Africa Is a Country

Bigger and bigger

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Bigger and bigger

By
Hipsters Don't Dance

Every month, Hipsters Don't Dance send us their "Top World Carnival Tunes." This is September 2015's chart.

Marc St, via Unsplash.

It’s been a while since we last did a chart; In news from our part of the world, Carnival passed (great as per usual), various African nations had their annual picnic in the park events in London (bigger and better each year), and Skepta took over the world. Here’s our chart for September 2015:

J Hus x Friendly

The Gambian MC recently ran into some trouble which we won’t get into. He is one of the most exciting new MC’s in the UK at the moment. By combining afrobeats with dancehall and well, UK road rap, he has definitely found his lane. This can work for the traditional dreary road rap or lighter things such as this track.

Frenchie x #Cele (Featuring Naira Marley)

This combination of Congo and Nigeria popped out of nowhere and it’s frankly great. Naira Marley hasn’t been on this sort of happy vibe in a while, so it’s great to see him really get to strut his stuff.

Big Nuz x Phaqa

Rip R. Mashesha. Incwadi Yothando is a classic and one of the few songs to actually make Hootie Who cry and skank at the same time.

Just wanted to take some time to point out that carnival is the one time of year that Afro or Caribbean promoters decide to all put on some mega acts on the same weekend. So we saw a Mafizokolo show on the same night as a Living Drumz Show in London. Hopefully these types of bookings will spread out more over the year as the genre grows bigger and better.

Fay-Ann Lyons x Block the Road (Feat. Stonebwoy)

More Afro/Caribbean link ups, this time Ghana and Trinidad. It seems as if Stonebwoy is working with everyone at the moment. This is one of the first fruits of those collaborations.

Heavy K x Therapy (Feat. Burna Boy)

Heavy K’s double disc LP came out earlier this month and features a who’s who of South African house music. Also on there is Burna Boy handling this uptempo beat with no problem. The more we listen to Burna Boy the more we see a tinge of Craig David but this is all him here.

Further Reading

On Safari

On our year-end publishing break, we reflect on how 2024’s contradictions reveal a fractured world grappling with inequality, digital activism, and the blurred lines between action and spectacle.

Rebuilding Algeria’s oceans

Grassroots activists and marine scientists in Algeria are building artificial reefs to restore biodiversity and sustain fishing communities, but scaling up requires more than passion—it needs institutional support and political will.

Ibaaku’s space race

Through Afro-futurist soundscapes blending tradition and innovation, Ibaaku’s new album, ‘Joola Jazz,’ reshapes Dakar’s cultural rhythm and challenges the legacy of Négritude.

An allegiance to abusers

This weekend, Chris Brown will perform two sold-out concerts in South Africa. His relationship to the country reveals the twisted dynamic between a black American artist with a track record of violence and a country happy to receive him.

Shell’s exit scam

Shell’s so-called divestment from Nigeria’s Niger Delta is a calculated move to evade accountability, leaving behind both environmental and economic devastation.

Africa’s sibling rivalry

Nigeria and South Africa have a fraught relationship marked by xenophobia, economic competition, and cultural exchange. The Nigerian Scam are joined by Khanya Mtshali to discuss the dynamics shaping these tensions on the AIAC podcast.

The price of power

Ghana’s election has brought another handover between the country’s two main parties. Yet behind the scenes lies a flawed system where wealth can buy political office.

Beats of defiance

From the streets of Khartoum to exile abroad, Sudanese hip-hop artists have turned music into a powerful tool for protest, resilience, and the preservation of collective memory.