The first quarter of the year is already in the rearview, and we’ve gotten a handful of memorable projects already that are noteworthy mentions and are on track to soundtrack our year. These are our picks for the best projects of the year.
1. REAL, Vol. 1 – Wizkid & Asake
Afrobeats is officially in its collaboration era and we’re seeing unlikely link-ups that we never envisaged, but the Wizkid & Asake bromance has been brewing for a while now and it came as no surprise to anyone when the project was announced in December. Prior to the EP, Wizkid & Asake had given us two very different songs in Bad Girl and MMS. The latter being sonically mellow and introspective, while the former being an uptempo bop.
REAL decided to do both, while existing in the midtempo spectrum that has defined Wizkid’s veteran years—while infusing the Amapiano fusion soundscape Asake helped pioneer. While there’s a general consensus that both artistes opted to play it safe, as opposed to breaching uncharted grounds of creativity—one can’t deny the fact that songs like Turbulence and Jogodo are such soulful earworms and grow on you when given the chance.
2. HYBRID – Shoday
Thanks to a Davido co-sign and a string of sleeper hits in 2025, Shoday popped up on the mainstream radar after years of being underground. Indeed, HYBRID wasn’t his first rodeo as he’s dropped EPs in the past, but with a debut album—comes the duty to establish your sonic identity in unfiltered terms and in this writer’s opinion, he succeeds exceedingly in doing that.
Shoday plays greatly to his strengths on this LP, as a master of deploring catchy lines in deep pockets of a beat. The production on the album is snappy and rambunctious, his features compliment his writing deficits and the sentiment behind his lines remain relatable as ever. A song as earnest as Joy, has no business working the way it does and should in fact come off as corny, but Shoday is astute at capturing wholesome feelings and he’s in flow state for the rest of the album.
3. She – Gimba
After graduating from the Sarz academy and getting a monumental co-sign from Olamide Baddo on his debut EP, Gimba seems to be coming more and more into himself and carving out a niche for himself. On his new project, he dips into the lush waters of slow, sensual Afro-R&B—proving beyond reasonable doubt he is no one-trick pony.
Across the EP, Gimba shows he’s a multifaceted lover. From the raunchiness and sex talk on she, to the grand declarations on say and even emotional wailings on san andreas, he goes through the motions in totality and is all the more transformed by it at the end of the project.
4. Agaba Romantic – Joeboy & Wizard Chan
It’s the season of collaborations and an unlikely link-up we didn’t know we needed, until we got it—is the Joe x Chan bromance that’s been brewing now for a couple of years now and they’ve finally capitalized on the momentum to give us a full blown EP and my word, it is certainly not premature to call it one of 2026 best offerings already.
Joeboy mostly heads into Chan’s solemn, spiritually charged atmosphere—but not without the ingenuity and charm of his own artistry, and together they make music that’s uplifting to the spirit and comforting for the soul. It’s such a beautiful thing when stars get together for the love of the art and make timeless music without mainstream sensibilities or reservations to top charts, whatsoever.
5. Sounds Of The Diaspora – NSG
Afroswing pioneers NSG return back to their roots on their latest effort that conceptualizes African rhythms with international sonic sensibilities. On the new album, they enlist the help of the likes of Ayo Maff, Mavo, King Promise and Nasty C.
From high-octane bops to more melodic cuts, Sounds Of The Diaspora captures the pulse of the streets—while maintaining a celebratory soundscape that re-affirms NSG’s status as one of UK’s foremost sonically progressive groups.
