It’s been far too long since we had a music break. So without too many words, we’re going to jump right in with what’s been on our radar for the last couple weeks. In a fascinating illustration of cultural appropriation, Ugandan artist Vampino presents himself as a powerful Dracula-figure, surrounded by obedient disciples.

Unstoppable in the Angolan dance music scene, DJ Djeff festively traverses the streets with TLDreamz in “Undi Da Ki Panha”.

Always pushing the visual envelope, director Clarence Peters doesn’t disappoint in “Bigger Better Best”, the new video for Port Harcourt rapper Pucado. Peters takes us for a ride with his camera as Pucado keeps us guessing with his syncopated lyrics.

Fresh off his triple win at the South African Music Awards, Khuli Chana finds a few friends as he cruises through Joburg in the upbeat video for “Mnatebawen”, meaning “it’s nice to be you.” Joined by children, churchwomen and an unexpected mapantsula dancer, Khuli, backed by KayGizm and Fifi Cooper, urges us to “do you”.

Emboldened by a dance crew that’s got his back, Naija rapper May D revisits the colonial era in “So Many Tinz” to rescue his love interest from a cruel captor with true Nollywood flair.

Attempting to fill the twisted niche in West African music left vacant with the untimely passing of Nigerian artist Goldie Harvey, Ghanaian singer Eazzy shows that she’s starting to lose it, in the best way, with her video for “Scream”.

A new Zaki Ibrahim, hot out of the editing suite.

In “Provo E Gosto”, Angolan kuduro crew Os Lambas proves there’s nothing scarier than a partner who smells infidelity. Impressively, the fear is somehow channeled into the most insanely energetic kuduro dance moves yet seen.

Always well-produced with a consistently solid flow, Kahli Abdu tells it like it is with Kid Konnect for the track “No Love”.

Lastly, we head to the beach in Tanzania with former MTV Base VJ Vanessa Mdee. She shows us just how smooth Swahili can sound in “Closer”.

Back next week!

Further Reading

How to unmake the world

In this wide-ranging conversation, para-disciplinary artist Nolan Oswald Dennis reflects on space, time, Blackness, and the limits of Western knowledge—offering a strategy for imagining grounded in African and anti-colonial traditions.

A migrant’s tale

On his latest EP, Kwame Brenya turns a failed migration into musical testimony—offering a biting critique of ECOWAS, broken borders, and the everyday collapse of pan-African ideals.

What Portugal forgets

In the film ‘Tales of Oblivion,’ Dulce Fernandes excavates the buried history of slavery in Portugal, challenging a national mythology built on sea voyages, silence, and selective memory.

Trump tariffs and US Imperialism

Trump’s April 2025 tariff blitz ignited market chaos and deepened rifts within his own coalition. Beneath the turmoil lies a battle between technocrats, ultranationalists, and anti-imperial populists, all vying to reshape—or destroy—American global power.