cousin.world is a regular newsletter on global music.

Each week, I’ll update one of the following playlists with 10 ascendant tracks from world markets and explain how they’re breaking:

• run ⇡ — club tracks from euro & UK dancefloors

• cherry soda ⚭ — breaking k/c/p-pop, city pop and indie

• the grid ✚ — sounds of urbano, reggaeton, funk

• magnitude △ — afrobeat, dancehall and amapiano rising

This week in magnitude △, I am digging into two of Nigeria’s top exports, Rema and Omah Lay, Shenseea’s latest US collab, francophone afrobeats and UMG’s move into Ethiopia.

Next week, it’s back to run ⇡ for breaking tracks out of UK and euro dance floors.

Reply to chat, otherwise see you next week 💌

magnitude △

1. Rema — ‘Trouble Maker’ (Nigeria)

Rema is a 23-year-old songwriter, rapper and singer from Nigeria whose new RAVAGE EP came out a few weeks ago. He has quickly become one of the biggest names in afrobeats and is currently Spotify’s 99th most-streamed artist in the world.

Rema’s breakout single ‘Dumebi’ was released on a self-titled four-track EP when he was just 18. The track blew up with the help of a TikTok dance trend, bringing him newsworthiness outside of Nigeria. A year after premiering the video for ‘Dumebi’ in 2019, The FADER put Rema on their Winter 2020 cover, now one of many alongside Dazed (Spring 2020), Clash (Winter 2020), Crack (August 2021) and i-D (this month). In the i-D profile, writer Sheldon Pearce suggests that “just as the Korean Wave has increased South Korea’s international standing, the pop music of Nigeria is beginning to have a similar effect.”

Almost in parallel to Rema’s success, the global culture industries have expanded their afrobeats infrastructure, much as they did to serve audiences for k-pop and reggaeton. This week, Rema was the recipient of one of two brand new Billboard Music Awards in the Best Afrobeats category, a feat he also achieved at the VMAs in September, winning their first afrobeats award.

Streaming services have also reoriented themselves around this demand. Spotify first expanded into Nigeria alongside many other African markets in 2021, launching flagship genre playlists like African Heat (1.5m followers). Not even two years after the platform launched in his domestic market, Rema cleared 1bn streams on a single track with ‘Calm Down’ ft. Selena Gomez.

Elsewhere in Rema’s i-D profile from this month, he discusses his ambition to continue reaching wider audiences: “The clearest vision I have right now is that I will open so many new territories to afrobeats… That’s the vision for me: opening doors, creating bridges. I’m the bridge to a lot of undone things.”

2. Shenseea, Lola Brooke — ‘Beama’ (Jamaica/US)

Shenseea’s latest collaboration is with Brooklyn rapper Lola Brooke, released earlier this month on Interscope imprint Rich Immigrants.

Before signing her deal in 2019, Shenseea released some of her popular early work via the Kingston, Jamaica based label Chimney Records. Collaborations with major names like Vybz Kartel and Sean Paul in 2017 established her platform before sharing breakout tracks like ‘Shen Yeng Anthem’ the following year. Her deal was written with a long term view to reach fans beyond Jamaica, primarily seeking a mainstream US audience.

On her debut album ALPHA in 2022, she balanced her dancehall roots (via a second Sean Paul collab and a Beanie Man feature) with those mainstream US aspirations, calling on artists like Megan Thee Stallion, 21 Savage, Offset and Tyga to help her crossover. Now in 2023, according to a recent Instagram live published here by Dancehall Mag, she’s planning yet another sonic change to continue her push into pop spaces, evidenced by post-album collaborations with Calvin Harris and The Chainsmokers.

According to her Instagram, ‘Beama’ was released as a standalone single to give fans “something before the year end”, presumably ahead of more big moves into US pop territory for 2024.

3. Omah Lay — ‘Holy Ghost’ (Nigeria)

This track from Omah Lay is currently at the top of Boomplay’s Trending chart and third on Spotify’s Top 50 Nigeria.

