Some Afropop songs are so big, they take on lives of their own and leave their makers behind. Even years after release, these songs still turn up parties. They come on, and everyone shouts, “That was my jam that year.”
Party-hopping and hearing these old jams sent me down the rabbit hole of Afropop to find some of the lit-est one-hits that still hit hard today.
Collabo — Deebee
Do you remember that song that corrupted your definition of “collaboration” circa 2009? This song Collabo by Deebee was so huge that if anyone said the word “Collabo” that year, people would take it to mean “sex”.
I hope Deebee is doing good and not diluting English words wherever he is.
Lori Le — X-Project
2010 buzzed with Lori Le. To date, it lights up the energy in any party from the first second of its instrumental. At the call-and-response: “Lori le, o di gobe”, the party turns into a rave. This track’s a dance jam for every era.
Shayo — Bigiano
“I no go fit invite una come my party, make una no shayo” rings from the start and you already know it’s a party-rider. Granted that Bigiano dropped an album with a mildly known Iwofa, the song Shayo is what mostly brings his voice to any party.
Pasa Pasa – MP
In 2008, MP was sending out love bugs with Pasa Pasa. The lover boys and girls that actively jammed this song then are people’s parents now.
Hola Hola — Sugarboy
When G-Worldwide and Sugarboy dropped this jam in 2016, DJs reverberated, “Hola hola, we popping bottles,” through parties. It’s now a Nigerian new-school party classic.
Control — W4
In 2011, W4 was moving like a Fela incarnate with his fashion style. Around that time, he released Control, an earworm that takes one back to the prime days of Chanel O and Soundcity — where we anticipated and watched music videos before YouTube.
Lowkey — Flowssick
In the Afrobeats era of Versace clothes, bling-bling and RayBan shades, Lowkey was a banger. Although we never heard of Flowssick after the song, its bouncy beat and the popular and repetitive, “Let me give it to you low-key” line still awakens nostalgia.
Kokoma — K9
The craze of Azonto was still viral when K9 made Kokoma in 2012. If you remember this jam, you were an active outside baby.
Osinachi — Humblesmith feat. Phyno
This is arguably the breakout song of 2016. Davido had to jump on its remix.
In My Maserati — Olakira
This Olakira’s song came out in 2020 and it was so huge that he got a remix with Davido and bagged a deal with the Maserati car brand two years later. But since then, his music hasn’t garnered another momentum.
If No Be You — Jamo Pyper feat. Mayorkun
Jamo Pyper is a street-pop artist affiliated with Zlatan Ibile. His only hit song, If No Be You, ruled the airwaves as one of the hits Afrobeats gave us during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.
