How do you make a Nollywood movie pop? You throw in a wicked stepmother to frustrate your protagonist. However, many times the stepmother just ends up being the star of the movie.
Today, we are ranking the five Nollywood step mothers who gave us unbelievable joy whenever they came on screen.
5. Shola Sobwale
Before I fell in love with Shola Sobowale in King Of Boys, I fell in love with her Super Story. During that era, Shola starred in several roles where she redefined the art of being a step mother and the art of insulting people.
4.Ngozi Ezeonu
In the earlier days of her career, Ngozi Ezeonu was the one who was victimized by her husband’s other wife and that was a fun watch. But when she turned the table around and became the one doing the victimization, I was intrigued. I won’t say much but this woman played so many roles taunting and torturing Mercy Johnson that I can’ t help but wonder if Mercy Johnson has nightmares featuring Ngozi Ezeonu.
3. Eucharia Anunobi
I would actually not mind having Eucharia Anunobi for my step mother. Granted, she would kill my dad by making her sugar baby throw him off a balcony but at least we’ll bond by doing each other’s makeup and drawing thin eyebrows for each other.
2.Clarion Chukwuka
Let me start by saying that as a kid, I was wildly obsessed with Clarion Chukwuka growing up. The sage and anti-men advice, the wild hair colors, her nails which rivals Cardi B’s and her general iconic-ness. I can’t believe Nollywood made her into the bad guy for wanting her daughters and step-daughters to decenter men and seek reparations.
Patience Ozokwor
If you google ‘step mother in Nollywood’ you are likely going to see loads of videos and images of Patience Ozokwor because this woman is the genre itself. No one else can be simultaneously oppressing a whole village, her step daughter and her husband. The devil works hard, Kris Jenner works harder, but you see Patience Ozokwor? She outworked, outsold, and outdid them. No one is like her. No one has invented and reinvented the act of shadiness backed by sly and unprovoked wickedness quite like she has in Nollywood. We salute a queen.
What’s it like creating a movie out of a TV show? We asked Buhari Yesufu, a 25-year-old director who teamed up with a bunch of creatives to create Sub-Sahara, an exhilarating and experimental TV show and then Sub-Sahara, the movie, to tell us.
Tell me about the movie.
Subsahara is a live-action play. It started as a TV show that airs every Tuesday. Sometime last year, Chinedu Uguru, the producer, and I and a few people came together and thought, “There’s Corona, and we can’t shoot anymore — we should create a play.” Around that period, we were watching the 2019 Dolemite, and it was fascinating watching Eddie Murphy explore how Black people got involved in cinema in America. I did some research, and I found some beautiful old Nigerian sitcoms like Bassey and Company. These shows depicted the average Nigerian, but they didn’t make it the typical village scenes. They made basic jokes, intelligent conversations, and had nice set designs. I was like, wow, a lot of us don’t have access or know of movies like these. When people think of Old Nollywood, it’s the 90s and movies starring Genevieve and Omotola.
Why did you decide to make Sub-Sahara into a TV show first?
We wanted the everyday Nigerian with a TV to see it. Right now, the people who are seeing Sub-Sahara are average Nigerians. It’s not on Netflix or any streaming service, so the more well-off Nigerians can’t see it. Normally, it’s the other way around — iit shows in the cinema, and then it moves to TV maybe a year later. We didn’t want that.
How has moving from TV to theatre been?
Both formats are very different. We had issues with sound, editing, the format and had to correct them. Normally, editing an episode for TV takes like two or three days. We’ve been editing the movie since October last year. We are lucky because we were already using cinema-standard equipment for the show, so shooting it was easier.
How would you sell Sub-Sahara to me if you wanted me to go see it?
I would call it the first live-action play film. Why I would say it like this is because if you watch it, it is a play. From the narrator, the audience, the red curtains, the way we shoot it, the angles we are shooting from. I’ll call it the first-ever live-action play in Nigeria. I don’t know if anyone has done it ever, and that’s exciting.
