Music
All Music Articles
Why Afrobeats Artists Name-Drop Lagos, Lekki and Victoria Island: A Cultural Map
Streets become scripture in Afrobeats. Listen long enough and the genre stops sounding like songs and starts sounding like a guided tour of one specific city, with the same neighborhoods … Read more»
The 20 Greatest Nigerian Female Musicians of All Time, Ranked and Defended
From Onyeka Onwenu to Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade, we make the case for the women who truly built Nigerian music.
First Afrobeats Song to Hit 1 Billion Streams on Spotify: How It Happened
For years, Afrobeats had every other proof of arrival except the one that streaming-era pop music quietly treats as the real ceiling. There were sold-out tours across Europe, magazine covers, … Read more»
Tems Then vs Now: The Evolution of Nigeria's Biggest Female Voice
In late 2018, Temilade Openiyi was a software engineer in Lagos uploading a song called "Mr Rebel" to her own SoundCloud page. She had self-produced it. She had self-released it. … Read more»
How Lagos Became the Music Capital of Africa: The Full Untold History
The first time a recording studio opened on the Lagos mainland that was professional enough to record international-quality music, the year was 1969. The studio was Decca West Africa's facility … Read more»
Afrobeats Slang Decoded: 50 Words and Phrases Every Fan Should Know in 2026
At a barbershop in Surulere, a customer walks in, drops his bag on the counter, and announces to nobody in particular: "Omo, sapa don catch me." The barber laughs without … Read more»
The Headies Award: Complete History, Past Winners and Why It Matters to Afrobeats
When Ayo Animashaun decided in 2006 that Nigerian music deserved its own serious mirror, no one quite knew what a Hip Hop World Award would mean a decade later. The … Read more»
The Business of Afrobeats: How Nigerian Music Became a Billion-Dollar Global Industry
Somewhere between Wizkid trading verses with Drake on "One Dance" in 2016 and Universal Music Group writing what was reported to be a nine-figure check for a controlling stake in … Read more»
Every African Artist Who Has Ever Won a Grammy: The Complete List and Their Stories
Grammy gold and the African continent have a longer history than most casual music fans realize. The first African name engraved on the gramophone trophy was called more than half … Read more»