MUSIC
Stream the best African music this week, including new releases from Kelela, Victony, Zakes Bantwini, Ezra Collective, and more.
Every week, OkayAfrica highlights the top African music releases — including the latest Afrobeats and amapiano hits — through our best music column, African Music You Need to Hear This Week.
Read ahead for our round-up of the best new African music tracks and music videos that came across our desks this week.
Victony – “Slick”
On the funky earworm “Slick,” Victony interpolates a Michael Jackson melody to deliver something of a smash hit. Coming in at just under two minutes, it finds the easygoing artist on one of his loverboy missions, with varying results that reflect his generous nature.
Zakes Bantwini – “The Crossing (Osiyeza)” (feat. Msaki, Jesse Clegg, Skye Wanda)
Zakes Bantwini has a knack for big sounds, thick palettes, and glorious vocals that make your spirit levitate. He’s also a master collaborator; his joint EP with Skye Wanda, who features here, was released earlier this year. He brings Msaki and Jesse Clegg, themselves issuers of an EP in March, onto “The Crossing.” It reworks the Johnny Clegg classic into an Afro-house banger, extending the late icon’s reach into the current era. Zakes Bantwini has issued another cultural manifesto, and we shall dutifully oblige on the dance floor.
Kelela – “the bridge” (feat. PinkPantheress)
A Kelela and PinkPantheress collab is a geekfest of pop culture, haute couture, street-level wisdom, nerdy production feats, and immersive art-as-life trinkets sprinkled all over the music. The Ethiopian-American artist has spoken about the influence of Black British culture on her craft, and “the bridge” is another necessary nail in the coffin of endless diaspora wars: a Burial-inspired R&B jam that is both futuristic and lost in time.
Ezra Collective – “Well Organised” (feat. Lila Iké)
Ezra Collective is hard at work, redrawing the Africa-Caribbean relations map, organizing internally and externally through word, sound, and power. Jamaica’s Lila Iké describes it intimately on “Well Organised”: “this is healing, I love the way this music got me feeling,” she sings. Somewhere between reggae and afrobeat, between the Max Romeo references and the distinct Caribbean twist, between the hip-hop and the grime, the council houses and the tenement yards, a bold, new, and daring Blackness is emerging, refusing to negotiate on anyone else’s terms. We love the way it’s got us feeling.
WizTheMc – “Falling Stars”
South African-German star WizTheMc understands melody, revels in groove, and possesses an aura so infectious it bleeds through the music. The personality, upbeat without a hint of hyperbole, shines brightest on “Falling Stars,” whose muted bassline and reggaeton-inspired groove are the perfect combination to bid the northern summer goodbye.
Saint Levant – “Mitsubishi” (feat. Haifa Wehbe)
The drums on “Mitsubishi,” the latest single from Palestinian artist Saint Levant, are reminiscent of a particular mid-00s aesthetic that sent the pop and hip-hop worlds into a tailspin. Here, they form the basis for a Latin-guitar-inspired lick, another relic of the early aughts. What he achieves alongside co-conspirator Haifa Wehbe is a nostalgia overload so grand, its full effect only lands with the song on repeat.
MetaBoy & Seyi Vibez – “Peppa”
Built around a sweet vocal chop that dislocates the very foundation of words, “Peppa” is Greek producer MetaBoy‘s tropical excursion, a collision course with Nigeria’s finest, Seyi Vibez, whose prime mission on any song is to annihilate it so hard it’s driven to sever ties with him. His opening lines are an induction into motion: “low waist, wine slow, bend it proper,” he instructs.
Honeymoan – “The Stars Are Talking”
Honeymoan are South Africa’s artpunk poster children, lodged somewhere between a flash and a dream, making music so connected to itself, so in touch with the elements, that embracing it wholeheartedly becomes second nature. Lead vocalist Alison Rachel is in a closed-circuit conversation with the shadows of her former self: “How do you expect I respond to your text when you ask about dinner or similar things?” she wonders, slivers of melancholy peeking through the words, revealing hidden worlds.
Tekno – “Adaeze”
“Adaeze” finds Afrobeats wonderchild Tekno in a reflective mood, frustrated by finding love only to have distance come between them. This is masterful craftsmanship, a voice that has given the continent countless memories and era-defining hits. Produced by D’Meek and Justopac, who leave enough room for Tekno to shine, the song’s one to add to your playlist.
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