New African Disco

Here's Hipsters Don’t Dance "Top World Carnival Tunes" for April 2015.

Dominik Mecko, via Unsplash.

Hipster’s Don’t Dance are back with our chart for April 2015. Enjoy this round of tunes, and remember to visit the HDD blog for all the great up-to-the-time-ness out of London. Also, visit the archive of this series.

Patoranking x Daniella Whine

VP Records’ history making dancehall stars cross-over is impressive, hopefully they will be able to do the same with Patoranking. This 90’s dancehall-esque video by Clarence Peters is really good.

Hagan x Gold Coast EP

We couldn’t choose which track to focus on, but Hagan is really putting together something special. Crafting a UK club sound with flourishes of African club music. Afrohouse is growing in the UK and hopefully this can help.

Joao Victor Alves de Bastos, via Unsplash.

Dotorado x African Scream

So the video for this potentially seminal track just dropped, but more importantly Annie Mac, the UK Queen of all music, had this playing on her show. Granted it was Benji’s B pick but still it’s the start of this great underground track getting UK exposure.

Major Notes x Nu African Disco

This month is leaning very house heavy, but we would be remiss to not mention this EP as well. After the amazing track 419 from last year Major Notes is back with a further exploration of “Nu African Disco”.

Shatta Wale x Reality

Granted this is very much a rip off Popcaan, but Shatta is gaining quite a bit of momentum at the moment so this could be the launch of something big. After the success of Patoranking, why not him next?

Further Reading

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.

Atayese

Honored in Yorubaland as “one who repairs the world,” Jesse Jackson’s life bridged civil rights, pan-Africanism, empire, and contradiction—leaving behind a legacy as expansive as it was imperfect.

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.