What was casting like for Sub-Sahara?
The first person I cast was Darasimi Ogbetah. She plays a main character, Mama Kenny. Before Sub-Sahara, I went to America, California last year. After a while, I was tired of feeling whitewashed, Americanised. I thought, ”Why does glamour have to be white or American?”
So when I was going through people, I saw Darasimi, and there was this party picture of her that just took me to 80s Nollywood. It was in black and white. She was wearing a big hair and really bright makeup. The picture spoke glamour to me. I was like, this is perfect.
She was the first person I cast and Papa Kenny was next. Papa Kenny was very simple because he is a funny, animated guy. When I saw him, I told him, “I want you to play this role.”
There were a few people who turned us down. People who came on the set and at first didn’t understand what we were doing. But we pushed on, and you know, did some cast callings and came out with the best people.
What has been your favourite and worst part of making Sub-Sahara?
Well, my favourite part has been just creating, creating with people; being out there and doing what we like and want. The moment where we achieved what we wanted, where we were like, “Wow, we got this shot.” That was the best part.
The difficult part was working together. Our casts were like 12. There were a lot of new faces and some well-known faces like Sophie Alakija, Steve Chuks, but the majority of the cast were new. And so everyone had different opinions of what the movie should look like.
Listening to people’s opinions and working together was quite — I won’t say it difficult — but it was challenging to make sure everyone was happy.
When all is said and done, what do you hope people take away from Sub-Sahara?’
I hope they laugh, I hope they enjoy it, I hope they have fun. There is nothing like Sub-Sahara. I hope it makes them see things differently. We had a media screening, and some media people were taken aback — they were confused. Even the confusion, I encourage it. There are a lot of topics we touched on in Sub-Sahara that I feel like the average Nigerian would not like. We spoke about the LGBTQ+ community, police brutality. There are a lot of things that you don’t exactly see in Nigerian films. I hope they laugh first because it is a comedy, but I hope it is intriguing.
One of the absolute best parts of old Nollywood has to be all the baddies that we had, and sometimes when we’re lucky we’ll have as much as five in one movie. Today, we are ranking all the actresses who often played campus baddies.
Mercy Johnson
Mercy Johnson was always the best choice to play the new girl who just came to the campus and is wearing unnecessarily baggy clothes but is going to dethrone the campus’ queen B in two weeks. The way Mercy Johnson always switched up from the baggy Mary-Amaka skirt and the village-girl naivety to a spaghetti top and denim skirt shorter than my pinky and with more street knowledge than all the city girls put together is a transition even Tiktokers today can’t recreate.
Ini Edo
I can’t think of a better way to explain it but Ini Edo is one of those sweet queen B’s that somehow always wins. She’s a ten over ten in every area and hardly ever chooses violence, but when she does, she wins.
Oge Okoye
The main reason Oge Okoye is in the top three is that she is always ready to go from the charming queen of the campus to breaking a bottle on someone’s head without even switching up her stride. The fact that she never plays coy or pretends to not know she’s a bad bitch is just everything to me.
Rita Dominic
It’s not often you see a Nigerian woman in a movie with a cigarette in one hand and a gun in the other and all during her free period between GES 101 and HST103. A what? A queen. All the other queens in this list – whom I love and adore by the way – often prefer to play the long game and ascertain their opponent before making a move etc. However, campus queen Rita Dominic doesn’t do all of that. She’s direct, she’s violent and her makeup remains on point.
Genevieve Nnaji
Do you know why Genevieve is number one? Look at everything I’ve written about the other actresses, she has done worse and done it better in her campus-queen movies. Campus Queen Genevieve is the girl all the other girls want to be. She sows chaos and discord and yet looks like she hasn’t made a move. Do you know what it takes to call a couple making out at your birthday ‘couple of the day’ before telling them to get out then turning to someone and going ‘I don’t admit pigeons to my party’? Iconic behaviour.
