African house music is having its moment.Afro house saw 778% download growth in 2025, shooting the genre from fifth most downloaded to second globally, overtaking R&B, pop, and trap.The global electronic music industry hit $12.9 billion in 2024, with Afro house driving a significant chunk of that expansion.
What started in 1990s South Africa as a fusion of kwaito, deep house, and tribal rhythms has exploded into a pan-African movement. From Lagos to Luanda, Kampala to Casablanca, house music has become the continent’s global export—diverse, innovative, unstoppable.
Here are the 10 figures leading that charge.
1. Black Coffee (South Africa)
Black Coffee is one of the faces of African house music. The Johannesburg-born DJ won a Grammy in 2022 for his album Subconsciously, but that was just confirmation of what everyone already knew: he’s one of the most influential Afro house artists on the planet.
In 2024, he became the first African DJ to headline Madison Square Garden. His deep, soulful, minimalist sound—built from years in underground Johannesburg clubs—now fills Coachella, Tomorrowland, and London’s O2 Arena, where he’s scheduled to perform in May 2026. He’s got residencies across Europe and North America, collaborations with Drake and Usher, and a catalogue that defined modern Afro house.
2. Laolu (Nigeria)
Nigerian-born, Geneva-based Afro house legend Laolu has been quietly shaping the genre for over a decade. His remix of Dele Sosimi’s “Too Much Information” was championed by Tale Of Us as one of the biggest tracks of the decade, and he’s released on Innervisions and Keinemusik, the gold standard for deep, sophisticated house music.
In February 2025, he headlined Aniko’s Group Therapy VII in Lagos, bringing his jazz-infused, percussion-rich Afro house back to Nigeria. In October 2025, he performed at 77 London, where his sets bridge global rhythms with deep, late-night energy. His parents owned a nightclub called The Gallery in Nigeria, dedicated to soul and jazz, and that lineage
3. Shimza (South Africa)
While Black Coffee took Afro house to the world, Shimza has been perfecting Afro-tech, a sound that bridges African rhythms with European electronic sophistication. His productions are sleek, atmospheric, and built for both Ibiza and Tembisa.
In April 2025, he represented South Africa at the International Music Summit in Ibiza, giving the world a masterclass on Afro house’s origins and evolution. His annual One Man Show in Tembisa, held every Christmas Day, draws thousands and features everyone from amapiano pioneers Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa to next-gen stars.
Shimza is setting trends, and with an Ibiza residency and regular slots at Ultra South Africa, he’s operating at the intersection of underground credibility and mainstream reach.
4. Thakzin (South Africa)
If you want to know where African house is going, listen to Thakzin. Spotify named him their 2025 Southern Africa RADAR artist, and they released a full documentary about him in September 2025. That’s recognition of someone genuinely pushing the genre forward.
Thakzin pioneered 3-Step, a new South African genre blending Afro-house, deep house, and amapiano into something hypnotic and entirely his own. His album God’s Window Pt. 1 dropped in September 2025 to co-signs from Black Coffee, Shimza, and European DJs like Laurent Garnier.
5. Dlala Thukzin (South Africa)
Dlala Thukzin is proof ofgqom. The Durban producer fuses gqom’s bassweight with amapiano’s groove and Afro house’s global appeal, creating tracks that hit clubs from Johannesburg to London.
He was nominated for Best New International Act at the 2025 BET Awards, has 1.9 million monthly Spotify listeners, and performed at Ultra South Africa 2025. His hit “iPlan” went 2x Platinum. In October 2025, he played Village Underground in London, and he’s now hosting his own Dlala Thukzin Dance Festival in Durban.
6. Aniko (Nigeria)
For years, Lagos was Afrobeats territory. Then Aniko started Group Therapy, and everything shifted.
The Lagos-based DJ was named in Mixmag’s Top 25 Breakthrough DJs of 2025, and for good reason. Group Therapy is spearheading the shift in Nigerian nightlife from Afrobeats dominance toward faster, more robust electronic sounds.
Aniko blends myriad styles of Afro house, gqom’s bassweight, Afrotech’s spiritual lift, 3-Step’s celebratory energy, alongside Chicago house and Detroit techno. But what makes Group Therapy crucial is this: it provides a safe space for queer, trans, and gender non-conforming people in a country with some of the world’s toughest anti-LGBTQ laws.
7. Nitefreak (Zimbabwe)
While South Africa dominates the Afro house conversation, Zimbabwe’s Nitefreak has been quietly building an international career. He has 2.3 million monthly Spotify listeners, releases on Spinnin’ Records and Insomniac Records, and collaborations with BLOND:ISH and Amadou & Mariam. One of his tracks is certified gold in France.
Managed by Francis Mercier’s Forbes-recognised label Deep Root Records, Nitefreaklaunched his own label, Afroholic Records, in March 2025. That’s the move, going from artist to infrastructure builder, ensuring the next generation has platforms.
Nitefreak proves Southern African house music doesn’t begin and end in Johannesburg.
8. DJ Satélite & DJ Gálio (Angola)
Angola’s house scene grew out of kuduro, the frantic, percussion-heavy dance music born in Luanda in the late 1980s. DJ Satélite and DJ Gálio are the bridge between that history and modern Afro house.
In April 2025, they released Raízes (Roots), the final chapter in their acclaimed Afro-house trilogy. The 28-track album embeds kuduro, semba, and batucada rhythms into sleek electronic production, creating something that feels both ancestral and futuristic.
While the world fixates on South Africa, Angola has been perfecting its own house sound for decades. Satélite and Gálio are making sure everyone knows it.
Amine K (Morocco)
North Africa’s electronic scene operates differently. It’s rooted in centuries-old traditions—Gnawa rhythms, Berber melodies, Sufi trance—but artists like Amine K are weaving those traditions into house and techno.
The Casablanca-based producer fuses modern electronic beats with traditional Moroccan melodies. He’s performed at Burning Man and Boiler Room, with a residency at Moroko Loko events in Marrakech. His sound is hypnotic, spiritual, and distinctly North African—proof that Afro house isn’t monolithic.
10. Kampire (Uganda)
East Africa’s house scene doesn’t look like South Africa’s or West Africa’s. It’s built around multi-day festivals like Uganda’s Nyege Nyege, which was named one of the world’s best electronic music festivals by Resident Advisor and Fact Magazine in 2018.
Kampire is a writer, DJ, and arts organiser based in Kampala. She started DJing in 2015 and has since performed at Nyege Nyege, Amani Festival in Congo, Africa Bass Culture in Burkina Faso, and opened for Diplo in Uganda. Her sets mix Lingala licks, deep house, and faster beats, nostalgic and contemporary, rooted and exploratory.
