20 Artistes to watch in 2020

Words by Dammy Salam for Playmode Music

2019 was quite an eventful and exciting time for the Nigerian music industry with Afrobeat earning global recognition and worthy of Grammy conversation. More than ever the world paid attention to Afrobeat with Nigerian artists like Wizkid, Davido and Burna Boy to mention a few championing the movement, selling out arenas across the world, raking in numbers on streaming platforms and signing international deals.

The year was marked by massive releases of great tunes and packed with new discoveries being the first year in 10 years we are genuinely witnessing change in guard on the music scene. It saw a plethora of new sensations like Rema, Fireboy and Joeboy wining listeners over with their silky melodies, catchy releases, fashion style and bloomed into superstars within a short while.

Barely 6 weeks into 2020, we’ve been inundated with music, the year started off with packs of banging tunes and the deluge of drops only grows heavier with a new phase of artists flirting with stardom and gaining momentum, this got us excited about what's to come in the year.

Playmode is beaming spotlight on some of our favourite artists who are perceived as poised for stardom going by their potential to break out this year and we think they deserves your attention, a few acts on the list that you've maybe not heard of until now while others have started to gain traction in 2019, and are ready to strike the right cords this year.

Keep an eye on these budding stars as we do a song recommendation for each one that we know you’ll most certainly want to add to your playlists.

 

TEMS

There’s one name topping every one-to-watch list this year and it’s Temilade Openiyi popularly known as Tems, she has got an incredible voice type with an expansive vocal range. Lyrically, she knows how to document bad men. In three singles, she has only discussed the bad side of men who have either hurt her or 'failed to launch.

Good music and nice vibes are instantly noticeable and this was true the first time I heard Tems on "Falling", a track off Ladipoe's debut body of work, "Talk About Poe". With a voice so powerful, soulful and passionate, it's not a surprise that within a short span in the music industry, she has solidified her stand as one of the leaders of the alte movement and arguably one of the most featured in that faction of the music industry.

Recommendations: "Try me" & "Mr Rebel"

 

T-CLASSIC

T-Classic (real names Tolulope Ajayi) have amassed a dedicated following over the past few years since breaking into the music scene, he has had an impressive and enviable career run. From successive music singles released to an association with some of the industry’s brightest and best acts that include names like Mayorkun, Tiwa Savage, Peruzzi and DJ Kaywise.

He has experienced expansive growth in his overall musical craft, with his "Nobody Fine Pass You" single released in 2019 boasting of over 4.5 million views on YouTube and undeniably one of fans favourite releases last year, this was endorsed by MAYA, City People, Headies and a host of others Award platforms last year. The 22year old singer is no doubt destined for bigger stages, he recently made his deal with Sony music west-Africa official couple of days back, making him the latest signee and also revealed plans for his Underrated EP release much later in the month.

Recommendations: "Yes or No" & "Think About It"

 

LADY DONLI

She is another genre fluid female artist and a perfect example of how hard work pays. Lady Donli isn’t exactly an industry newcomer, the US born artiste has been active for almost a decade and has consistently put out quality releases back to back while honing her skills and evolving in her sounds. However last year was a different year for Donli. Her debut album, "Enjoy Your Life" retooled hallmark Nigerian sounds, which—in her own words—was “a manifestation of growth.” This was well received and it's arguably one of the quality albums that came out of Nigeria last year. She also had successful concerts and shows both in Nigeria and outside of the country.

Lady Donli draws her sound from cross-cultural influences and eras harmonizes soulful vocals, with deep Pan-African themes, genre-hopping, and a desire to provide escapism. She fired up after she shares the remix of her infectious song “Cash” featuring Afropop singer, Davido, where OBO opens the remix with an energetic verse about his flashy lifestyle and a shared love of cash. He also sprinkles the song with several animated ad-libs throughout.

Last year was a good starting point for Donli, just imagine what will happen in 2020.

Recommendations: "Cash"

                                                                                   WURLD

Buzzing Nigerian-American based artiste, Sadiq Onifade, widely known as WurlD practically stole the airwaves in 2019 after teaming up with award-winning producer Sarz On The Beats, for an entrancing new 8-song EP, I Love Girls With Trobul.

