African musicians who impressed in 2018 – part 1

28 Dec 2018 - 21:41

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

Twenty-eighteen has been an incredible year for many African musicians who made headway in various areas of the music business. Whether by winning numerous awards, amassing millions of views and listens on streaming platforms or by signing memorable record deals that will boost their brands and further their careers, Africa's A-listers need to be mentioned as inspirational music professionals who beat the odds in an extremely competitive industry.

South Africa's AKA had a successful 2018.

Below is part 1 of our list of African artists who impressed in 2018.

Southern Africa

Cassper Nyovest (South Africa)

The South African rapper is one of the best examples of African artists who achieved the most in 2018. Since the beginning of the year, hip hop fans were still going crazy about his science fiction-inspired music video ‘Destiny’ (released in July 2017) featuring R&B singer Goapele Mohlabane. And this year was pretty much a continuation of his success in 2017, which the artist concluded with victory at the South African Hip Hop Awards.

In April 2018, he released the ‘Ksazobalit’ music video that has garnered the artist more than 2.1 million views on YouTube. A month later, the ‘Doc Shebeleza’ hitmaker was nominated in the Best International Act category at the BET Awards, which saw Nigerian singer Davido taking home the top prize. Last month, Cassper released the Sweet and Short album, which went platinum in a day. The 11-track offering was released through a partnership with Universal and the rapper’s Family Tree Records.

As a part of his fill-up series, Cassper outdid himself once again and packed Moses Mabhida Stadium, albeit to a loss. The concert was his fourth instalment of the fill-up series. A day later he joined a stellar line-up at Global Citizen Festival, which was held at the gargantuan FNB Stadium.

AKA (South Africa)

AKA joins his bitter rival Cassper Nyovest on our list of 2018's most successful artists. AKA broke the bank with the June release of the Touch My Blood album, which was certified platinum in November, no doubt aided by the video release of ‘Fela In Versace’ featuring Nigerian producer Kiddominant. The video has clocked up almost 3 million YouTube views while its track sat for weeks at No 1 on the Metro FM charts. The song is also one of the most successful collaborations between a South African and Nigerian artist to date.

Sho Madjozi (South Africa)

Enter Sho Madjozi. The South African rapper is among the artists whose meteoric rise wasn’t anticipated by most. The 26 year old made the big time with her hit single ‘Huku’, which is listed among our top 10 gqom songs of 2018. The video for the song has almost 3.2 million YouTube views, and the song made it into Apple’s 2018 A-list of African music. Sho Madjozi has also played some pretty big gigs lately, including Afropunk in Brooklyn, One Source Live, Cape Town International Jazz Festival and Global Citizen Festival. Looking at these achievements, 2019 could be an even bigger year for the colourful Limpopo artist.

Sjava (South Africa)

If South African rapper Sjava wasn’t known internationally before 2018, that certainly changed after he won the Viewers' Choice: Best International Act accolade at the BET Awards in June, the same month he released the video for 'Abangani' featuring Emtee and Saudi. The video is close to breaking the 2 million YouTube views mark.

East Africa

Vanessa Mdee (Tanzania)

Tanzanian singer Vanessa Mdee got a huge boost this year through her Money Mondays album, which became the bestselling and most streamed East African offering on Boomplay Music in May. The 18-track album featured top artists such as Reekado Banks (Nigeria), K.O (SA), Mohombi (Swedeen/DRC), Casper Nyovest (SA), Joh Makini (Tanzania), Juma Jux (Tanzania), among others. The singer reached another milestone when she was signed by Universal Music alongside Tekno (Nigeria) Mr. Eazi (Nigeria) and Stonebwoy (Ghana).

Singer Diamond Platnumz knows how to build an empire in the music business. Early this year, the Tanzanian artist landed rights to launch his stations Wasafi TV and Wasafi FM. Diamond also invited US singer Omarion to play at the launch of his 18-track A Boy From Tandale album in Nairobi, Kenya. The album would evoke jealousy if you're an African artist trying to make it to the big leagues: it features little-known names like Rick Ross, Omarion, Neyo, Miri Ben-Ari, Morgan Heritage, Flavour, Rayvanny, Davido, Jah Prayzah, Tiwa Savage, P-Square and Vanessa Mdee.

Eddy Kenzo (Uganda)

Ugandan artist Eddy Kenzo did well on the 2018 awards circuit. The ‘Sitya Loss’ hitmaker was the winner in the Favourite African Star category at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in California in March, beating competition from Cassper Nyovest (South Africa), Caster Semenya (South Africa), Davido (Nigeria), Emmanuella (Nigeria) and Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania). In October, he scooped the Award of Prestige at the African Entertainment Awards ceremony in New Jersey. The singer also emerged as the winner in the Performing Arts category at Uganda's Young Achievers Awards.