New releases from Ayra Starr, Abigail Chams, tg.blk, Victony, ZENA, Culoe De Song and CKay highlight this week’s African music output, spanning Afrobeats, bongo flava, dub and Afro house.
An influential music video director is the latest guest on the Afrobeats Intelligence podcast.
Singles and collaborations
- Ayra Starr and ZAYN duet on StarrGirl from her latest album. The track adopts the cadence Drake uses on ‘Janice STFU’ and reworks a 2026 tune into a melancholic arrangement. Lyrics include ‘You could be my heaven baby/ die for you if you let me baby’ and ZAYN’s line ‘you know how far I go, just past the sky.’
- Victony released ‘FRE$H,’ drawing on 1970s and 1980s African basslines from Central and West African records. Lyrics reference Balenciaga and miniskirts, and include the run from ‘no land me for hospital’ to ‘you know I fuck with you.’
- Abigail Chams released ‘Yoyo,’ a bongo flava track that borrows cadence from Afrobeats. The lyric ‘You gone be my man/ and I gone be your wife’ signals a wedding setting. The combination mirrors listening patterns of young Africans across East and West Africa.
- tg.blk released a new single built on lo-fi drums and mellow, jazzy beats. The Kenyan artist raps ‘I clutch my bag when I pass these hoes/ my opps broke and suicidal, how can I be composed.’
EPs and double singles
- ZENA released the double single ‘Tryst (Kazanchis Dub)’ and ‘Yekermo Stew.’ The tracks use dub techniques from King Tubby and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, with production input from South London dub collective SLICKnBOBBY. ‘Tryst (Kazanchis Dub)’ reworks ‘Kazanchis’ from the duo’s debut EP, while ‘Yekermo Stew’ reworks the Mulatu Astatke original.
- Culoe De Song released the four-track Moonhound EP. He produced one half, and Manoo handled remixes. ‘The Spiker’ features a recurring vocal chop, outer-space synths and piano chords. Manoo’s two remixes deconstruct and rebuild the track with reverb, delay and a nudged tempo.
- CKay released Banger Boy, a 12-song collection of organic, feel-good music that expands the definition of Afrobeat.
A title track called ’22’ uses syncopation that suggests a warrior song and a victory dance. The artist wrote on Instagram that he always knew he had talent and could make music, but was not sure it ‘had any hold on people until 2022.’ The 13-song project explores love, lust and obsession.