The project was on the first spot of Nigeria’s iTunes charts and with highly-addictive jams like “Trobul” and “Ego”.

WurlD has been in the industry for a while but his efforts in 2019 have had massive impacts on his career after he dropped his first EP, Love Is Contagious in March 2019.

A popular track in the 9-song EP, “Contagious”, sees the blue-haired WurlD blending elements of Nigerian juju music with pop and R&B, making for a captivating and energetic fusion.

He bagged the Headies’ Male Vocalist of 2019 award and that took him on a huge leap as it exposed him the more to the global industry.After the award, the artiste who is signed to Universal Music Nigeria has been featured by several top artistes, the latest being Davido in ‘Sweet In The Middle’, a song off Davido’s ‘A Good Time’ album.

Recommendations: "Trobul" & "Contagious"

 

BLAQBONEZ

It's going to be almost impossible ignoring the energy and momentum of the self-acclaimed Best Rapper in Africa, whether it's musical, lyrical or something else altogether. Emeka Akumefule, known professionally as Blaqbonez is one of the few underground rappers making big statements which are not just game-preserving, but potentially game-changing.

The charismatic rapper is signed to 100 Crowns, an imprint of Chocolate City In 2019, he was profiled by the New York Times (alongside Teni, Odunsi the Engine and three others) as one of the new guards of Nigerian music. He is widely known for his controversial self-proclaimed status as the "Best Rapper in Africa" abbreviated as "BRIA", proclamation was a response to a diss track and need to wake up other rappers in Nigerian rappers to do better. This became the most talked about topic in the Nigerian hip hop space, between July and September 2019. Under the watch of Mr Incredible, we can't wait to see him bloom into a superstar in 2020.

Recommendations: "Shut Up" & "Mammy Water"

 

OXLADE

One of the most hotly tipped artists for 2020 is the Charismatic singer-songwriter Ikuforiji Abdulrahman Olaitan—better known as Oxlade first displayed his talent with a sonorous vocals on Blaqbonez’s “Mamiwota” and later on  YBNL’s Fireboy DML on the song, “Sing” and ever since has received the stamp of approval from a line-up of the industry’s major players.

The Independent artist had a pretty great 2019. He is on everyone’s shortlist of artists to work with, His track, the hypnotic “Sugar”, went viral at the tail-end of 2019.  Describing his style as “Afro-fusion”, Oxlade pulled up on the UK last November for a round of cultural exchange, performing at Wizkid’s Starboy Fest, a sold-out show at the O2 Arena in London, DJ Tunez’s Blackout London show and later alongside London rappers Skengdo, we can’t forget what Oxlade did on “Brixton Boy”. We expect to hear and see lots more of him in 2020.

Recommendations: "Sugar"

 

YONDA

Real name Abayomi Adetunji is an Afro-pop artiste with Fuji/Apala voice style is one of the unique acts we are excited to watch this year, his career has been on the rise ever since he registered his presence on the scene after he got on the Davido-led record label DMW in 2019 followed by couple of great releases like "Bad Girl Riri” featuring label mate Mayorkun. The young act also showed his dexterity on couple of features like "Aje" by DMW and "Animashahun" off Davido's A Good Time album. This projected him as a major contender to breakout in 2020.

The DMW boss, Davido talked about how greatly talented the lad is and revealed his plans to give him a major push while talking to Ebro Darden on Beats couple of months ago, even though the current state of their relationship at the moment is uncertain following the recent fall-out between the two when Yonda clearly called Davido out and tagged him a user, but regardless a star has no hiding place, with such great talent we expect Yonda's difference to sell him and find his way into the mainstream.

Recommendations: "Xmas"

 

GOODGIRL LA

Nigerian-born Afro-Fusion singer, songwriter and all-round musical goddess, Euphemia Ekumah had a great year in 2019 starting with the awesome releases of her standout single “Faraway” and followed up with spiritual performance on “Bless Me” with an accompanying music video which did great numbers on digital platforms and caught the attention of music lovers. Afterwards she went ahead to drop her 8 track debut EP LA Confidential towards last quarter of the year which cemented her spot as one artist emerging star to watch out for.

