Africa Is a Country

Weekend Music Break No.70

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

Weekend Music Break No.70

By
Boima Tucker

The Weekend Music break is here! Check out a round up of tunes and visuals that caught our ears and eyes at Africa is a Country headquarters this week!

Kicking things off, AIAC contributor Blitz the Ambassador has a new video for his tune Juju Girl.

French-Cuban Hip Hop Son twins Ibeyi are making their rounds in North America, and they seem to be having fun doing it!

Afrikan Boy celebrates his trans-continental identity on M.I.A. (Made in Africa).

Brazilian pop-electronic artist Silva shoots a beautiful portrait of Luanda.

Jneiro Jarel is a Viberian. I’m not sure what that is, but I’m liking it!

Busy Signal asks “What If” with impressive lyrical prowess! h/t @rishibonneville

Keeping it in the Caribbean, Champeta artist Mr. Black has a video and musical ode to the colorful sound-systems from the Caribbean coast of Colombia.

It’s been a heavy week in South Africa. So, let’s let Aero Manyelo and his fellow revelers lift us up with some Kwaito party vibes.

Afropop Worldwide shares a Benin roots-pop primer. Included is this interestingly shot video from Norberka.

And finally, Rihanna launches a discussion piece for your Saturday night dinner conversations

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

Through Afro-futurist soundscapes blending tradition and innovation, Ibaaku’s new album, ‘Joola Jazz,’ reshapes Dakar’s cultural rhythm and challenges the legacy of Négritude.

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.