Some people hear a voice in their head when they think and some people just don’t. In the same way, some people need to listen to music when having sex and those who don’t.
If you are part of the former and you’re a Nigerian, then you likely need a selection of Nigerian songs that are relatable which you can listen to when having coitus. To help on this front, we spoke to eight Nigerians on the Nigerian songs they have in their sex playlist and the answers are fascinating.
Ready? Let’s go!
Vee.
Ma Pariwo by Zinolessky
It’s like Neighbours Know My Name by Trey Songz but in Yoruba. It’s a great sex song, not too slow but with a steady beat.
Ayo.
Tipsy by Odunsi The Engine feat RAYE and Rock Your Body by Burna Boy.
These mostly because I can picture myself moving to them, either dancing or having sex.
Lola.
Chineke Meh by Ezi Emela
It sounds like a Christian song of someone calling God but it’s about a girl screaming God’s name as her partner touches her.
Aisha.
Tattoo by Fireboy DML
The song has this power that makes me feel super loved and confident with my skin and the skin of my lover.
Nnanna.
Right Now by Seyi Shay
This song is on my sex playlist because it is a mood setter.
G-Sting.
Sad U Broke My Heart by Amaare
This song feels like having one of the best sex of your life with a toxic ex. You know it’s bad for you but you’re enjoying the fuck out of yourself.
Dammy.
Fores by Tay Iwar.
Adding this song because it sets the mood and is perfect for back shots.
Temple.
Like Me – Jess ETA and SGaWD
The tempo is right, with excellent lyrics, vocals with the texture of velvet.
Freaky – Santi
Love that the lyrics depict a mixture of enjoying guilty pleasures and lovelorn yearning.
Onscreen chemistry is one thing Old Nollywood got right. Some actors and actresses just had this thing that left you rooting for them hard even when you don’t think you should be. We decided to rank the top five couples from Old Nollywood that were everything.
Genevieve Nnaji and Emeka Ike
I know Tony Umez is everyone’s favourite Nollywood lover boy but for me, the distinction goes straight to Emeka Ike because he often played the poor boy always willing to love with all his heart and give what he didn’t have. And the best part? He did it all without being jazzed even a bit. The movies he and Genevieve Nnaji played love interests were, in my books, some of the best Nollywood romantic dramas and if we ever get a thriving rom-com movie industry in Nigeria, I would still love to see them in something.
Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde and Tony Umez
When I think of this couple, I just imagine Omotola in one of those flowing bubbas while Tony goes off to work angrily even though his wife and life is perfect. The couple always started out every movie stressing the daylights out of me but the good thing about them and the reason they made it to this list, is that the love they display in the final act of the movie tends to always more than makeup for it.
Rita Dominic and Jim Iyke
Something about this couple just seemed violent. A lot of Rita Dominic’s early roles required guns, short axes and a lot of violence and so did Jim Iyke, the OG bad boy, so when you brought the duo together, it was like Nollywood Bonnie and Clyde but they somehow made that work. I don’t know how they did but I stan.
RMD and Stella Damascus
Before we say anything, can we talk about the beauty overload of this couple? Like wow. This is out of this world. Of all the Nollywood couples on this list, this is the one I have always wanted to adopt me. The beauty, the grace, the confidence, the elegance. And that’s just RMD.
Genevieve Nnaji and Ramsey Nouah
When I think of Genevieve and Ramsey Nouah all I think about is a montage that shows them eating ice-cream in a park or restaurant while Marc Anthony’s I Need You plays in the background. These two are the OG couple who inspired every other couple and it is time they get their flowers.
Do you know what one of the most awkward things in the world is? Your friend comes up to you, handing you their phone to listen to their music while smiling hard, their eyes filled with hope and love so you listen but realize, it just isn’t good. Then they ask you, what do you think? Now you are in an awkward situation wondering what to say or do. Don’t worry, Zikoko dey for you. Here’s a guide on how to tell your friend their music career is a mistake.
