http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSmiwQvwYYQ

Once again, demonstrating Azonto’s global reach, the Azonto London Allstars conquer a myriad of urban landscapes with their indefatigable dance moves to the beat of a mix by DJ Sawa. Above. Next, with hair fit for the most flamboyant players in the African Cup of Nations, we’ve got Supremos with their new video for “Namorado Cola”:

Dublin native Rejjie Snow (formerly Lecs Luther) who is reportedly half-Nigerian, has just dropped a new track called “Lost in Empathy”. With a voice oddly like that of Tyler the Creator, Rejjie, dressed in the video as a “far derrig,” spits about the tribulations albinos endure in some countries where their body parts are used as traditional remedies. “Swimming in the ocean, swimming in the ocean, vanilla face, candy floss, limbs in a potion.”

We can’t wait for ngoni legend Bassekou Kouyate’s new record to drop in early March. The record was recorded in Bamako last year just as the country’s political situation began to deteriorate. Here’s a sneak peek of what will be known as “Jama Ko”:

Because we know that fashion is circular, recycling and reimagining styles of the past, this new banging kuduro jam from Angola’s Da Magical proves that it is officially cool again to look like Milli Vanilli:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xblQkJC7-u0

Here’s one we missed late last year: Gato Preto (Germany via Portugal via Mozambique and Ghana) worked with MC Zulu on “Musica Di Gato Preto” (H/T MTVIggy):

From Harare (“H-Town”, via Berlin), there’s also a new video for Zimbabwean rapper Synik:

And if you were wondering whether the Senegalese Y’en a Marre coalition was still kicking it in Dakar… here’s a 45 minutes concert recently taped at the Place de L’Obélisque, celebrating the movement’s second anniversary. (H/T NomadicWax.) Sound and image recording quality isn’t the best, but you’ll get the message:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH7W7tu9mKY

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Reading List: Barbara Boswell

While editing a collection of the writings of South African feminist Lauretta Ngcobo, Barbara Boswell found inspiration in texts that reflected Ngcobo’s sense that writing is an exercise of freedom.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

An annual awakening

In the 1980s, the South African arts collective Vakalisa Art Associates reclaimed time as a tool of social control through their subversive calendars.

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.