Africa Is a Country

Friday Music Break, N°24

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Friday Music Break, N°24

By
Boima Tucker

Hello! Boima here, and I’m back helping out with the Friday music break. A Haitian Rara (not Ornette Coleman) sampling rap/poem by Hyperdub affiliate The Spaceape got me excited this week, so that’s my lead off pick — above! Not only do the U.S. and China have political happenings this month, but Sierra Leoneans go to the polls next week as well. Bajah and the Dry Eye Crew put out a song appealing for peace amongst young people, who are often conscripted by politicians to carry out violence during election periods. Back in Sierra Leone, the musical messages to hold politicians accountable reassuringly continue:

Meanwhile a young diaspora Sierra Leonean is making noise in the U.K. with an electro-pop sound and Nikki Minaj-esque video:

M.anifest releases a NICE neo-Hiplife video with the beautiful Efya off his album Immigrant Chronicles: Coming to America:

His countryman Sway goes full Akon this week, dropping a video for an electro pop collabo with Mr. Hudson and Crystal Waters! But I can’t help wonder, what happened to Up Ur Speed Sway?

Awadi goes to Medellín, Colombia to sing about revolution. I wonder if the FARC is in on this:

Which reminds me that I had the pleasure to spend a weekend with Medellín based, Pacifico reppin’ Explosión Negra in Philadelphia recently:

New high quality Liberian video for a not-so-Hipco rap:

I’m realizing that I kind of over-Hip Hopped this Music Break, so here’s a nice change of pace from Portugal based singer with Cape Verdian roots Dino D’ Santiago featuring Pedro Mourato and Gileno Santana:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmy04YmbpAw&w=560&h=315

And finally, London based A.J. Holmes, who’s learned from and collaborated with musicians from classic Sierra Leonean bands like Super Combo and the S.E. Rogie band, goes to the sea:

Further Reading

On Safari

On our year-end publishing break, we reflect on how 2024’s contradictions reveal a fractured world grappling with inequality, digital activism, and the blurred lines between action and spectacle.

Rebuilding Algeria’s oceans

Grassroots activists and marine scientists in Algeria are building artificial reefs to restore biodiversity and sustain fishing communities, but scaling up requires more than passion—it needs institutional support and political will.

Ibaaku’s space race

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An allegiance to abusers

This weekend, Chris Brown will perform two sold-out concerts in South Africa. His relationship to the country reveals the twisted dynamic between a black American artist with a track record of violence and a country happy to receive him.

Shell’s exit scam

Shell’s so-called divestment from Nigeria’s Niger Delta is a calculated move to evade accountability, leaving behind both environmental and economic devastation.

Africa’s sibling rivalry

Nigeria and South Africa have a fraught relationship marked by xenophobia, economic competition, and cultural exchange. The Nigerian Scam are joined by Khanya Mtshali to discuss the dynamics shaping these tensions on the AIAC podcast.

The price of power

Ghana’s election has brought another handover between the country’s two main parties. Yet behind the scenes lies a flawed system where wealth can buy political office.

Beats of defiance

From the streets of Khartoum to exile abroad, Sudanese hip-hop artists have turned music into a powerful tool for protest, resilience, and the preservation of collective memory.