Weekend Music Break No.72

Manny and Floyd

Kicking things off this week, South Africa’s BoysnBucks collective show off their “Umswenko” in a new video for “Mswenkofontein”:

A bit of Afrobeats from Sierra Leone, Lady Matto brings a nice London-shot video for her uptempo dance track “Oba”:

Nigerien Afro-Rock group Tal National released an album this week. Shabazz Palaces member, and AIAC contributor Tendai Maraire offered up a remix to celebrate the occasion:

DJ Simón de la Onda sent over a couple videos from Guinea and Angola, just as I was putting together this list!

First up Les Jumeaux Damaro bless us with “To Mara Fanyi”:

… and some Angolan Kizomba from Marceny to give a little romance to your Saturday!

Get it while it’s hot! DJeff offers up a free download of his track “Ser Kazukuta” featuring Yuri da Cunha and BZB:

São Paulo’s MC Bin Laden is Brazil’s craziest videoclip maker:

Back to Sierra Leone via Idris Elba and his Krio rapping on Ghanian super group VVIP’s remix for “Selfie”

A bit of shameless self-promotion in the form of a new remix that I released last week. This one fuses the Afro-Bolivian Saya tradition with pan-African rhymes delivered by Mexican rapper Bocafloja:

And finally, in honor of the “fight of the century” tonight (#TeamManny!), Wax Poetics offers up the most memorable boxing entrances. Let’s see if Manny and Floyd’s entrances can live up to the standard set by “Mr. Unbeatable” Roy Jones Jr.:

About the Author

Boima Tucker is a music producer, DJ, writer, and cultural activist. He is the managing editor of Africa Is a Country, co-founder of Kondi Band and the founder of the INTL BLK record label.

Further Reading

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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.

A world reimagined in Black

By placing Kwame Nkrumah at the center of a global Black political network, Howard W. French reveals how the promise of pan-African emancipation was narrowed—and what its failure still costs Africa and the diaspora.

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.