Cut Up Your Ears After Listening To Their Song.
Just listen to us. Is it dramatic? Very. But it passes the message across. Once they finish playing the song for you, calmly remove the earphones from your ears, pick up a knife, look at them deep in their eyes, and in two swift motions, cut out both of your ears. I assure you, they’ll never sing again. I just hope you don’t have any other friend who wants to go into music and need your opinions because then, there’ll be a problem.
Have a Conversation About It.
Let’s say for whatever reason, you do not want to be dramatic and cut off your ears, you could talk to them and have a nice conversation. Here are our top picks for things to say to them after realizing their music is irredeemably bad. ‘A 9 to 5 might be more your speed, don’t you think?’ ‘I think Chicken Republic is hiring. Think about it.’ ‘We all have different talents. Keep trying, you’ll find yours.’ ‘Is this a demo? As in, is this the finished song? Wow.’
Leave Job Openings Around Them.
Let’s say you want to go for something even more subtle. You could smile after listening to their song and in the coming days, cut out job opening clippings from newspapers and sprinkle them around their house. Borrow their phones, open job searching websites and hand the phone back to them. Drop some search flyers on their gas cooker. Use a job flyer as a fan. After one week, they’ll get the message.
Lie Your Ass Off, Forever.
I want you to know that lying is very much still an option. You could tell them their music is the best thing since sliced bread and that Beyonce should watch out. The problem with this is that once you’ve uttered this lie, get ready to commit to it. You’ll have to be their biggest cheerleader when they throw concerts and you are the only person in attendance, get ready to more than overcompensate.
Old Nollywood definitely had its problems. Corny storylines, really bad CGI etc. But one thing they were consistent with is giving us iconic campus queens who were all running things. I love them so much I decided to make a guide on how to be an old Nollywood campus bad girl.
Get Your Fashion Game On Point.
Are you really an old Nollywood campus bad girl if you don’t own at least five spaghetti tops and unlimited denim skirts? You don’t own a ‘Rihanna’ wig and you want me to take you seriously? Please, come off it. Where are your oversized glasses?
Always hold a cigarette.
Notice that I didn’t say smoke? I said hold. You need it lazily near your lips to give you a certain umph. If you are extra, you can smoke it every now and then to punctuate your sentences but if you really want to show everyone that you are the girl that you think you are, I highly recommend inhaling the cigarette smoke then blowing it up at someone’s face. Do that and you’ve earned like a 1000 bad girl points instantly.
You need a ‘chief’ and a ‘baby’.
Now let’s talk about romantic partners. You can’t be single as a campus bad girl, I’m sorry but it doesn’t work like that. You need at least one sugar daddy whose name you yourself don’t know and you must call chief. Is he really a chief or have you forgotten his name and are hoping he buys this act of yours? We will never know! Chief’s job is to provide you with money, wear agbadas and promise you the world. Then you need a ‘baby’. Someone your age, think Emeka Ike or Desmond Elliot. This one is poor, wears baggy stripes shirts and carries a big bag all across the campus. Chances are he’s the best student in the department and helps you with your assignment. Your personal nerd. Look at you, a queen pulling men from different walks of life and even different generations. We what? We stan.
‘You need to use what you have to get what you want?’
You are not entirely sure what this means but as a Nollywood campus bad girl, you must use this line at least once. Perhaps when bringing in a recruit to the bad girl lifestyle, ensure your manicure is done and you have perfect acrylic nails and you can snap your fingers while slowly and emphatically saying ‘you have to use what you have to get what you want.’
Storyline.
