The Nigerian artist is back with Guguland, a compact and frenzied set of future dance anthems.
Over the last few months, Magugu’s pidgin rap has been gaining attention in Nigeria and the UK, his adopted country. The artist has become the go to guy when it comes to percussive, rapid and danceable bangers. He now returns with Guguland, his second proper body of work following his 2018 album Pidgin & Chips in collaboration with Stagga. “This EP was recorded in my home studio in Cardiff, Wales, during lockdown in 2020 which gave me full creative control over the whole process,” he tells PAM. “It was all written, recorded, mixed and mastered by me. I contacted Rolv.K from the beginning as we’ve worked before and have great chemistry. He produced the whole EP. This project has also shown more of my musical side and songwriting side instead of just my rapping.”
Spanning over five colourful tracks, ranging from powerful afrobeats (“Tetete”) to reggae/dancehall (“Jah Jah Energy”) and romantic songs (“Love Sick”), the project is one more pidgin rap manifesto, the particular hip-hop style Magugu has coined for himself. He explains: “My Pidgin rap movement is about bridging the gap between Africa & Europe and to represent Africans in diaspora in a positive light. I came to the UK at a young age during the times where it was not cool to be African. All those experiences of disrespect and people laughing at me just for being African all played a role in creating this movement.”
The movement is indeed finding a resonance internationally. Whether working with British or Swiss producers like Rolv.K, the sound’s raw efficiency is attracting a growing audience and actors. This is something Magugu keeps in mind in his daily artistery. “I’m adapting it to many different genres so it’s not just on my Afrobeats,” he says. “I can do it on drum’n’bass, grime, drill, hip hop, dancehall so it connects with different audiences worldwide which is something not a lot of artists can do. This is years of training and experimenting! And growing up both in Nigeria and the UK has given me the advantage as I’ve experienced both musical worlds”.
Listen to “Tetete” in our afro + club playlist on Spotify and Deezer.
Guguland by Magugu, out on all platforms.
