It seems things are starting to soften up in the music world – artists are starting to drop music, not bothering about the pandemic. Among the main reasons artists were hesitant to release music was because they couldn’t tour to promote their new materials. Artists earn the majority of their revenue from touring. With the COVID-19 pandemic situation not clear enough, artists have decided to just go on and release music. A lot of good music came out last week. Some of them include:
- YG – My Life 4hunnid
- 21 Savage & Metro Boomin – Savage Mode 2
- Lil Wayne – Tha Carter V (deluxe version)
- Tory Lanez – Daystar
Talking about last week, it’s not possible to not mention that Khaligraph Jones received a BET nomination for the “Best International Flow”. What’s more interesting is how Kenyans (including fellow artists such as Octopizzo and King Kaka) pulled up to praise and congratulate the OG for achieving the feat. Other contestants in the same category are South Africa’s Nasty C and UK’s Stormzy. Hopefully, OG bags the award and flies our flag high!
Wakadinali, Kenya’s current hottest hip-hop group, teased that they’ll be releasing an album before the end of the year. They made the announcement via their social media accounts. This will be their 4th studio and a follow up to 2019’s Mtoto Wa Mama. Also, they stated in the posts that the album will be available for purchase at 1,000 KES a copy.
Also, Octopizzo’s 4th official studio album is yet to drop. The album’s title is Jungle Fever. It will drop on Nov 20, 2020, with 15 songs. Octo teamed up with Zzero Sufuri, Id Aziz, Maga, Owino Kitoto, Suzanna Owiyo, and Blinky Bill on the album. This will be a follow up to his 2018’s album Next Year, which included hit songs such as Nu Africa and Noma Ni. Keep calm and wait for Octo to drop Jungle Fever! In the meantime, you can pre-order or pre-save the album on major music platforms (iTunes, Spotify, Tidal, etc).
A month ago Khaligraph Jones released a song named “Luanda Magere Legacy” and within the song he addresses the issue of African artists signing with major record labels. Paraphrased, he rapped that the foreign labels mischievously convince African artists to sign with them only to exploit and profit from the African culture and take control of their creative freedom, promising to help them penetrate the US market. This follows the expansion of Def Jam Records to Africa (Def Jam Africa). Some of the artists signed to major labels include Nasty C, Tellaman, Cassper Nyovest, Sauti Sol, among others.
Below are the lyrics of the song where he is addressing the topic:
I’m international
But please don’t get it twisted
International markets for Africa never existed
It don’t matter
If you better than Kendrick and J Cole
It don’t matter
If you signed with the rock’s the J hoes
Oh you got a billion streams
You got to be the best man
Signing big deals from Universal or Def Jam
But if you African
You will never blow in the States
And it’s intentional
Coz these labels be knowing the stakes
So they approach you with a deal
And promises they can’t deliver
And gas you up and telling you
How you the hottest spitter
But mind you it’s a plot
To them you just another nigga
So basically you selling your soul
To the highest bidder
Lyrics source: Musixmatch
Listen to the entire Luanda Magere Legacy on YouTube
What made Khaligraph include those verses to the song are not yet known but some have speculated that he is taking shots at some well known African rappers (most probably Nigerian and South African rappers).
Learn more about other interesting music and pop culture news by listening to episode 6 of Zack & Mel Talk Music podcast. Use the link below. Subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts from.
Article by Melkizedek, ½ of Zack & Mel Talk Music podcast hosts. Zack & Mel Talk Music (or Zack and Mel Music Podcast, ZAMMP) is a biweekly podcast discussion around music (mostly hip-hop) and pop culture.
