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Tag: Skepta

  • The Sounds of Nigerian Pop

    The Sounds of Nigerian Pop

    While West African pop has come to be dominated by the sounds of Afrobeat, it is more of a catch-all term for the variety of West African pop sounds that are emerging from the region. Arguably, it is Fela Kuti who laid the foundation by fusing Western sounds taken from jazz and funk with West African sounds to create Afrobeat in the 70s. A similar sonic melting pot is present today, with their EDM, house, pop, dancehall, R&B, hip hop and trap coming across as a combination of contemporary Western sounds infused with West African rhythms and melodies.

    West African pop has now crossed borders, transported by the internet and the diaspora to places such as the UK and USA. The growing popularity of the sound in these places has led to an explosion in popularity of the practitioners and sees them increasingly crossing-over and collaborating with other pop stars such as Drake, Snoop Dogg, Wyclef Jean, Skepta and Rae Sremmurd.

    Below are four Nigerian artists who are fusing West African and Western sounds to create their own brand of Nigerian pop.

    Small Doctor – This Year 

    Featuring an infectious rhythm and the ever popular autotuned vocals, ‘This Year’ is Small Doctor’s latest single. Shot in the desert, the colourful, dance-heavy music video is reminiscent of scenes from Mad Max, although with a much more upbeat soundtrack. Hailing from Ondo State in Nigeria, Temitope Adekunle aka Small Doctor broke onto the scene in 2012, releasing mixtapes and freestyles. Singing primarily in the Nigerian language Yoruba, he rose to prominence in 2015 with the release of the singles ‘Gbagaun’, ‘Anobi’ & ‘Mosquito Killer’, produced by Dre Sean. His music is a combination of pop with Fuji music, a popular Nigerian genre which arose from the improvisational Ajisari/Were music tradition, which is a kind of music performed to wake Muslim people before dawn during the Ramadan fasting season.

    Kiss Daniel – No Do

    Sensuous and simple, ‘No Do’ is a ballad and Kiss Daniel’s first single of 2018. Shot in Lagos the video follows Kiss Daniel as he strolls through the streets and encounters everyday life in the area he calls home. Kiss Daniel was born in Ogun State. He is best known for his single ‘Woyu’ released in 2014 which was nominated for Best Pop Single at the 2015 Headies, as well as Hottest Single of The Year at the 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. The single also received a remix featuring Tiwa Savage and Davido. Kiss Daniel showed interested in music from an early age, receiving support from his father and was signed to G-Worldwide Entertainment in 2014. His debut album ‘New Era’ was released in 2016 which saw him winning Album Of The Year and Best R&B/Pop album at the Headies in 2017.

    Reekado Banks – Like Ft. Tiwa Savage and Fiokee

    Featuring label-mate and multi-talent Tiwa Savage as well as Fiokee, ‘Like’ is the latest single from Reekado Banks. Dedicated to the ladies, like so many pop songs, the video takes on a cinematic quality with scenes straight form Noire films and flourishes of 80s neon. Lagos born Ayoleyi Solomon aka Reekado Banks fka as Spicy, has been active as an artist since 2008, although he gained notoriety in 2014 with his Rookie of the Year win at The Headies. Released in 2016, his debut album, Spotlight, was released in 2016 and debuted at number 10 on the Billboard World Album Music Chart. Signed to Mavin Records, he has worked with the likes of  Don Jazzy, Korede Bello, Di’Ja, Dr SID and D’Prince.

    Glenn Mena – Sound it (Freestyle)

    Shot on Lagos Island, ‘Sound it’ showcases Glenn’s skill as a rapper. With a strong dancehall feel, the  track is all about the rhythm and witty verses. Afropolitan model, pianist and recording artist, Glenn Mena had been making music since 2010, however it was with the release of his single ‘Movement’ in 2012 that he his career really took off. Releasing a number of singles between then and 2017, his debut EP ‘Mask&Music’ was released on his own imprint of the same name. Not tying himself to a specific genre, his sound evolves as he grows and learns as an artists.

  • Vicky Grout – documenting London’s grime scene today

    Grime is a music genre which originated in East London in 2002. During its first wave MCs like Kano, Dizzee Rascal and Wiley shook UK culture to its core. Rejecting very stylized beats, MCs were more drawn to a DIY sound. The music was often made on free computer software such as FruityLoops. Creating a voice and platform for disillusioned youths, grime took to the underground rapidly.

    The name on the UK scene’s lips is the young Vicky Grout who has swiftly become as much of a trademark as the faces documented with her camera. Skepta, the London grime artist who won the Mercury Prize for his fourth studio album “Konnichiwa”, was shot by Grout in 2016 for the cover of Time Out. Skepta made a post on Instagram stating, “Hate photos, love Vicky Grout”.

    Grout’s respect and hunger for the scene combined with her self taught talent has enabled her to embed herself in a scene that is intensely protective of its own. By staying real she has become the go-to documentarian for musicians of grime. She has images of some of the biggest names in the scene featured on her Instagram gallery. Her portraits are clean, cool and show distinctive detail.

    The photographer that fell into the scene by accident has been dabbling in photography since she was a child, taking photographs in her grandmother’s garden with the family DSLR. She got her first camera, a small compact Olympus 35mm, when she was 13 years old.

    Initially documenting her friends and the world around her, when she got older she started taking her camera with her to raves. Her analogue images were put on a small blog she started. Grout got noticed by taking pictures at shows and posting them on social media together with the appropriate tags. The artists she photographed would see her images and say ‘‘these are sick’’ and invite her to their next show.

    Grout did not intend to blow or to become the photographer she is now, at the time she was merely taking photographs for herself. The shows were often held at small venues that allowed her to interact with the MCs and make bonds by networking with her camera. Grout has said that, “I was fangirling really”.

    Now an integral feature of grime she has been at the forefront of what has been called the scene’s round two. A new age of artists has come through in the grime scene since the days of Ewan Spencer and Simon Wheatley, with his ice cream van portraits in 2002 of Roll Deep. Grout has often been associated with Spencer and Wheatley, the first documentarians on the scene.

    Grout’s weighty digital following and acclaim came about in 2014 with her halting portraits of Section Boyz. With her lens she has captured everyone from the young starters to the top boys and it is difficult to name a player from the UK scene Grout has not photographed, except Wiley.

    A regular feature at grime shows, Grout can be found snapping away and spitting every bar, applying the scene and its culture as a second skin. At a Section Boyz show there was a surprise appearance by Drake for which she was the only photographer on stage. It came as a massive surprise to her that he was there and she risked it all to get her shot by climbing onto a speaker.

    In 2014 she met Skepta for the first time who reposted some of the pictures she took of him on social media. The connection that she made there led to her being asked to do the behind the scene’s shoot for his music video “Shutdown” by filmmaker Grace Ladoja. She has also been featured as an expert in Grime photography documentation on BBC Radio1 and has shot Novelist for the cover of Viper.

    “I feel like if you’re not at the front then you’re not involved. Like, if you can’t feel the energy and the sweat on your face, then it’s not worth it. Go home. Do you know what I mean? You need to be in it. You need to be spitting every bar with them” – Vicky Grout.