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Every Time Beyonce Has Referenced African Music, Culture and Afrobeats in Her Career
Few global pop stars have woven African sound, fashion, and iconography into their work as deliberately as Beyonce Knowles-Carter. Where some artists drop a single Afrobeats feature and call it … Read more»
The Afrobeats Producers Quietly Shaping the Biggest Western Albums
Listen to the top of the Billboard 200 with your eyes closed and a strange thing happens. The kick drums don't sit where American kick drums used to sit. The … Read more»
Why Ed Sheeran Keeps Coming Back to Nigeria and What He Has Learned From Afrobeats
Few mainstream British pop stars have leaned into Afrobeats with the persistence of Ed Sheeran. The Suffolk songwriter who built a career on acoustic loop pedals and stadium-sized choruses has … Read more»
How Nigerian Entertainment Is Addressing Colorism and Skin Bleaching on Screen and in Lyrics
Walk into any Lagos market that sells skincare and the shelves tell a story the industry has spent decades dancing around. Tubes of "carrot glow," sachets of hydroquinone cream, glutathione … Read more»
What Is the "Burna Boy Effect"? How One Artist's Global Success Changed Nigerian Music Forever
Somewhere between a half-empty afternoon slot at Coachella 2019 and a sold-out London Stadium in June 2023, the math of Nigerian music quietly broke. The old ceiling capped African artists … Read more»
Why Nigerian Celebrities Celebrate Their "Soft Life" on Social Media: A Cultural Deep Dive
Somewhere between a poolside oyster platter in Cape Town and a champagne flute angled just so against a sunset in Mauritius, a new Nigerian aspirational language took shape. Scroll any … Read more»
Why Nollywood Always Has a "Village Scene": Tradition, Modernity and Storytelling
Somewhere around the forty-minute mark of a Nollywood film, the editing cuts away from a Lagos boardroom or a Lekki mansion, and a different sound arrives. Crickets. A distant drum. … Read more»
The Business of Nollywood Streaming: How Netflix, Prime and Showmax Changed Everything
Somewhere between the 2018 acquisition of "Lionheart" and the 2023 explosion of "The Black Book" onto Netflix's global top ten, Nollywood stopped being the world's third-largest film industry by volume … Read more»
How Afrobeats Artists Fund Their Own Albums Without Major Label Support
Walk into any Lekki studio at 2am and you will find a young Afrobeats artist signing off on a wire transfer they personally funded. The session musician needs paying. The … Read more»