You have two options as a Nollywood campus bad girl when it comes to storyline. Option A: be a new girl on campus, you’ll enter uni clutching your Ghana-must-go, wearing a Mary Amaka skirt that has seen better days while scared of your own shadow. Two weeks later, you’ve bought a denim mini skirt, you’ve dethroned the old queen, you’ve stolen her ‘chief’ and maybe even her ‘baby’ but you still haven’t entered class since the first day that you went to get a time table. Option B: You are the OG bad girl on campus then you tried recruiting a new girl who was clutching her Ghana-must-go, next thing you know they’ve stolen your ‘chief’ and your ‘baby’ and even your apartment and you are just wondering where it all went wrong.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Before we get into this review you need to understand one thing about me – I live for bad movies and shows. I exclusively watch the CW, and the moment I see a tweet about a show being bad I immediately add it to my ‘to-watch’ list. Emmy or Oscar worthy shows or movies that have all the critics raving about how it mirrors society and provides room for us to process our collective trauma? Meh. Binge-worthy trash shows or movies that are painfully exaggerated and obviously rooted in a fantasy that is very out of this world? My jam! Knowing this, you can understand why the moment I heard we would be having a Bollywood-Nollywood love drama I was excited. Two movie industries that were built on exaggerated storylines giving us their love child? Namaste Wahala just has my name all over it.
Naturally, I don’t watch movies like this expecting jaw-dropping writing or acting but Namaste Wahala definitely pushed the envelope. The acting in this movie, especially in the scene where RMD (an actor I love not just because he is my sugar daddy of choice but also because he has consistently proven to have the acting chops you would expect of a veteran) meets his daughter’s beau for the first time and isn’t okay with him being Indian is so unbelievably wooden I believe I can stake a vampire with it. Frodd, of Big Brother Naija fame, had maybe three lines and somehow gave one of the worst performances I have ever seen in my life. And this is coming from someone who has spent considerable time watching the youths in church act out dramas during youth week. The line delivery for almost the entirety of the movie is my current source of joy but only because of how awful it is. The actress that plays Meera, the mother of Raj, our male protagonist, delivers every line like she is amused by herself. She reminds me of those friends who start laughing at their funny story before even getting to the punch line. Her scene with her taxi driver at the airport is so bad I watched it three times. The attempt to put so many Nigerian (and Indian) mannerisms and references into one scene is hilariously awful and unrealistic. That said, she is easily one of the best characters in the movie. And the scene where she called out RMD for not being too smart gave me endorphins.
Namaste Wahala isn’t a bad watch, especially for people who watch and love Bollywood or Nollywood movies. I enjoyed the cultural fusion and the cinematography is top tier. The actors and actresses are really beautiful – I have plans to have babies for almost everyone in the cast. That said, the writing stressed me. In one of the early scenes, Didi, our female protagonist who is played by Ini Dima-Okojie, sits down for breakfast with her family – I love extravagant breakfast spreads in movies – and says ‘‘this looks so yummy’’ and picks up a piece of fried yam. Here’s the thing, fried yam doesn’t look yummy. Fried yam exists, for better or worse. No one has ever looked at a piece of fried yam and thought ‘‘this looks yummy.’’ A similar thing also happens in another of the later scenes when Meera, Raj’s mother, takes a bite of the indomie Didi made for Raj to get an idea for the food Didi has been making for her son. She bites into it and then goes ‘wow’. First of all, calm down. It is indomie, cold indomie at that. Let’s not oversell it. Speaking of overselling it, the product placement in this movie was so violent. By the time I was done, I felt like I owed the brands and products they were pushing money for some reason. It was a lot. Don’t worry, I’ll go to the restaurants this week.
I could go on and on about Namaste Wahala. Premo who is played by Osas Ighodaro had no reason to be so annoying because Didi not working in the company was good for her and would have allowed Premo advance in her career. There’s also the fact that the movie just sang away three months of Didi and Raj’s relationship and let’s not forget that Angie told Raj that Didi was ‘very, very single’ and if any of my friends ever did that I would ask them to explain what that means because my not having a serious relationship for half a decade is not enough reason for me to be pimped out, please. I am not going to touch the scenes where they were supposed to be serious lawyers because if I do that, I am afraid of what I’ll say.
