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.

Darque - “Ke Mang” (feat. Zee Nxumalo)

Zee Nxumalo’s artistic precision is a gift from the gods. There’s no tune she leaves unscathed; her innate sense of cool is what allows her to thrive. On “Ke Mang,” from Open Your Eyes More, the deluxe edition of producer Darque’s Open Your Eyes EP, she unleashes it once again, tapping into a nursery rhyme to show just how cultured she is. On the boards, Darque is relentless, synthesizing a minimalist Afro-tech soundscape that gives Zee Nxumalo all the room she needs to flourish. And as she accurately states, “iparty ayiqale Zee Nxumalo engekho (the party don’t start if Zee Nxumalo’s not around).”

Solana - “O rí mi”

Earlier this week, Solana played some unreleased songs for an intimate audience in Johannesburg. “O rí mi” was one of them, and it drew an instant reaction from the crowd. Produced by Killertunes, with whom she’s worked since 2019, the song taps into the ’80s wave that powered her breakout single, “Okunkun,” with the same bright, shimmering sonics. What she does is annihilate the tune. The melody is simple, recalling some of ABBA’s finest work, while her vocal run is the stuff of legend.

tylerwrldwide - “Hold Me” (feat. Marcus Harvey and Lia Butler)

“Hold Me” is exemplary, a prime showcase of what South African R&B has to offer. On it, tylerwrldwide enlists two of the finest in Marcus Harvey and Lia Butler, who each bring a stimulating perspective on love and its complicated manifestations. “Baby, won’t you hold me, ’cause I feel lonely sometimes,” sings Marcus Harvey, expressing desire in the most clinical way possible. Lia Butler’s entry sends shivers: she times her words, extends her phrases, and immerses the soul in perfect harmony.

Blaqbonez - NOMADINHO: 4TH PRIME [LP]

Blaqbonez has been grinding hard on the mic for a minute, but 2026 has felt like the year he truly broke through. The beef with ODUMODUBLVCK was only background noise; he fed us timeless bangers all year. “Chanel” with Asake went interstellar, and the two are set to repeat the feat with “IKEBE 3000,” currently the hottest song out. NOMADINHO: 4TH PRIME arrives six months after the deluxe edition of 2025’s No Excuses. He opens it with “I LOVE THIS,” featuring Igwe Aka, one of Nigeria’s dopest underground voices, then follows up with “CA$H EVERYDAY” and “BIG PERFORMER,” the latter a single that arrived earlier this year and knocked our brains out. And so he goes, dropping memorable bars, dancing on the beat, and revealing great insight across 15 tracks.

Pheelz - “Cash Rules Everything Around Us”

“Omo, life is good, we thank God,” sings Pheelz on “Cash Rules Everything Around Us.” Beyond the obvious nod to a Wu-Tang Clan classic, the song uses the kind of epic breakdowns familiar from Fuji music, striking a balance between the brand-new and the good old.

Etuk Ubong - “Ayaya”

“Ayaya” takes syncopation to another level. From the outset, the stakes are clear: Etuk Ubong makes music you can sprint to, lift weights to, and possibly exorcise bad spirits with. The energy is addictive, and the artist’s precision shows in the musicians he chooses, each bringing a stomp to the party that we can all tap into. The foundation is Afrobeat, with an impressive blend of jazz and highlife that gives his sound unmatched depth.

Gyakie - “Your Body (Crazy)”

“For the first time, maybe I ’m/looking for more, set it up,” sings Gyakie, the pure, uninhibited longing in her voice keeping her feet grounded in something real. This is a song about being sure of one’s feelings. “The way you’re shaking your body, I really don’t want nobody/ and I know that you’re naughty also,” she teases, AfroLektra’s production bracing her words so their meaning lingers long after the song ends. Gyakie is our queen of reckoning with emotions, and this song proves she’s certified.

Oyedele - “Silifa” (feat. Boy Liam and Ms. Gail)

Oyedele’s rhymes are scenic and cinematic, the product of real effort and care in the writing. “Coke body in a miniskirt / … / lost of for the words,” he raps, making sure every bar sticks and the flow stays fluid and intimate, never intimidating. He links up with regular collaborator Boy Liam, who serves pure soul on the chorus (“Silifa, go down low”), while Oyedele intermittently spits straight gospel. Ms. Gail rounds it out toward the end, offering another angle on this tale of a woman with high standards. It closes with a hilarious back-and-forth and a guitar line that completes the whole offering.

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 - “Na Dem” (feat. Tom Morello)

On “Na Dem,” Seun Kuti chants Babylon down from the grassroots, where oppression festers unacknowledged. He lends a voice to the dispossessed: “Yeye politician/wey dey constitute nuisance / ori mi save me from these users/humanity abusers,” he fires, and as if that weren’t enough, he keeps blazing: “I no like nonsense / I no prostitute my conscience.” The song opens on a relaxed, languid guitar loop before morphing into a possessed bounce as Egypt 80 theorizes the sound of revolutionary zeal. Tom Morello enters just as the song nears its end, shredding between tones of freedom and making sure we’re all delivered safely home.

Cruel Santino - “Big Drop” (feat. Zaylevelten)

Zaylevelten is expansive, an artist committed to growth, trying things out, and making them blow up big. On “Big Drop,” he meets another contender for the title of most influential artist of the past decade: Cruel Santino, who’s been up to a lot of cool stuff behind the scenes, teasing generational bangers for select audiences, holding listening sessions in different corners of the world, and getting to know the incredible mind that is Rema. The song itself plays out like a mixtape, with rewinds and voiceovers that give it that morning-radio energy. The two artists wipe the floor with any detractors. This is the sound of the future, and the future is here, live and direct.

Marla Kether - Luso [EP]

Marla Kether is one of electronic music’s most exciting new voices. She funks up the space with supercyclical runs on the bass, her instrument of choice, and jams the tune into the outer-verse. She shares inner reflections over five songs on Luso, four of them featuring someone from her universe of creative collaborators. Mez shines on the batida spectacle of “Blessing,” Sofia Grant gets athletic on the inspired “Reverse,” and Reek0 dazzles on the Afrobeat of “Run the Track.” “Libera,” with Margaridas, and EP opener “A Jam in Paranoá” echo each other and are the two brand-new tracks on this tight-knit artistic masterpiece; the others were released as singles.

Listen to the top African music releases of the week on OkayAfrica's Spotify playlist