Bello Ibrahim Olaoluwa Is Rebuilding the Distribution of African Music, From Inside RhythmX Distro
There are two ways to misunderstand music distribution in Africa.The first is to think of it as a courier service, a digital dispatch rider whose job ends the moment a song appears on streaming platforms. The second is to think of it as a technical afterthought, a quiet backend that matters less than marketing budgets, […]
Interview: On Edenojie and The Art of Singing What You Believe
Before you read anything about Edenojie, before you understand where he is from or where he performs, you meet him through the music. Through a voice that sounds careful with its words. Through songs that do not feel engineered for attention, but shaped by lived experience. Edenojie grew up in Port Harcourt. He started singing […]
SuperJazzClub: The Ghanaian Collective Letting the Music Lead
There’s something slightly chaotic about trying to interview six people at once.Not chaotic in a bad way, just… fluid. Voices overlap. Hands are up. Someone’s mic cuts. Another person joins late. You repeat a question. Someone else answers it from a completely different angle. And somehow, in the middle of all that, a clearer picture […]
From Kampala, With Disruption: Kyle Simbwa’s Expanding Sound Universe
There’s a particular kind of honesty you hear when an artist isn’t trying to sell you a moment, but inviting you into a process. When I spoke to Kyle Simbwa, the Kampala-based artist and producer, what struck me most wasn’t just how wide his musical palette is, it was how grounded his ambition feels. Not […]
Tiwa Savage On Knowledge, Access, and Building What Lasts
As African music continues to shape global sound and conversation, attention is turning toward the systems that sustain it, from education to access to the structures that allow talent to grow beyond a single moment. With the launch of the Berklee in Lagos four-day music intensive programme through the Tiwa Savage Music Foundation, Tiwa Savage […]
Maya Amolo Is Redefining What “Sweetness” Sounds Like
For years, Maya Amolo’s music has moved like honey, slow, warm, deliberate. From her early EP Leave Me At The Pregame to her debut album Asali, the Nairobi-born alt-R&B singer carved a space defined by softness, emotional clarity, and melodic restraint. Somewhere along the way, she became known by fans and by herself as “the […]
WeareproducHERs: Building Community in a Male-Dominated Space
In 2020, Gbots started learning music production and immediately noticed something unsettling. At every music production camp, networking event, or creative gathering she attended, she was often the only woman in the room. There were female artists and songwriters, sure, but music producers? She could count them on one hand. “Most times when I go […]
With XOXO, Lojay Wants You to Feel Sexy
Lojay’s come-up has been one of the most compelling to watch in Afrobeats. If you were there for Midnight Vibes in 2017, you’d be proud of how far he’s come. From his breakout with Monalisa and the LV N ATTN project, Lekan Osifeso Jr. has carved a path that’s both deliberate and dynamic. Since then, […]
The “Brand Queen” Speaks: Temitope Ruth Jacob on Authenticity, Identity, and the Future of African Branding”
In the noisy marketplace of modern Nigeria, where brands rise and fade at the speed of a trending hashtag, one name continues to cut through with a kind of deliberate calm: Temitope Ruth Jacob. To many, she is The Brand Queen, not by self-proclamation, but by consistent proof that branding is more than clever slogans […]
Interview: Uganda’s Lilly Lou Finds Her Voice Twice: From Freedonia to Upside Down Sweetness
Lilly Lou has never rushed her seasons. In 2020, the Ugandan singer-songwriter introduced herself with Freedonia, a twelve-track debut album born out of sweat, scraps, and sheer defiance. It was the kind of record that felt stitched together from late nights and survival instincts, a project that announced her not with fireworks, but with quiet […]