This independent artist whose selling point is her vocals range, song writing skills and willingness to explore different sound is set to take on the world, one song at a time. She has caught the attention of some international platforms such as New York Times, Genius, the Native magazine to mention a few talking about how talented she is and nominated for Best Vocal Performance (Female) at the Headies. All these are indications the 22-year-old vocalist has a good chance of rising over the course of 2020.

Recommendations: "Bless Me" & "Greatest"

 

BUJU

Daniel Benson known by vast majority as Buju which stands for (Beauty Underneath Just Understood) is an Afro-Fusion singer, a boundary-pushing artist who has constantly proved himself since emergence and we can’t wait to see what he has planned for the year.

This young emerging artist is poised for stardom, his peculiar voice is fast becoming marginally but effectively widespread, singing his way to everyone's lips by optimising the use of digital platforms and social media to connect deeply with fans.

Buju is a perfect combination of eccentricity and authenticity, his unique Afro-fusion infectious sound and ability to tell stories effortlessly in his music whilst including vivid melodies and harmony is something that has made his music a ‘must-listen to, warming his way into the hearts of music lovers, steadily building for himself a solid fan base with an impressive discography,  ‘A Day in Lagos’, ‘Call You’, ‘Catch A Vibe’, ‘Cool Kids’ and the latest ‘Wahala’, ‘Spiritual’ and "To Your Ears" notably.

Recommendations: "Spiritual" & "To Your Ears"

 

MOHBAD

With song titles like "See My Bouncer" and "Balan Ziaga", Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba popular known on stage as Mohbad needs no introduction especially to the fans of Shepeteri music. Busted unto the scene after winning Baddy Osha "Who Dey" Challenge in 2018 and ever since he has shown potential to extend beyond the breakout moment being one of the most featured artists in 2019.

His style has slices of realism for the streets, trendy slangs and infectious hooks married perfectly to the impeccably curated beats he jumps on. Barely few weeks into the year and he's already primed as one of those to explode having released a banging single "Komajensu" featuring his label boss Naira Marley. The year looks so bright for this young star.

Recommendations: "Balan Ziaga"

 

CRAYON

On the last day of May 2019, Baby Fresh's Blowtime Entertainment (which is a subsidiary of Supreme Mavin Dynasty) officially announced the signing of Crayon. Born Raymond Oscar, Crayon whose vocal prowess is second to none was quickly featured on Mavin’s “All Is In Order”, a song which rocked the Nigeria music airspace mid last year. The young chap who is fond of calling himself Cray Cray released a self-titled EP barely five weeks later after his official signing. This EP garnered a lot of streams and airplay with “Bamiloke” and “So Fine” being the highlights.

Fast forward to a few months later, the 24-years-old bagged a nomination as the Rookie Of The Year at one of the biggest music awards in Nigeria, Headies. He has already launched his 2020 with a worthy melodious mid-tempo song titled “Kpano” whose video on YouTube has over 80k views within the first week of release.

Recommendations: "So Fine" & "Aye O"

 

ZINOLEESKY

Fast-rising talented Nigerian vocalist and songwriter, Oniyide Azeez popularly known as Zinoleesky is another newcomer with impressive vibes, who has a unique power of making listeners fall for his records with his uniqueness of delivery, and dynamism of melody.

Zinoleesky is one of the new skool artistes riding on the buzz that Social Media provides, and he has became a social media sensation with his unique voice and freestyles on Instagram with his counterpart, Lil Frosh which hauled them an organic growth.His fame increased after getting an Instagram repost of his cover to Fvck You by the song’s original singer Kizz Daniel.

Zinoleesky relentlessly and successfully convinced countless listeners to become his fans in 2019 with impressive tracks and collaborations, with his newly signed deal Marlian Records owned by controversial singer, Naira Marley towards the tail end 2019, we can’t wait for what the young lad has to offer in 2020

Recommendations: "Firi Yoyo" & "Who Knows"

 

LIL FROSH

One of the fastest-rising indigenous rapper blessed with immense talent, Lil Frosh got great attention from music lovers when he teamed up with Zinoleesky and built himself musically by uploading freestyle videos on Instagram which made him successfully gained lots of attention.

Lil Frosh raps in the Yoruba language with clear and smooth flows, coming up with well-cooked punchlines. His fame rose after he had a collaboration with Nigerian street sensation, Small Doctor on a track tagged “Firi Yahoo”.

