Burna Boy, WizKid, Tems — more and more, the GRAMMY-winning stars of Afrobeats are becoming household names.
Based in Nigeria, the genre has exploded in popularity internationally. Billboard recently started a chart for Afrobeats singles, and the Recording Academy recently added a brand new category, Best African Music Performance, to honor the continent’s best musicians.
The pan-African pop movement has generated lots of fresh and interesting talent in recent years. Red on for 10 Afrobeats artists who are bringing their unique voices and perspectives to the scene.
AMAARAE
Born in the Bronx, Ghanaian American AMAARAE was raised between Atlanta and Accra — and it shows in her unapologetically sexy music. Bridging the gap between African and American sounds is AMAARAE's M.O.; she’s collaborated with artists on both continents, from Blaqbonez and Stonebwoy to Kaytraminé and Kali Uchis.
On songs like "Wasted Eyes" off her latest album Fountain Baby, AMAARAE effortlessly blends Afrobeats with R&B and neo-soul, alongside raps that reverberate with trap braggadocio: "Fresh to death, I’m beyond heat / Activist in my Dior jeans."
Speaking of designer clothes, she’s also becoming something of a fashion icon, having been profiled in British Vogue about her style and teaming with Shygirl and Arca on a campaign for H&M’s collab line with Mugler.
AMAKA
All over the world, forward thinking musicians are introducing new innovations to pop music. Take NewJeans, for instance — the K-pop quintet introduced global club influences and Western collabs into their music, resulting in rave reviews and massive hits.
Nigerian American R&B singer AMAKA, formerly of the sister act VanJess, also wanted to do something different for her solo debut, recruiting Haitian Canadian producer/DJ KAYTRANADA, whose woozy take on house music has earned him two GRAMMY Awards. The resulting EP, Oasis, is incredibly interesting, blending suave R&B with Afrobeats influences for an irresistible, sensual combination that feels like an exciting new direction for African pop music.
Asake
You don’t have to look far to find the next major Afrobeats superstar, the next Burna Boy or Wizkid — it’s Asake. This month he sold out London’s O2 Arena. Before that he took Miami’s inaugural AfroNation festival by storm with a showstopping set that saw the audience tearing off his clothes. And even before that he had booked appearances on "The Tonight Show" and "Good Morning America."
He is incredibly talented and charismatic, as his rapid rise proves. But what makes the deep-voiced Lagotian so compelling isn’t just that — it’s also the embrace of a musical pan-Africanism that feels special. He blows open the Afrobeats formula by introducing influences from all over the continent. "Dull" from his debut Mr. Money With the Vibes interpolates the traditional Yoruba genre of fújì, but he also includes séga, a traditional genre from Mauritius and Réunion, on "Yoga," from this year’s Work of Art. Of course, there’s also his primary influence, South Africa’s massive house offshoot amapiano — he even named a song, which became a massive hit, after the genre
Aya Nakamura
Most big Afrobeats and amapiano stars tend to perform mainly in English, with many also mixing in African languages like Yoruba, Igbo, and Zulu. But with a massive portion of the continent speaking French, it makes sense that a few Francophone Afrobeats musicians have risen up.
Born in Mali and raised outside of Paris, Aya Nakamura comes from a family of griots (musical oral historians), meaning music runs in the family. She’s had a string of massive hits in France and elsewhere in Europe, including 2018’s massive "Djadja," a bold breakup anthem which topped the charts in France and the Netherlands.
This year, she’s returned with a new album, DNK, and rather than take on the trendy amapiano influences embraced by the rest of the Afrobeats world, she’s offering her own take on zouk, a French-Caribbean dance genre. In our borderless era of pop music, this is one talent that certainly deserves more attention in the states.
BNXN
Formerly known as Buju, BNXN (a stylization of his last name Benson) can count Burna Boy as a mentor, having quarantined with the King of Afrobeats during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Like his mentor, BNXN describes his sound as Afro-fusion, taking cues from R&B, dancehall, and traditional genres from Nigeria.
It’s this Naija identity that truly powers his distinctive songwriting voice, however. A song by BNXN will feature plenty of local witticisms and lyrics in pidgin and local languages, as well as standard English, and his faculty as a storyteller ranges from tales from the gritty streets to childhood recollections of Lagos.
Fireboy DML
Afrobeats is full of romantics, from Burna Boy to "Africa’s number one boyfriend" Ckay. With his own "Afro-life" take on songwriting, Fireboy DML certainly occupies that lane well, taking on a Casanova persona and weaving tales of love and heartbreak that frequently see him top the charts.
His track "Peru" resulted in remixes from Ed Sheeran and 21 Savage, topping the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart last year and making it to 53 on the Hot 100 and all the way to number two on the Global 200. Fireboy DML’s reappeared this year with the uptempo, dancefloor-ready "Someone" and amapiano-influenced "YAWA," both taking his sound in interesting new directions.
Mr Eazi
Though he’s been a star in Nigeria and Ghana for some time, it’s taken Mr Eazi until now to announce a debut album, currently due in October. Lead single "Chop Time, No Friend," with a title taken from a pidgin phrase meaning "live in the moment," is a breezy, catchy take on Afrobeats with a vibrant video paying tribute to local life in Dakar, Senegal.
It’s only one part of the artist’s ambitions. He’s also joined BBC Radio 1Xtra selector DJ Edu to create the ChopLife Soundsystem, a new project designed to highlight sounds from across the continent. Their first release Chop Life, Vol. 1: Mzansi Chronicles delves into amapiano, featuring stars of the genre such as Focalistic and Major League DJz.
Lisa Yaro
An actress, singer, and songwriter, Lisa Yaro is a triple threat. She’s acted alongside Vanessa Hudgens in movies like Asking For It, and written for the likes of will.i.am. Now she’s turning her attention to music with her debut EP My Way. It’s a pivot that may prove her most exciting move yet: Single "SAVAGE" bristles with amapiano-influenced brawn, while the title track offers a confident take on the Afrobeats sound. With the scene remaining dominated by male artists, it’s exciting to see a female singer arrive with such a clearly-defined sound.
Oladapo
With a style incorporating highlife, R&B, and pop with lyrics in English, Yoruba, and Nigerian pidgin, Oladapo is another up-and-coming musician in the Afro-fusion lane. He got an early boost when his 2019 single "Mango" was shortlisted by Mr Eazi’s Empawa Africa initiative, and since then he’s refined his style on bright and romantic hits like "Proud."
His latest single, "IF AT ALL," adds amapiano log drums and blends a wistful instrumental with contemplative lyrics.
Ruger
In pop music it sometimes helps to have a signature look. There’s Missy Elliot’s bulbous "Supa Dupa Fly" fit, or KISS’ black-and-white face paint. Pharrell had his vintage Vivienne Westwood hat, and Dame Viv herself helped defined the punk aesthetic by styling the Sex Pistols. Nigerian singer Ruger has…an eyepatch.
To be clear, he’s not visually impaired in any way, he just wears it because it’s hard. Specifically, as he once told an interviewer, it’s a tie-in with his artist name — taken from the Ruger firearms company — and his persona as a sniper, as well as a tribute to a friend in the Nigerian military who really did lose an eye. Of course it’s not all about the eyepatch, because Ruger’s bubbly blend of dancehall and Afrobeats on songs like "Bounce" is a winning pop formula.
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