January was the time for testing the waters, premiering the snippets and making promises on projects that may or may not eventually be released down the line. Very few albums were actually released and we’ll be spotlighting our best five body of works the month gave us in no explicit order.
1. I Am The Blueprint – Qing Madi
Madi broke into the scene with the charisma and swagger of a superstar with seasoned experience, despite being seventeen. The sheer magnitude of having a popstar that young isn’t so unprecedented as we’ve had teen stars in the past, but it’s the mastery of skill and honing of artistry on display that was mind boggling. Most notably, her vocal texture and performances since her debut.
Her debut album is unmistakably everything that makes Madi’s music resonant. The honesty and vulnerability in the writing, the emotive melodies and heartfelt sentiments of love and heartbreak—all tightly knit and woven into a soundscape that is built on the backbone of R&B and swing fusion. Detractors might opine that she seldom leaves her comfort zone or tries something out of the box, but simply excelling at the fundamentals is enough for a debut effort.
2. Black And White – Terry Apala
Terry Apala has been around for quite a while. Matter of fact, he’s been in the same studio with Tuface decades back—as revealed by himself on the Echo Room—but he’s always been severely underappreciated by an industry that sparsely rewards Hip-Hop excellence with mainstream acceptance. The fact that he fuses his brand of Hip-Hop and trap with indigenous Yoruba music of Apala doesn’t also help his accessibility.
However, for the past couple of years indigenous music has experienced a resurgence to the very top of the pinnacle of Afrobeats, to the point that the industry hasn’t produced a non-street breakout artist since 2021. Terry Apala knows there is now a shift, to export cultural identity through celebratory music rooted in the aesthetics and frequencies of our local genres and he delivers an EP that captures the best aspects of his Apala fusion and trap roots.
3. Agbalagbi – Oluwamillar
Since the turn of the new decade, the industry has been crying for the emergence of new rapstars to herald a new exciting phase for the state of Nigerian Hip-Hop. And sure, ODUMODUBLVCK as well as Blaqbonez have stepped in to fill the void left behind by the previous generation, but both artists prioritize the art form of making good, resonant music as opposed to being raw, uncut emcees—which does make sense in a soundscape that doesn’t appreciate the purist form of rap, until it’s fused with more traditional homegrown elements.
Enter Oluwamillar, who made quite a splash in 2024 with the chest-thumping Alubarika, alluding to the truth in the clearest of terms, that he is up next. Now he has a full length EP out that is an unfiltered exhibit of his artistry. Over seven songs, Millar attacks boom bap beats and trap infused bounces with the sort of energetic, Yoruba inflected flows that would remind you of a younger Baddo, but Millar stands out in his unapologetic Hip-Hop essence in the sense that the most mainstream leaning record on this EP—is not even a pop song, but still a rap cut with swing drum patterns.
4. Pawon Boy, Vol. 1 (Deluxe) – TML Vibez & DJ 4Kerty
It’s the mid 2020s and we’re somehow back in the era of street-pop music, that dominated the soundscape of the last decade. Where the 2010s street music was mostly rap fusion oriented with Olamide leading the charge, this decade has seen artists dabbling into homegrown genres like Fuji, Juju and Apala to redefine contemporary pop—creating a new wave of street pop music that has much more soul at its crux, in terms of delivering and topical direction.
These artists use the music as a medium to channel their pain and tell compelling stories about their struggles, inner demons and morally grey areas. TML Vibez belongs to this new generation of street-pop singers, who wear their heart on their sleeves in the music and bare their souls in creatively, ingenious ways. Over the course of this project, Vibez navigates the terrain of high octane and energetic beats with Fuji, Hip Hop and Apala deliveries that would leave almost anyone reeling.
5. Synergy – Hyce, BoyPee and Brown Joel
‘The Ogechi Boys’ like they’ve been infamously tagged are not helping the allegations that they are a group, by refusing to splinter into their respective ways to carve out their own creative paths. After coming off the high of their Davido co-signed, Ogechi they’ve conspired again to release a collaborative project this time, titled Synergy and doubles down on the sonic formular that made their breakthrough song excel.
There is a certain brand of Afropop built on Highlife synths, that’s steeped in Igbo culture and Southern percussion. The artists who operate in this strata also have a unique vocal texture and this is the space where Hyce, Boypee and Brown Joel operates. Baby Boy AV is another notable name in the past few years, that has dabbled with this sound but this particular trio excel more, as the result of the ensuing dynamism that is triggered by the dynamics of three talented artists on a record.
