How Lusaka Moves

There is a particular way Lusaka reveals itself. You can spend an entire afternoon convinced there is nowhere to go, only to find yourself scattered around town because the errands dragged you to new places. For years, Lusaka has been described as a city of work and little play. In administration, politics, and commerce, it […]
Yemi Alade, In Her Own Name

It is a blazing noon in the second week of March 2026 when the Grammy-nominated artist Yemi Alade presses record on a “Get Ready With Me” video. She begins with a meditative hook, her eyes closed, her hands pressed together solemnly. In the same measured succession, she works moisturising cream into her face before turning […]
Akin Faminu on Style, Taste and the Things He Returns To

Akin Faminu can spend one evening watching a 1999 Dolce & Gabbana show and another reading an anatomy textbook from cover to cover. The medical doctor and fashion creator has built a public life around style, but his tastes extend well beyond clothes. For this edition of Word of Mouth, Faminu talks about the designers […]
Before the Album, Rapsody Went to Ghana

Rapsody did not come to Ghana for a show. There was no tour routing to explain the visit, no announced album cycle. She came to walk the country, and she came with questions about where she was from. Amino’s 2025 film, “Rapsody in Ghana, A Conversation With Joseph Amino,” follows those questions through markets and […]
How DJs Helped Take Afrobeats Global

Trill Xoe, a Lagos-raised DJ and producer who studied in Mauritius and has worked with Native Records, remembers hearing Afrobeats there, thousands of miles from home. Hearing the sound playing loudly from a DJ set felt like more than a surprise. “Just being in a foreign man’s land where they don’t speak English, and just […]
How Lagos Moves

There are two words I’ve long used to describe Lagos: beautiful chaos. They may read like an oxymoron, but they are the closest thing the city has to a definition. To understand Lagos, you must first allow that contradiction to settle in your mind. Only then does the city begin to reveal itself, not as […]
Dakar Sound Project
Dakar Sound Project is a photo series by photographer Khaled Fhemy Mamah and stylist Hélène Redolfi — a Dakaroise stroll that pays tribute to African music, past and present, and the influences that still resonate in the city’s streets. The series is a dialogue between music and clothing: costume as scene, the wardrobe as show. […]
The Lusaka Youth Are Building Their Own Scene

The third spaces, pop-ups, and pricing decisions behind a generation’s bid for cultural infrastructure.
Before Rio, There Was Luanda

Samba, the Rhythm That Refused to Stay Still
How to Dress for a Rave (Across African Cities)

To dress for a rave, one must first recognize how raves are buzzing all over our social radar