy Igbo drumming on "NYEM EGO." Brazy, meanwhile, blended Afrobeats with Jersey Club on "omg."
Last but not least, one of the most interesting Afrobeats-adjacent songs of the year was made in London. Nigerian-British Jim Legxacy’s "dj" boldly fuses hyperactive Afrobeats drums with Midwest emo guitars and a warbling, R&B-esque vocal performance. "You used to promise me you’d teach me how to DJ" may be one of the most instantly devastating opening lines of the year. the line from his Album Homeless N***a focuses on his time as a homeless person. So climate justice one of the biggest reasons for homelessness in the world today is big on his creative agenda.
“Block Hug” is another excellent recording, with melodic guitar leads, vulnerable lyrics about love and heartbreak, and expectations that come with growing up in the hood. It then breaks into this darker, bass-heavy beat and Jim Legxacy rapping his ass off about harsh truths about his life and environment he grew up in. “ur marges crib” has this pop vocal sample that complements the gentle beat, and what sounds like a Giggs sample being interpolated within the beat, as Jim’s incredible vocals make this such an incredibly beautiful and potent track. The title track is another highlight, with an incredible verse that sees Jim Legxacy rap about his own trials and tribulations growing up in Lewisham, South London.
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