The African Songs You Need to Hear This Week

Every week, OkayAfrica highlights the top African music releases — including the latest Afrobeats and amapiano hits — in our best music column, African Music 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.

Ezra Collective - Here Because of Hope [LP]

Ezra Collective have put in the hours and are reaping the fruits of their labor in sold-out shows, tours that stop in different corners of the world, and a performance ethic that is among the most engaged and consciousness-raising in modern jazz. Here Because of Hope, their fourth studio album, arrives a decade after 2016’s Chapter 7, the debut EP that broke the seal and established a band determined to be remembered beyond the London ends they come from. Previous singles, like the Pa Salieu-featuring “Only Love,” or the Caribbean-African connection they make explicit via “Well Organised” with Lila Iké, where they rework Max Romeo’s “I Chase the Devil” and emerge with something holistic and vital, have given us glimpses of their direction, their solid intention, their outsized vision. At 17 songs long, with additional features from Libianca (“Most High”) and Leona Lewis (“All I Need”), this will require intentional listening and sustained engagement with the music from the outset. Lock in. It’s about to be a wild ride.

Yemi Alade - It’s Yemi Alade [LP]

Yemi Alade originated a look, a feel, a taste, an approach, and a way of making music that has enabled the current crop of Nigerian women entering pop to emerge with fully formed voices. She walked the road and is still doing the most, whether featured or the main artist. On her new album, It’s Yemi Alade, she almost loses herself in the beat to find deeper terrain, to map out other inroads for yet another generation: unborn, unfettered, unfiltered by the world, and pure in intention. Fave, Teni, Njerae and Bien are among the names she’s rolling with, alongside artists including Ferre Gola, Spyro, Don Jazzy, Jeriq, Singuila and Sofiya Nzau. Musically, there’s the strong slant of Afrobeats, Congolese influence via the Ferre Gola-featuring “Coco Na Yam,” and the pure dancehall flavor of “Minister of Enjoyment,” where she rips lyrical muscles into the staggering beat, toasting: “Chop life, make life no chop you / live life, abeg life no live you.” Poetry, presented in sizeable portions so that everyone’s got something to feast on.

Jabulile Majola - Ipasi [LP]

On Jabulile Majola’s new album, Ipasi, the artist features vignettes from life: the live-show experience at the beginning of the Thando Zide-featuring “Sonke (EKapa),” the knees-on-the-ground grief embedded in “Mandla,” the disarming, soul-tinged sting of “Uze Wazi,” where Lia Butler joins him in doing the most, allowing the two to deliver their best rendition of ’70s soul-inspired balladry. The album drips with emotion; it reflects lived experiences, quotes stories from others, creates its own storage for later access, and suggests a better, unhurried listening tradition.

Young Jonn - “Hold Somebody”

On “Hold Somebody,” artist and producer Young Jonn appears unbeholden to narrative, free to explore sonic influences and chart the breadth of escapism with a one-track mind. Beyond the spectacle — of big cars, big things, the big life — there’s something primal and instinctual about both song and artist: a desire to at once break free and break even.

Rema - “Oh No”

Rema refuses to let us rest. A month removed from the hypnotic register of “Tea,” he’s ready to serve again, this time with the mercurial “Oh No,” where the joy of storytelling lies in the detail of the lyrics: “Oh no, I want ya body and soul / oh baby girl, please don’t go,” he sings on the chorus. Rvssian is on the boards, serving potent Caribbean flavor via the energy and flair of Lagos.

Tusekah - “Time for You”

New Zealand-based South African artist Tusekah has been writing songs for as long as she can remember. That muscle, trained with intuition, has yielded abundantly. “I know I’m busy baby, but I’ll always make time for you,” she promises on “Time for You.” The guitars, the bass, the drums — everything comes together to accentuate her words and lend support to her powerful voice.

Lusanda - “Lunchbox”

Lusanda is piecing together her artistic life before our very eyes. Single by single by single, feature by feature, a world is coming together: slowly, with intention, with a vision and an understanding that she’ll be doing this for a really long time to come. It helps that the songwriting chops are unquestionable, the vocal talent iridescent. On “Lunchbox,” she dances with producer iam6teen to tuck and fold spells while tugging away at our hearts, guitars chugging as she cruises through the mind. “Two hundred days in / should I be saving the craving,” she sings, the yearning, the desire, the very foundation of missing someone engraved on her tongue.

Kwesi Arthur - “Yawa (Hosanna)”

Kwesi Arthur has been elevating the art of African rap for a minute now. He’s never really looked back since the Sarkodie and M.anifest cosigns made him an underground phenomenon, and he's spent the past few years reconfiguring to understand his direction. He’s back on track now, and the sharp lyrical tongue hasn’t been left behind. In fact, as shown here, it’s found new pockets and grown in its power.