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.

Seyi Vibez — SWAGUU [LP]

Today, Seyi Vibez releases the follow-up to the wildly successful Fuji Moto, which reconfigured the sound of 2025 and brought the streets of Lagos to headphones, sound systems, concerts, and festivals worldwide. It was daring and experimental, yet at the same time an embrace of tradition, a nod to the old that shaped his new. SWAGUU arrives on the back of "GTA," released in July, and "Back 2 U," released in August. Cohesive doesn't begin to describe this collection. Executive-produced by Burna Boy and taking shape in Cape Town before resolving back home in Lagos, it's focused, sure-footed, and free in spirit. There are too many standouts to name: "Diamonds" calms the spirit; "God" transcends space and time; "Pansa" brings amapiano to the party; "Ilome" is love personified. Tap in. 

Read our new exclusive interview with Seyi Vibes.

M.anifest — "On Ten" (feat. O'Kenneth and wavypae)

M.anifest is a top-tier lyricist, a guardian of the high art of rapping, and a refined scholar of language. He engages his subject matter in illuminating ways, offering fresh insight in every bar. On "On Ten," he serves as an elder statesman, guiding the new generation of emcees toward the light. "Everyday innovate, we don't follow no trend/ boys are slacking off late, this is a table of men," he raps, making it clear the circle is full, and no new friends are welcome. On the flip side of the wavypae-assisted chorus is O'Kenneth, a founding voice of Ghana's drill movement. He opens his own lane, echoes M.anifest's bar about not following trends, and cruises generously down a well-paved highway, blazing amazing raps as he goes.

Fireboy DML, JAZZWRLD, Thukuthela — "Imali"

Over the past few months, JAZZWRLD and Thukuthela have focused on continental expansion, using 2025 as a launchpad — a year of chart-topping hits that mainstreamed 3-Step worldwide — to embed themselves in a broader context. With "Imali," they add to an archive of songs about attaining wealth (Karyendasoul and Zakes Bantwini's similarly titled 2021 hit comes to mind) and situate it in Afrobeats-adjacent territory. Fireboy DML does nothing but cruise: "I've been grinding all day/ …/ gotta get my bread up," he sings, stacking harmonies like they were the silver lining at the end of dark clouds. Exceptional.

Jembaa Groove — "Waka" (feat. Fatoumata Diawara)

"Everyday waka, waka under the sun," sings Jembaa Groove's Eric Owusu, with the voices of ancestors clear in his delivery, intonation, and intention. It's highlife, delivered with love and care by people who grew up embracing it. With Fatoumata Diawara, they expand the dimensions of what the music can achieve and, in the process, shift toward an embrace of the pan-African ideals that leaders like Kwame Nkrumah espoused. This is beautiful.

Ajebo Hustlers — "365 Days" (feat. Gyakie)

"365 Days" is the ultimate breakup song, the type of tune you play when finality has dawned. "Do I miss you, yes/ do I want you back, fuck no," declares one half of the duo, Piego. Gyakie sends the needle straight through the chest: "I'm a bad, bad gyal/ you can never hurt me/ …/ not the same girl you used to know," she sings, voice cold and face composed, giving no emotion a chance to escape. "I think about us whenever I describe pain," raps Knowledge, the other half of Ajebo Hustlers. Add this to your playlist of songs to break up to.

Egertton — "Mapami"

Egertton sends the streets into a daze on "Mapami," fusing a sharp, piercing, hypnotic melody with chord progressions lifted straight out of the old-school house playbook. He doesn't rap much, leaving enough space for the weirdness to settle in, to transform the rave into something phenomenal and life-changing.

Easy Freak — "Don't It Feel Right"

Easy Freak makes music for spiritually fulfilled people. No worries, no complaints, just the constant light of one's own being. "Don't It Feel Right" brings the ‘70s and '80s to the doorstep and knocks relentlessly, refusing to give in. "I don't want to try if I don't have to," sings the duo, the decadence of drums, keys, bass, and strings wrapping their voices in a veil of perfection, a wondrous maze of discovery.

(D)Juno — "Don Junio"

(D)Juno switches between rapping and singing, refusing to make up her mind or conform to expectations. The Parisian artist has built her sound on that contrast, combining R&B, neo-soul, and bossa into flows that slide between DMV and plug, and she does it here over a beat that sounds like a cross between a cinematic theater piece and a baroque concert, with bits of dark, brooding synth thrown in, giving you the feeling of diving into the deep end. "Don Junio" is the song you play just before a big night out.