Now armed with a Davido co-sign DMW/AMW, 2020 seems to be the year the youngster from Agege transition from being an upcoming act to a hitmaker.

Recommendations: "Firi Yahoo" & "Kagadaffi"

 

BELLA SHMURDA

Afrobeat singer, Akinbiyi Abiola Ahmed popularly known as Bella Shmurda got the industry’s attention after he was spotted by the YBNL boss, Olamide after listening to his hit single “Vision 2020” sometime around December 2018, a song which documented the life of a young hustler. Baddo known for supporting talents jumped on the remix of the song produced by the legendary ID Cabasa and ever since the story has never been the same for Bella.

This talented delivers his sound with infectious harmonies and rhythm, relatable lines that are sure to evoke sing-alongs, just as the Nigerian audience love their pop music.

Furthering his cause to become a mainstay in the industry, dropped couple of impressive follow up such as “Upgrade” in 2019 and serving us fresh tunes “Amope” and “Ginger Me” in 2020 off his soon to be released EP “High Tension” later in the year. He’s showing a great sign of readiness to blow the mind of music lovers in 2020.

Recommendations: "Vision 2020" & "Ginger Me"

 

CHIDOKEYZ

Chidiebere David Omeje who is widely known as Chidokeyz is a talented singer and songwriter whose voice could easily be his trademark. The BO Entertainment signee who officially introduced himself with a single, “With You” which he had DMW boss, Davido on back in 2018 has been trying to cut through not just into the Nigerian mainstream music scene but also to the A-list category of the aforementioned.

The 22-year-old artiste had a swell 2019 with some pretty impressive effort like Fibadi (ft Wizkid) and Jogodo (my personal favourite).

Recommendations: "Fibadi" & "Jogodo"

 

CANDY BLEAKZ

This super talented rap diva represents the streets. This indigenous rapper, Akinade Blessing Mariam exploited the social media by using the platform to drop her various freestyle videos. She released her much anticipated video “Owo Osu” remix featuring Naira Marley and Zlatan Ibile in 2019. The video gave her massive recognition in the industry. She’s one of the new hiphop’s female acts to look out for in 2020.

Recommendations: "Owo Osu" and “Virus”

 

LITMUS AYO
Orimisan Ayomiposi better known as Litmus Ayo is an effervescent singer who put his talent on display with his 2019 single “Alright 2.0”, an infectious tune which enlisted lyrical supports of the leaders of the new school, Didi, Deshinor and Wale Turner. 

Last year was quite a good year for him, with a song like “Alright 2.0” which captured every hustlers prayer for lucky day in the struggle for the elusive pot of gold and got good music lovers' attention, did relatively well on digital platforms, made it to top spot on charts, landed on radio before any conscious push and puts Litmus Ayo on major stages across the country, this reception makes it clear that big things are coming his way, the independent afro pop artist who is planning to release a 7 track EP, solid body of work later in the year. 

Litmus Ayo has shown that he’s an artiste with a range so we can only wait and see what he has in store for us in 2020. 

TAYO KRUZ
My first encounter with this emerging artist at a studio session left me with a similar feeling with when I first heard Klever Jay some years ago, this talented singer showed great vocal prowess and innate grasp of melody playfully killing every beat the producer played leaving me with no choice but to instantly fall in love with him. 

Afolabi Omotayo Opeyemi, better known as Tayo Kruz is a fast rising Nigerian singer and songwriter signed to Daddie Dynasty Records best known for his single  “Grateful” featuring Lace released sometimes last year which enjoyed massive review. 

The young artist is worth your time and attention, backed by his label and team of management we expect him to shake up the industry at large. Hang on tight!

DENIKE

Adeleke Adenike popularly known as Denike, the first lady of Sleek Jamz Records releases her second single titled “Away” after the huge success of her first single “Ejika” with the label.

This melodious single shows her versatility and she’s not slowing down anytime soon.

The singer and songwriter was born on September 1997 in Lagos, Nigeria.

Other worthy mentions; Mojo, Flykid, Arezi, Limerick, Shawbit, Didi, Sony Jojo, Kessong, Tomi Thomas  and Cblack.