So final word? Eh. I enjoyed watching it and I think hopefully, this means we’ll be having more movies like this – cheesy and fun – but with better writing and not so wooden acting. Perhaps even some Christmas-themed movies. Hell, give us a New Yam festival themed-movie just for the culture.
‘‘I want to focus on music right now,’’ Ayra tells me over Zoom. ‘‘I wish I could just make music for like a month or two weeks. That’s how excited I am by the reception my EP got.’’ When I meet Ayra Starr, she has a big smile on her face, a smile that remains for the entirety of the conversation. She is wearing a black sweatshirt, a gold chain and her hair is tied up in a ponytail. She looks exactly how you would imagine a 19-year-old would on a Friday. She’s, however, busier than your average 19-year-old. She’s currently at the Mavin Studio — she tells me, and I can see the unmistakable Mavin logo behind her — and her publicist calls out, lightheartedly, that she still has multiple calls scheduled for that day, as well as a studio session for much later. Life is fairly busy when you are Nigeria’s newest teen star.
Ayra Starr’s eponymously titled debut EP came out two weeks before our Zoom conversation. Ayra Starr, the EP, is a collection of soft afrobeat-influenced RnB records with honest lyrics.
‘‘Intense,’’ Ayra says, when I ask her what word she would use to describe her sound. ‘‘Intense because when you hear the music, you’ll get to a part where you just feel it . Even when I listen to it myself, it’s euphoric. I’m not trying to gas myself up, but it is.’’ Ayra does deserve to gas herself up. Within days, “Away”, the EP opener and lead single, was a mega-hit. When Ayra and I talk, her Spotify monthly listeners are at over 30,000 and, for context, she had 0 listeners when she released her EP barely two weeks before. Today, her Spotify monthly listeners are almost 50,000. The singer doesn’t quite feel famous yet. ‘‘I’m still processing it,’’ she says laughing. ‘‘Nothing has changed yet, I’m just excited and want to keep making music.’’
Ayra was born Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe in the Benin Republic and spent her childhood moving between Cotonou and Lagos. ‘‘My mum loves music,’’ Ayra tells me. ‘‘Growing up, my mum would be listening to Tope Alabi, and my aunties would be listening to Tuface or Wande Coal. It was just a very musical home. I listened to a lot of music growing up, so that influenced me. I joined the choir when I was like eight or nine, so from there, I started doing music.’’ Ayra eventually gained admission to Houdegbe University in the Benin Republic to study International Relations and Politics when she was fourteen.
‘‘My uni was like secondary school,’’ Ayra tells Zikoko. “I was super young, but I looked older. When I was fourteen, I looked like I was seventeen or eighteen. Going to uni at that age was exactly how you would imagine it. No campus life. I would take a bike to school and back to the house. Uni was just like secondary school, I even had to wear a uniform.’’
Around this time, Ayra began to grow as an artist. She was no longer just a choir girl, she began to experiment and attempt to do more with her voice and sound. She began merging her musical influences and the various sounds she grew up with, as well as adding something that was entirely her into the mix.
‘‘I would use Youtube to learn how to do runs, how to take breaks, how to hit notes,’’ Ayra shares, her excitement almost palpable. However, despite the improvements to her vocal ability and consistent compliments she got from friends, Ayra wasn’t initially very keen on posting videos of herself singing on social media. She needed more than a little push to do so.
‘‘I have friends that would just force me to do videos and post,’’ she says. ‘‘I wasn’t sure of my vocals at the time, and I was scared of people laughing at me. So, I would give my friends to help me and post. I would make the video and be like, post it for me. I would refuse to check it after they post it. Sometimes, I would come back in the evening to check how it’s doing. The first time I did a cover, people just went mad. I didn’t expect it. People would just DM me and be like, ‘Are you looking for a manager?’ People liked the music and so I kept making more covers.’’ Eventually, Ayra tried her hand at making an original song, working with her younger brother. She posted the song on social media on the 19th of December 2019. A few days later, she got the DM that would change her career.
