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Asake: Lungu Boy review – Nigerian superstar trips across the Black diaspora, with help from Stormzy
Although not as strong as last year’s Work of Art, Asake’s third album is rich with compositional detail and guest spots from the likes of Travis Scott and Central Cee
With his 2023 release Work of Art, Nigerian vocalist Asake set a high-water mark for albums in the impressive recent wave of west African pop, his serenely lilting top lines underpinned with the deep and dynamic Afro-house style of amapiano. But the album is otherwise tuneful and rich with compositional detail: improvised flute, saxophone and muted trumpet frequently float across the backdrops, gorgeously human against the drum programming and penetrating amapiano bass stabs. As the album climbs through the gears, it’s absolutely joyous to hear Travis Scott and Central Cee each rolling relentlessly over Afrocentric rhythms, and best of all is Whine, a Caribbean dancehall track performed alongside Afro-Brazilian foil Ludmilla, lyrics morphing from English to Yoruba and Portuguese: a carnival-worthy celebration of the Black Atlantic.
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