Every month, THE FACE columnist Wale Oloworekende covers the most exciting releases and music news stories from across the African continent. Check out his previous columns here.
Over the last 10 years, a lot has changed in Nigerian music. Our pop music evolved from enthusiastic reworks of popular American songs (take Banky W’s 2011 track Ebute Metta, for example, which borrowed the melody from Rihanna’s Umbrella) to being proudly authentic, and now major US acts are eager to slip into our styles and get a slice of the Afropop action. Following the release of One Dance – Drake’s colossal Wizkid-featuring hit – in 2016, major labels and music service companies started setting up shop in the country. In 2017, Apple Music embraced the explosion of Nigerian music by finally making itself available in the country, with other streaming platforms like Audiomack, SoundCloud, Spotify and Tidal soon following.
But aside from the industry’s boom in commercial success, arguably the most significant cultural development has been how mainstream Nigerian acts have embraced what’s known as street pop. Street pop stars traditionally hail from the inner cities and ghettos of Lagos, and they have always rapped and sang with authentic Nigerian accents and languages, instead of imitating American voices. These artists – such as DaGrin, Seriki, Lord of Ajasa and Olamide – have earned respect by providing a full-blooded perspective of life in Lagos.
In the decade since Olamide dropped his debut album Rapsodi, the context and definition of street pop has widened to include Phyno, a rapper hailing from east Nigeria who performs primarily in Igbo, as well as Naira Marley, who channels the guttural rawness and mischievous streak of OG street rappers. A short while after Naira had his breakthrough in 2019 with controversial songs like Am I A Yahoo Boy and Soapy, a new class of street pop acts emerged including Zinoleesky, Bella Shmurda and MohBad. Buoyed by instrumentals from street pop architect, Rexxie, this new street pop generation created a wave of momentum in late 2020 and early 2021.
And now, in 2022, Asake is burning the candle for street pop. He’s achieving critical praise and commercial success for his fusion of amapiano and fuji music with a delivery scheme rooted in hip-hop. Originally a singer and dancer, Asake came to public attention early this year when he received an Olamide co-sign on the remix of his song, Omo Ope, leading to a deal with Olamide’s label, Yahoo Boy No Laptop. In February this year, Asake dropped his debut EP with the imprint, featuring his hit Sungba, which reached number one on the Nigerian Apple Music Charts. Demonstrating a great sense of timing, he collaborated with Burna Boy on the remix of the single, securing yet another number one song. More number one songs have followed: Palazzo, a song with DJ Spinall and Peace Be Unto You.
Perhaps the reason why Asake’s songs have done spectacularly well is because he uses urban language that echoes street realities while crafting great pop melodies. He appeals to a wider audience of people in Nigeria’s less-privileged areas, while his excellently-crafted hooks have helped him get middle-class club-goers on his side. There are only a few Nigerian breakout acts who have enjoyed as much success in the first six months as Asake has done, and right now it feels like the future is only going to get brighter for him.
Listen to THE FACE’s Best New African Music playlist on Spotify