‘‘Don Jazzy saw it and messaged me.’’ She tells me. ‘‘He was like he has been watching it for like two hours and had to message me. It was inspiring. Three days later, and, I was in the studio with him. It was my first time in a studio. That was January 2020. That’s how it started.’’
Ayra began working on the EP that would become Ayra Starr soon after. She writes most of her songs with her brother, Dami who writes under the moniker Milar, and while the world shut down in 2020, due to an unprecedented pandemic, Ayra spent it listening and re-listening to the songs she had recorded over the course of two months, deciding which needed more work, which made the cut and which didn’t. The result is the five-track EP that skyrocketed her to fame. Think of the EP as a fifteen-minute long Gen Z guide to life and love. The open-ended lyrics let listeners interpret it how they want. On “Away”, this is particularly obvious. On the track, Ayra muses about taking back power after a breakup, but she shares that fans have been giving it their own interpretations with their videos on Instagram and Tiktok.
‘‘I love how people have been interpreting ‘Away’. People are making videos and challenges, and some of it is not even about the stuff I envisioned when making the song. ‘Away’ is about taking your power back, and I’m glad people are listening to it not just for the vibes or melody but for the lyrics and messages. I’ve seen videos of people using it to raise awareness for domestic violence and that’s just cool.’’
Despite what can only be described as an explosive debut, Ayra already has even bigger plans. She wants to make music with k-pop sensation, Blackpink, and she wants to work with Beyonce. And in the middle of all this, Ayra still makes it clear she is going to live her best life as a young person. When I ask her to take a Zikoko quiz, she’s excited as she scrolls through her options before picking a quiz that promises to tell her how much of a troublemaker she is — it says she often is.
2020 took a lot from us, with new music from some of our favourite artists being one of them. A pandemic and a year-defining protest don’t particularly make for the best environment to release new music, so many artists were forced to push their releases to this year.
The good thing, however, is that this means we will be spoiled this year with back-to-back releases. So, we’ve made a round-up of five talented artists who have announced or alluded to releasing albums in 2021.
Joeboy (Somewhere Between Beauty And Magic, February 4)
Joeboy had a stellar debut EP in Love and Light, which was released in 2019. The five-track EP spawned the megahits “Baby” and “Beginning”, which also properly introduced the afropop star to the world.
With his debut album, which was originally slated for a 2020 release but was delayed due to the pandemic and then the #ENDSARS movement, we can expect Joeboy to solidify his status as a definitive star.
Bella Shmurda (Hypertension, Release Date TBA)
Following the mega-success of Bella Shmurda’s street anthem, “Cash App”, the Lagos State University final year student has made it clear that his debut studio album is coming soon rather than later.
While fans do not have an exact date the album is expected to drop, we do know that the album, Hypertension, will feature the likes of Kida Kudz, Shatta Wale and more.
Teni (TBA)
When it comes to music from Teni, one thing you can be guaranteed is that it is going to bang. The singer was set to release an album last year but due to multiple reasons, she couldn’t.
Although we don’t know much about this album — we don’t know the title or her collaborators — we know that, as she did on her last two EPs, Teni will deliver the bangers.
Rema (TBA)
It is hard to name a newcomer in the Nigerian music industry who has had a more fun-to-watch ascension than Rema. In less than two years, the twenty-year-old has become one of the biggest acts in the country.
Now, after a bunch of solid EPs, the singer has promised fans that his debut album will be dropping sometime this year. It goes without saying that this might be the most anticipated release of the year.
Simi (TBA)
After dominating 2020 with back-to-back releases, including a well-received EP, a killer feature on Ladipoe’s “Know You” and one of her biggest hits to date, “Duduke”, Simi is all set to give us a full-length album in 2021.
Going by her tweets about the album, we can expect that the project is going to be even better than last year’s releases, and we can’t wait to see what she has in store for us.
