News Brief
Damola Durosomo
Aug. 13, 2019 02:22PM EST

Bas Announces New Album, Talks African Influences In His Music & More on Beats 1 Radio

In an interview on Apple Music's Beats 1 Radio, the artist reveals a new project dropping in September and discusses what he learned on a recent trip to Lagos with J.Cole.

Rapper and Dreamville signee Bas, just released his latest project Spilled Milk 1 last week, but he already has another project up his sleeves.

The artist took to Apple Music's Beats 1 Radio on Monday to speak with host Nadeska to talk about his latest album which features fellow Dreamville artists Ari Lennox, EARTHGANG, Nigerian artist Kiddominant and more. He also revealed that he'll be dropping another full length album next month.

READ: Bas: "I Was Born in France & Raised in New York But I'm Still African"Bas: "I Was Born in France & Raised in New York But I'm Still African"

The Paris-born, New York-raised rapper of Sudanese heritage also spoke about his 2018 trip to Nigeria with J. Cole, which was the inspiration for his song "Jollof Rice," and a way of paying homage to the continent and the culture (there's also a song on the project called "Fried Rice.")

Bas - Jollof Rice feat. EarthGang (Official Audio + Lyric Video) www.youtube.com

OkayAfrica spoke with the artist about his trip to Lagos last year, and he described an eye-opening performance: "The songs didn't have J. Cole featured on them but while performing, thousands of Lagos people were rapping with me word for word and I was like, what the hell is going on here," said Bas. "I was unaware, I didn't know my music was known that much. I was very surprised with all the love and support I was getting from people. It was very inspiring to show that there is so much room to make music because there is so much culture and energy there."

The artist also discusses working with fellow rappers Vince Staples, Smino and more. You can listen to Bas' full interview on Apple Music's Beats 1 Radio below.

Music

Listen to Solo’s New Single ‘Promises’ Featuring Kwesta

Solo and Kwesta connect on 'Promises.'

Solo and Kwesta share a bouncy kwaito beat on "Promises." Kwesta's at home over an instrumental of this kind. It's, however, a shift on Solo's side, who hasn't been known for new age kwaito. The rapper adapts his delivery accordingly, using fewer words than you'd normally expect in his verse.

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News
"85 to Africa" album art.

Listen to Jidenna's New Album, '85 to Africa'

Plus watch the music video for his latest single "Worth the Weight" featuring Seun Kuti.

It's been two years since Jidenna dropped his debut album, The Chief, today, the artist shares his latest studio album 85 to Africa.

In the lead-up to the album's release, the artist dropped the singles "Tribe," "Sufi Woman" "Sou Sou," and "Zodi" featuring fellow Nigerian artist Mr Eazi. He also held several listening parties across the US ahead of its release, and from what we can tell from videos that have been circulating on social media—they've been a really great time for both Jidenna and his fans.

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Audio

Mr Eazi & Simi Drop the New Single and Video For 'Doyin'

A head-nodding Afro-R&B track produced by Killertunes.

Mr Eazi seems to be in unstoppable work mode right now as he's been popping up in big singles and collaborations all over the place this summer, as well as continuing his emPawa Africa initiative.

For his latest single, "Doyin," Eazi connects with Nigerian singer Simi for a head-nodding Afro-RnB track. The new song, which is built on woozy synthesizers and mid-tempo beat work, was produced by Killertunes. Eazi and Simi trade verses in the addictive single, which comes paired with a new music video directed by Manuel Concha.

Read: The Music Business of Mr Eazi

"Doyin" is the first song released through emPawa Distribution, a digital music aggregator focused solely on distributing African music, which Eazi announced after the success of emPawa Africa. Speaking of the initiative, emPawa Africa is now reopened to submissions that will help fund the music videos of 30 up-and-coming artists and offer mentorship from big name artists.

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