Within the heat of the last week, Joey Akan, a very active and impressionable figure in the African entertainment industry decided to describe his challenged stance as an inbetweener in the ongoing feud between his “bastion of support,” ODUMODUBLVCK and Blaqbonez, who he has “known forever.” In a lengthy X (fka Twitter) post, he preached […]
Read More… from Blaqbonez vs. ODUMODUBLVCK: Everything You Need to Know So Far
Seven years after the tragic death of Ochanya Ogbanje, her accused rapists — Andrew Ogbuja and his son, Victor — are still walking free. The 13-year-old passed away on October 17, 2018, from complications of vesico-vaginal fistula (VVF), an abnormal opening that allows continuous, involuntary urine leakage through the vagina instead of the urethra. According […]
Patoranking has firmly established his artistry as one of the defining pillars of contemporary Afrobeats. He has more than earned his stripes, with his adoption of the ‘80s and early ‘90s Galala sound laying the foundation for his breakout in the mid-2010s and sustaining a legacy that remains vibrant over a decade later. In his […]
Read More… from Interview: Patoranking Is Stepping Into a New Era
This week delivers one of the most interesting waves of new music in recent memory. Globally, the conversation is dominated by Dave, who returns after his 2021 classic with the ambitious, lyrically intricate album, The Boy Who Played The Harp. On the same day, Megan Thee Stallion shifts her sonic focus, sampling Total’s ‘90s R&B […]
Ayra Starr has completed her metamorphosis from Mavin’s prodigious “celestial being” to a self-possessed, global Afropop force. Her 2024 sophomore album, The Year I Turned 21, was a confident treatise on this evolution, placing her on a rarefied plane shared by only a handful of global peers. Now operating with the backing of Roc Nation […]
Read More… from The Pick: Ayra Starr and Rema Find Equilibrium on the Sinuous “Who’s Dat Girl”
Five years ago today, Nigerian soldiers opened fire on unarmed protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos — an event that shocked the nation and became a symbol of the fight against police brutality. Obianuju Catherine Udeh, professionally known as DJ Switch, a Nigerian disc jockey (DJ), broadcast the horrific scenes live on Instagram. […]
Read More… from Five Years After Lekki Toll Gate Shooting, Police Brutality Has Only Worsened
In November 2017, the Nigerian Police charged Maryam Sanda with homicide and pressed for the death penalty for stabbing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, to death. According to reports, Sanda, a mother of two, attacked Bello with a broken bottle, inflicting fatal wounds to his neck, chest, and genitals after accusing him of infidelity on November […]
Read More… from The Problem With Tinubu’s Presidential Pardons
After a rare two-year streak of uninterrupted academic activity in Nigerian public universities, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is back to downing tools this week, embarking on a two-week warning strike. Addressing a press conference on Sunday, October 12, 2025, the union’s National President, Professor Chris Piwuna, said all branches across the country […]
Read More… from How Another ASUU Strike Is Impacting Nigerian University Students
Two generational Mavin stars, Ayra Starr and Rema, finally drop their hotly anticipated joint single, “Who’s Dat Girl,” building on their electric synergy from past stage moments. Nigerian rap’s master provocateur, Blaqbonez, drops his highly anticipated album, No Excuses. The tracklist is an ambitious sonic patchwork, featuring cross-continental link-ups with UK rappers AJ Tracey […]
Nigerian rap has built a canon defined by versatility and vision. For decades, the struggle was for a distinct voice, a sound that reflected its people. The pivotal moments came when artists stopped looking outward and turned their gaze inward. Over the next decades, rap split into several directions: streetwise, political, alternative, and commercial. Today, […]
Read More… from 10 Essential Albums in Nigerian Hip-Hop History
By the time Ada and her boyfriend decided to “open things up,” she thought she knew what she was signing up for. They had been together for three years, lived in the same neighbourhood in Abuja, and had reached that restless, curious stage. “He was the one who first brought it up,” she says. “He […]
Read More… from How Women Still Carry the Emotional Overheads of Open Relationships
Lojay is well aware of his origin story, and he’s very committed to it. His past two successful EPs, LV N ATTN (2021) and Gangster Romantic (2023), offered new dimensions that deepened that storyline, while working to reconstruct the boundaries between Afropop, its adjacent genres, and everything orbiting it. Part of the allure of his […]
Read More… from The Pick: Lojay Finds a Hard Edge on “Shiver”
