The end of the year is typically a busy time for the music industry as the annual announcement of the Grammy Award nominations provides a boost in sales and streams for the artistes on the shortlist.
One of the albums nominated for a Grammy last week is among the five BDLife recommendations for music to spice up your streaming playlists.
Exactly 30 years after Whitney Houston took the stage in Durban, South Africa, following the country’s first post-apartheid elections, a live album of that concert on November 8, 1994, was released for the first time (the film of the concert was screened at select movie theatres worldwide last month).
The album captures the energy of up-tempo classics like So Emotional, Love Will Save The Day, How Will I Know, and I Wanna Dance with Somebody as Whitney delivered a powerful show to the delight of the crowd at Durban’s King’s Park Stadium.
This was one of the most exceptional artistes of all time at the peak of her powers as her voice shines through her trademark ballads I Will Always Love You, All at Once, and Greatest Love of All. A surprise on the album is the previously unreleased song, Love Is, included here in two versions.
Rema
HEIS
Thanks to his Grammy nomination announced last week for Best Global Music Album, there has been a surge in streams for this album that was released in July 2024.
Cynics would have wondered if the Nigerian was ever going to top the phenomenal success of his 2022 hit Calm Down. The 24-year-old whose official name is Divine Ikubor, offers an emphatic response with his sophomore album HEIS (the Greek word meaning ‘one’).
The vibrant fusion of Afrobeats with electronic dance music, pop, hip hop, and dancehall gives him a niche from the crowded field of Afropop artists on the world stage.
Rema keeps the energy on the ascendancy, right from the opening track, March Am, right through bangers like Azaman, Hehehe, Yayo, Benin Boys and the title track flavoured with a chorus in Swahili by Nairobi’s Redfourth Chorus choir.
MC Lyte
1 of 1
This is the first album in nine years from a rapper who broke the glass ceiling for female MCs more than three decades ago. MC Lyte (Lana Michele Moorer) was the first female rapper to release a full solo album with her debut Lyte as a Rock in 1988.
She was one of the most prolific hip hop recording artistes of her era and anthems like Ruffneck,Keep On, Keepin’ On and Cold Rock a Party defined the sound of a generation.
Even at the age of 54, she retains the flow and swag that made her a household name decades ago. On the new album, MC Lyte teams up with gospel recording, sister duo, Mary Mary and R&B singer Muni Long on the rousing Thank You, an ode to triumphing over adversity, fellow pioneer Queen Latifah drops in on King King and the legendary Stevie Wonder and rapper Common are featured on Change Your Ways.
Other big-name collaborators on the 17-track album include Big Daddy Kane, Cheryl James (of Salt & Peppa fame), Ghostface Killa, Q-Tip and highly rated singer Jai’Len Josey.
Kodong Klan
Kodong
This album officially released on Tuesday is a project by some of the biggest talents in contemporary music in Kenya working together as a collective for the first time.
The Kodong Klan comprises Charisma, Coster Ojwang, Mordecai Dex (of H_art the Band), Okelo Max, Bensoul and Watendawili.
The objective of the group is to create a fusion between modern Afropop, dancehall and hip hop with the timeless Kenyan rhythm of benga.
The first two singles released from the album are Okra Water which contains a sample of the 2003 Nameless hit Deadly and Kodong, a feel-good dancehall-themed groove.
As the group’s first studio album drops on streaming platforms today, the group will then perform together on their first show on November 30, 2024.
Rick Astley
The Best of Me (Never Edition)
In 1987 a 21-year-old British singer with a distinctive voice who had started out as tea boy in his producers’ recording studio, took pop music by storm when his debut single became an instant global hit.
Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley topped the charts in 25 countries and became one of the definitive songs of the 1980s (1.5 billion views on YouTube to date). To coincide with the publication of his autobiography, Never, in October 2024, the legendary British singer has reissued this album of his greatest.
Besides his signature song, the album contains all his unforgettable hits, Whenever You Need Somebody, Together Forever, She Wants to Dance with Me and Take Me to Your Heart, in their original and reimagined versions.
