African Songs You Need to Hear This Week
The best new African music that came out this week featuring Runtown, Da Capo, ODUMODUBLVCK, and more.
Every week, OkayAfrica highlights the top African music releases — including the latest Afrobeats and amapiano hits — through our best music column, African Songs You Need to Hear This Week.
Read ahead for our round-up of the best new African music tracks and music videos that came across our desks this week.
Runtown – ‘Soundgod Fest IV [EP]’
Boasting one of the most credible portfolios in contemporary Afrobeats, the artistRuntownhas accrued a reputation as a recluse. Behind the needle-moving records is a man who just wants to stay disengaged from all the buzz, but he’s finally responding to calls for more music. Soundgod Fest IV continues his successful project series, a collection of six songs that ease into a chill vibe, with tales of love and life filtering out from the savant’s sweet tease. – Emmanuel Esomnofu
Kabza De Small - “Kabza Chant 2.0” (feat. Nkosazana Daughter, Nobuhle, Sykes)
How do you follow up greatness? You make greater moves. And who better than the undisputed king of amapiano,Kabza De Small, to show us how it’s done? On the sprawling “Kabza Chant,” the producer assembled some of the scene’s most vital voices, like Young Stunna, Murumba Pitch, and Nkosazana Daughter, for a praise song worthy of his throne. This second iteration, where Nkosazana Daughter returns, joined by Nobubhle and Sykes, is half the length yet just as potent, if not more. This is amapiano that has been performed with orchestras, heard in full houses, and felt in the spirit. It’s a shift in perception and a redefinition of legacy. It’s enchanting, exacting, and impenetrable. Kabza De Small is truly one of one. - Tšeliso Monaheng
Tekno – “Powerbank”
Nigerian starTeknoreinforces the currency of his hitmaker status over knocking Afropop drums. “Powerbank” is quintessential Tekno, boasting an astute flair for riding the beat, sounding as purposeful as ever in the recounting of a love story. When he vows that there’s “nothing I can’t do,” he sounds quite convincing, with him making quite the show of what those things might be. – EE
Yugen Blakrok - “Being Here”
With every album,Yugen Blakrok unlocks new chambers of rhythm. Her pen sharpens, her mind expands, and her worldview – always informed, never preachy – sketches parallel realms where beauty resists erasure. She moves like a magnetic field: gentle and affirming. Intentional in every breath, Yugen remains one of the best rappers doing it right now. “Being Here” deepens her already rich visual canon while her bars climb heights few dare. Sample this: “There’s times where sinners become the preachers/ Claim that they’re believers ’til you challenge their beliefs,” she raps, every bar a carefully curated slice of a bigger picture. Proceed with caution. This is real rap: unbothered, unfiltered, undeniable. - TM
Gabzy – “So Much Sense” feat. Fireboy DML
For years now, Gabzy has steered a unique vision for his R&B-influenced sound. Here, he’s joined by a similar stylist inFireboy DML, creating a bop that evokes all the feels. With a laid-back beat evoking the promise of cool evenings, both musicians paint vivid images of chilling with their love interest, inferring that this would make so much sense. – EE
Zoë Modiga - “Uyakhazimula”
WhenZoë Modiga speaks, the room listens. On record or in person, her presence demands stillness. On “Uyakhazimula,” she returns to eMbali in Pietermaritzburg, the place that raised her. The song feels like soul food, vintage couches, coal-heated stoves, and warm bread fresh from the oven. Just as the world outside threatens to fall apart, it wraps you in memory, in comfort, in beauty. This is definitive art: lush harmonies, emotional abundance, and spiritual glow. Zoë Modiga is a prime artist, and she radiates light. - TM
Da Capo – ‘Indigo Child II: Love & Frequency [LP]’
South African producer Da Capo’s establishment in the Afro-house genre is no fluke. He’s proven himself a fine creator and curator, assembling some of the most forward-thinking artists on his stellar production, and the follow-up to his last project, Indigo Child II, is no different. Featuring artists likeBongeziwe Mabandla,Elaine, and others, it is an impressive body of work with great potential to become a classic. – EE
Eli Mary - “PIECES’
On the emblematic “Pieces,” Johannesburg artist Eli Mary doesn’t just sing; she conveys feeling, using the microphone as a tool for expression. Her voice is a balm. Serene yet stirring, it drifts like smoke and lands like scripture. The beat shapeshifts beneath her, combusting in waves that mirror her emotional range. With each iteration, she peels back a new layer of self, revealing an artist who speaks as much as she soothes. This is heart music – gentle yet galvanizing. -TM
ODUMODUBLVCK – “PITY THIS BOY” feat. Victony
Released earlier this year,Odumodublvck’s “PITY THIS BOY” has all the markings of an enduring record. Between the bright strings orchestrated byNiphkeysand the harmony both Odumodu andVictony bring, it’s a delightful song to listen to. Its new video follows the opulent overtones of the song, casting the artists in scenes rich with color and activity, further extending the song’s appeal. Check out “PITY THIS BOY” and the other songs on OkayAfrica’s Best Afrobeats Songs of 2025 So Far list. – EE
Beatmochini and Towdeemac - “Eventually” (feat. Priddy Ugly, Maglera Doe Boy, Kaygizm)
EVENTUALLY ft. MAGLERA DOE BOY, PRIDDY UGLY & KAYGIZM, by BEATMOCHINI & TOWDEEMACThe last timePriddy Ugly andMaglera Doe Boy linked up, we got a generational banger in “Ntjaka.” Now they’re back – this time on a more subdued, soulful tip – and are joined by two-thirds of the legendary Morafe: Towdeemac and Kaygizm. It hits differently, like a gentle nudge that nevertheless leaves lasting imprints on your spirit. With Beatmochini on production, this is a cross-generational link-up we didn’t know we needed but absolutely do. It’s a quiet storm of legacy, precision, and poetics. Towdeemac, once again, proves he’s not the one to front on. His bars don’t just rhyme; they ripple. Sentences run on, fold into themselves, and re-emerge as something entirely new. Who else can rap: “Cava ntja, how I inspired … to flex in their mother tongue / bona nou bafana ba kajeko ba matha joang / on another level, Joe, ba nkgopotsa nako tsa ka,” and make it sound effortless? Listen to "Eventually" here. - TM
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