In an interview with Complex UK earlier this year, Lay expands on his history as a rapper (under the name Lil King), his upbringing in Nigeria’s Port Harcourt and his feelings about the world’s growing interest in and commodification of afrobeats. Back in 2022, Lay featured on Justin Bieber’s hit ‘Attention’, catapulting him straight into a mainstream US pop audience for the first time. He has also courted audiences in reggaeton, via an Ozuna collab, and UK rap with Aitch.

In the same Complex profile, writer Ezra Olaoya asks if Lay is concerned that a widening scope on afrobeats in general risks watering down the genre and disconnecting it from its African roots. He responds: “I mean, it’s African music that is open for the whole world to enjoy—but it will always be African music. There’s no need to fear someone hijacking the movement; it’s too deep-rooted in the motherland.”

Like Shenseea, his latest Instagram post also teases a new cycle about to begin in the new year.

4. Ronisia, Niska — ‘I Got U’ (Cape Verde/France)

France-raised Cape Verdean artist Ronisia connects with Niska on this track ‘I Got U’, which currently tops the key Spotify editorial playlist Afro Hits (852k). It’s the lead single taken from her new album era 24 released last week via Epic Records France.

Francophone afrobeats tracks often have a unique direction of travel, with a potential audience of an estimated 167 million French speakers across Africa and with diaspora audiences in markets like Canada, the US and, of course, France. This is evidenced by this track’s playlist support (New Music Friday France & Canada, Nouveautés francophones, futurs hits) and Ronisia’s audience breakdown on Instagram, where her 828k followers are concentrated in France, Senegal, DRC, Côte d’Ivoire and Camaroon (per Chartmetric).

Ronisia discusses her project and desire to collaborate with her favourite artist, Beyoncé, in this Stylist France profile.

5. Yamlu Molla, Dess — ‘Dr. Prescription’ (Ethiopia)

This week, Universal struck a deal to license their catalogue on the Ethiopian streaming service Sewasew Multimedia. Until now, the market has been served primarily by two Africa-specific DSPs, Boomplay and Mdundo.

Two days ago, Spotify also announced a deal with Orange Middle East & Africa to incentivise use of the platform with “data bonuses” (i.e free data allocation to use Spotify). Spotify is regularly offered as part of telecom packages in developing markets where economic factors drive consumers to primarily listen on free-to-use platforms like YouTube, something Spotify hopes to change in its unending quest for new listeners.

Sewasew is also a label services company and these two artists Yamlu Molla and Dess release with them. In this interview with The Ethiopian Reporter, Molla discusses his formative experiences listening to Ethiopia Radio and his deal with Sewasew in a little more detail.

+ Five More

6. Skillibeng, Maru Evafrass — ‘Represent Refix’ (Jamaica)

A new one from Skillibeng and his second collab with producer Maru Evafrass to be released this year. Read his 2022 profile in The Face to learn more about the self-proclaimed best dancehall artist of his generation.

7. Dlala Thuzkin, Zaba, Sykes — ‘iPlan’ (South Africa)

This gqom track from Dlala Thukzin currently sits atop Spotify’s Top 50 South Africa and has peaked at #1 on most other DSPs in the market. It was released on his own Dlala Records.

8. Mr Eazi, Joeboy — ‘Zuzulakate’ (Nigeria)

Released three weeks ago, ‘Zuzulakate’ currently tops Boomplay’s weekly updated Top 100 Ghana playlist. Here’s a great interview with Mr Eazi on Rolling Stone.

9. Ada Ehi — ‘GALLANT’ (Nigera)

Gospel is big business for Africa-specific DSPs. In fact next month I think I will go into greater detail… but for now, check out this new one from Nigerian gospel artist Ada Ehi. She has 1.71m followers on YouTube alone and is currently leading Boomplay’s New Gospel Releases playlist.

10. Tyla, Travis Scott — ‘Water’ (South Africa/US)

Last month in magnitude △ #002, I led the mailer with Tyla’s smash hit ‘Water’. The inevitable remix has landed courtesy of Travis Scott, buying this track some more time at the top. Tyla was interviewed this week on Power 106.

The Playlists