#afro swing

the time approaching the holidays (and the holidays themselves) were a bit dreadful so i have been dead. but i return

(16) Afro Jazz

After listening to a bunch of acid jazz on repeat earlier in the month, I have a feeling I will like afro jazz. If it wasn't for me undertaking this Project, I don't think I would really be giving jazz the light of day. As for afro jazz specifically, these songs share a warm sense of comfort but also something a bit curious. Sometimes something grandiose. When I listen to these songs, it sounds like there's something I'm going to discover shortly in the future. And of course, these songs are uniquely groovy, and in my opinion they are groovier than most of the other genres I've listened to thus far. Each song is unique which is a good plus, something I cannot say for a lot of genres, even ones I listen to regularly. If I was bougie enough to be hosting parties that required people to dress up, I would definitely be playing afro jazz as we all chitter over our pinot noir or whatever the shit. In some other universe I like wine, but not this one hell no.

But I do like afro jazz, so it will become neighbors with acid jazz in the "Incredible. I FW this heavy" tier. Go listen to afro jazz, regain a part of your whimsy back in these troubling times.

Afro Jazz song recs

(17) Afro Rock

The first song that really grabbed my attention reminded me a lot of Death Grips despite having never listened to Death Grips before so now I have listened to Death Grips. So much for my journey to become not edgy, all progress immediately lost. I'm sorry friends.

Anyway, after having heard some quadrillions of hours of acceptable-to-corporations-rock at multiple workplaces over the years, my bar for afro rock was not super low, but fairly low. Boy they leaped it! Then again, I ended up on an afro punk playlist for the first bit so maybe that's part of it. Afro rock is also a very diverse genre, considering "afro rock" just encompasses rock music made by black artists. As such, my song recs are all pretty different from each other.

I am the most partial to the afro punk I have heard, but afro rock in general is fun and interesting. It is going in "Pretty good".

Afro Rock song recs

(18) Afro Swing

Based on the name, I was under the assumption this would be like swing from the roaring 20s but with an interesting twist. Turns out this is remarkably similar to afrobeats, at least to my ears, but a little more... flowy? Chill?

Eh. It is A Genre. Afro swing is going in "plausible".

Afro Swing song recs

Imma be honest, I got distracted because of shit I need to fill out sooner rather than later. Potentially will have another post ready tonight.

Following the release of his sophomore project, “Igbotic the EP”, we caught up with Ike Chuks to find out more about his EP, his favourite track on the EP and  how he is dealing with the lockdown plus more. Enjoy!

Who is Ike Chuks and how or what inspired you to become a musician?

I would have to say Ike Chuks is a quirky, geeky, stubborn/strong willed creative individual who discovered he has an ability to rap/sing, act, dance and is very passionate about entertaining.

You recently released your new project “Igbotic the EP”, which I love. Can you tell us about the creative process for the EP? 

Thank you, I’m glad you love it. My creative process usually always starts off from the beat. Sometimes I co-produce in the sense that I sit with a producer and we create something from scratch or I get sent a beat. Either way I listen to it over and over again and completely submerge myself into it to feel what direction I would be going into in terms of topic e.g. love, life, money, fun, hustle, worship, girls etc. Next phase is working on the chorus, which for me is the foundation of the track, and then the verses roll off that. I like to take people on a journey with my music, so to kick off my verses I always start off with the flow, I try to merge the flow of my lyrics to the flow of the beat. Once I can melodically hum the flow, I start adding words to it to bring it to life.

For this project I pretty much locked myself indoors, started creating and took time to really fine tune my art and my uniqueness in a way that has never been heard before, only stepping out to rejuvenate and seek outside inspiration. I also found some time to research more about the Igbo culture, which also served as inspiration for me.

Our favourite track on the EP is “Ego” featuring Mystro, what is your favourite track and why? 

Ego was my favourite song at some point to be honest. But my favourite song right now from the project is "What Happened To Kate". The flow, the beat and the story is very captivating for me and i can't wait to get on stage and start performing it.