Blaqbonez talks being the ‘Best Rapper In Africa’ on Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio

This Week’s Episode Features a Conversation With Blaqbonez, the 5 Hottest Tracks of the Week, and Sha Sha’s Favourite African Proverb!

Tune in to Africa Now Radio With Cuppy This Sunday, May 2nd at 2p Lagos/London / 3p Johannesburg/Paris / 6a LA / 9a NYC on Apple Music 1 and broadcast on Cool FM in Nigeria every Sunday at 6pm.

Cover Star Interview
Nigerian rapper Blaqbonez joins Cuppy via FaceTime on Apple Music 1 to talk about his latest track, “Bling (feat. Amaarae & Buju),” from his new album, Sex Over Love. He also discusses the themes behind the album, working with Tiwa Savage, and the up-and-coming artists on his radar.

The Big 5
Cuppy shares the 5 hottest new African tracks of the moment. This week’s selection includes new tracks from Laycon feat. Teni; Bramisto; Mr JazziQ feat. Kay Invictus, Vic_typhoon, Mellow & Sleazy & FakeLove ; Adekunle Gold; and Lojay & Sarz.

Africa Rising
Nigeria’s Le Mav is latest Africa Rising cover star, a campaign which shines a light on the next generation of African superstars. Listen HERE.

Proverb of the Week
Zimbabwean singer Sha Sha shares her favourite Shona proverb: ”One person cannot do all things by themselves”—reminding us of the power of collaboration.

Mini Mix
In celebration of Africa Month, Cuppy finishes this week’s show with a mini-mix of Apple Music’s exclusive Sha Sha: Africa Month playlist, curated by the singer and featuring her favourite tracks from across the continent. This week’s mix includes music from Sha Sha’s own catalogue, alongside Kabza De Small & DJ Maphorisa; Wizkid feat. Burna Boy; Shekhinah, and Joeboy. Listen HERE.

Tune in and listen to the full episode this Sunday, May 2nd at 2p Lagos/London / 3p Johannesburg/Paris / 6a LA / 9a NYC on Apple Music 1 at apple.co/_AfricaNow or on Cool FM in Nigeria every Sunday at 6pm.

Blaqbonez on “BBC Remix” with Tiwa Savage

The remix of “BBC” was exciting for me because I wanted Tiwa on it, but I did not think I could get access to her. Then we reached out to her and we found out that she loved me and my music.

Blaqbonez on being the ‘Best Rapper In Africa’

Cuppy: Let’s talk about how you have self-titled yourself as the best rapper in Africa. I mean, you stand by it, you own it, and now you’re dropping an album. Is the album going to prove that?

Blaqbonez: Yeah. Yeah. You know, the thing, what I realized about being best rapper in Africa, at the end of the day, people are not going to judge you of how good of a rapper you are. People are going to judge you based on success. Right? And this album for me is that moment where I become a successful artist. Right? So then, I can now actually be the best rapper in Africa.

Blaqbonez on making of “Bling”

Blaqbonez: You know when they say life gives you lemons-

Cuppy: …then you make lemonade.

Blaqbonez: Yeah. So the night I made “Bling” was the night I lost my first big award. So that was Soundcity Award. And I left the show in anger, right. So I left and I just left immediately after I lost the award. But somehow I feel like in that moment, I connected to something deeper inside me. And when I got to the studio, everybody else slept off, but I recorded “Bling.” As far back as January when I recorded “Bling” last year, I knew that this song was special. People felt like, “Uh, we don’t know, we don’t know, blah, blah, blah.” Then Omah Lay came along, Wizkid came along, and it seemed like the tempo changed. This calm music can be accepted by Nigerians. And then everybody started saying, “Okay, let’s go back to ‘Bling’, let’s drop ‘Bling.’ ” And I was like, “Oh, you guys finally see my vision, right.” Seeing it come out and doing this crazy numbers and doing so amazing, it’s just me saying, “Yeah. I told you so.”

Sha Sha’s proverb

Cuppy: So Sha Sha what is our proverb of the week?

Sha Sha: Well, I hope you’ll be able to say this, first of all.

Cuppy: Okay, I’m going to try. Teach me, teach me.

Sha Sha: So this is Shona. So it’s [Shona], “One person cannot do all things by themselves.”