Music Fridays

By: Sean Jacobs

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0F2_sAlaNo&w=500&h=307&rel=0]

Mos Def is back. Which means I am happy. This for Ski Beats’ new album coming out in September.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFLuJYgbw7c&w=500&h=307&rel=0]

If you can sit through Lil Wayne’s whiny rap, this has potential. Hello Brooklyn.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8oKVraycQ&w=500&h=300&rel=0]

“Half Colombian, Half Mexican Bandit” by California dj, Toy Selecta. (This one via Ghetto Bassquake).

— Sean Jacobs

Whose museum is it anyway?

Afolabi Adekaiyaoja

The dispute over Benin City’s museum project shows that returning stolen art does not settle the question of ownership.

Culture

12.11.2025

Minnesota was promised to us

Faisal Ali

Somalis have answered Trump’s latest racist tirade not with outrage but with a tidal wave of trolling.

Culture

12.10.2025

The golden light of Pops Mohamed

Atiyyah Khan

From Actonville to global stages, Pops Mohamed blended tradition, futurism, and faith—leaving behind a musical archive as luminous as the spirit he carried.

12.09.2025

Pints and powerpoints

Keith Ang'ana

From IMF history to astrophysics, Nairobi’s Drunken Lectures turn casual drinkers into an engaged public.

Politics

12.08.2025

Guinea’s bet on iron ore

Daniel Ekonde

A $20 billion iron ore mega-project is reshaping Guinea’s economy and politics, but communities in Simandou say they still lack water, electricity, and accountability.

Politics

12.05.2025

Khartoum, the most selfish city: if we let it be

Lina Abushouk

Khartoum’s recovery is not a national recovery. Until Sudan confronts the violence that has long been concentrated outside the capital, ‘liberation’ will remain a hollow word.

Culture

12.04.2025

Calling Trump’s bluff

Amatallah Saulawa

As the White House hypes “Christian genocide” and floats military action, northern Nigerians are responding with satire.

Politics

12.03.2025

Paying for citizenship

Kristin Surak

What began as a revenue lifeline for small island states has become a global market where the wealthy buy mobility and sovereignty itself becomes a commodity.

Politics

12.02.2025

What Graham Platner reveals about the US left

Riley Singh

The economic emancipation of the American working class cannot come at the expense of the global working class.

Politics

12.01.2025

Beyond independence

Mbaye Bashir Lo

The post-colonial settlement has left Africa vulnerable to conflict, external pressure, and intellectual dependency. What comes next?

Politics

11.28.2025

Trump’s beef with Nigeria

Yusuf Bangura

Trump’s threats of military action against Nigeria are not about Christian genocide, but are about rare earths, China, and the scramble to control Africa’s mineral future.

Culture

11.27.2025

Davido’s jacket

Gopolang Botlhokwane

Davido’s appearance at ‘Amapiano’s biggest concert’ turned a night of celebration into a study in Afrophobia, fandom, and the fragile borders of South African cultural nationalism.

Culture

11.26.2025

Empty riddles

Bárbara Rousseaux

Drawing on his forced migration from Rwanda, Serge Alain Nitegeka reflects on the forms, fragments, and unsettled histories behind his latest exhibition in Johannesburg.

Culture

11.25.2025

Heritage on horseback

Emmanuel Solate

A photo essay on Nigeria’s Durbars and the power of royal pageantry.

Politics

11.24.2025

When Moscow looked to the horn

Moustafa Ahmad

Half a century after the Soviets built their base on the Gulf of Aden, the same strategic coastline is once more drawing in foreign powers, old and new.

Culture

11.21.2025

How much does a Nigerian intellectual cost?

Efe Paul-Azino

The country that once produced some of Africa’s fiercest moral voices now struggles to sustain independent thought.

Culture

11.20.2025

The sound of what remains

Eliel Peterson

Jean Maxime Baptiste’s latest film listens to how grief and history reverberate across generations in French Guiana.

Politics

11.19.2025

The coup kids are in charge now

Faisal Ali

Across the continent’s new coup belt, young officers are stepping into power, casting themselves as guardians against corrupt civilian elites.

Culture

11.18.2025

Who cares about African heritage?

Ngaire Blankenberg

While the world debates restitution, Africa’s own heritage institutions are collapsing. The question is no longer who took our past, but who is keeping it alive.

Politics

11.17.2025

Life after aid cuts

Shobana Shankar

Trump’s aid cuts have gutted HIV programs across Nigeria—forcing local women-led groups to rebuild health and dignity from below.

AfricaIs aCountry

Music Fridays

Music Fridays

Further Reading

Whose museum is it anyway?

Minnesota was promised to us

The golden light of Pops Mohamed

Pints and powerpoints

Guinea’s bet on iron ore

Khartoum, the most selfish city: if we let it be

Calling Trump’s bluff

Paying for citizenship

What Graham Platner reveals about the US left

Beyond independence

Trump’s beef with Nigeria

Davido’s jacket

Empty riddles

Heritage on horseback

When Moscow looked to the horn

How much does a Nigerian intellectual cost?

The sound of what remains

The coup kids are in charge now

Who cares about African heritage?

Life after aid cuts