Bam bam riddim

Hipster's Don't Dance's 'Top 5 World Carnival Tunes' for September 2014.

Gaia Beat.

The second edition of the Hipster’s Don’t Dance monthly chart on Africa is a Country is here. Check it below, and be sure to visit the HDD blog regularly for all our great up-to-the-timeness out of London.

Wizkid – In My Bed

Last time we did a chart we bemoaned the fact that Wizkid wasn’t releasing his 2nd Lp, stashing it away like it was Detox. Then he went ahead and dropped it in the middle of the night ala Beyonce (he says it was in fact leaked). It’s a great effort and this one sees his channeling South Africa more than his recent efforts.

Burna Boy – Check and Balance

I really hope Burna Boy and his record label patch things up because part of his appeal was Leriq’s beats. This weak Bam Bam riddim retread is ok and keeps his dancehall fans happy but at the end of the day its just not the same.

Gaia Beat – Kimpelequecé (feat Fiuk Tutuka)

Can everything be produced by Angolan Gaia Beat? Commercials, ringtones, alerts on public transport? This track from earlier in the year features some incredible kuduro dancing as well.

Kcee – Ogaranya ft. Davido

Kcee and Davido team up for Ogaranya and the video is one of the most vibrant Afropop videos out at the moment. It sees the pair stunting in their best traditional attire complete with Nigerian coral. Keep your eyes peeled for the shot with the doves!

Wande Coal x Baby Hello

Wande Cole’s “Baby Hello” video sees Yemi Alade as the video girl in what looks to us like Naija’s 2014 take on Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” video. “Rotate” is still getting a lot of love from us and this one is following in its footsteps.

Further Reading

Slow death by food

Illegal gold mining is poisoning Ghana’s soil and rivers, seeping into its crops and seafood, and turning the national food system into a long-term public health crisis.

A sick health system

The suspension of three doctors following the death of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s son has renewed scrutiny of a health-care system plagued by impunity, underfunding, and a mass exodus of medical professionals.

Afrobeats after Fela

Wizkid’s dispute with Seun Kuti and the release of his latest EP with Asake highlight the widening gap between Afrobeats’ commercial triumph and Fela Kuti’s political inheritance

Progress is exhausting

Pedro Pinho’s latest film follows a Portuguese engineer in Guinea-Bissau, exposing how empire survives through bureaucracy, intimacy, and the language of “development.”

The rubble of empire

Built by Italian Fascists in 1928, Mogadishu Cathedral was meant to symbolize “peaceful conquest.” Today its ruins force Somalis to confront the uneasy afterlife of colonial power and religious authority.