This year Nigerian music broke records, filled stadiums, and created household names around the world.

Throughout a year of hardship, the Kenyan rap scene prevailed, unveiling a fresh selection of talent from shrap and drill, to the old school flavours of boom-bap and gangster rap.

In 2021, African rap was marked mainly by the rise of drill, the sub-genre of hip-hop which had a huge impact on rap music all over the continent.

Listen to 2021’s best amapiano, batida, baile funk, techno, jungle, gqom, afro-futurist and more, making the clubs bounce all across the continent.

Listen in on 2021 with our pan-African selection from Cairo to Pretoria, Lagos to Nairobi, featuring the likes of Ayra Starr, Mdou Moctar, Focalistic, Nahawa Doumbia, and Kasai Allstars.

10 years after her passing, PAM remembers the diva along with her loved ones, exploring the mark her bare feet left on the world. 

With almost 20 years in the game, Stogie T aka Tumi Molekane is a South African hip-hop pillar. PAM spoke to “The Poet MC” about his journey and next moves. 

The label Mr Bongo has reissued a rare gem by the South African saxophonist Winston Monwabisi Ngozi aka Mankunku; a masterpiece of South African jazz recorded during Apartheid.

In celebration of Salif Keita’s seminal album, Soro, via a conversation with it’s producer François Bréant.

The Fra Fra man with the two strings talks about his movements from his home in Ghana to Brighton, passing by Fela Kuti, a new generation of musical youth, and a benevolent new album. 

Modern Nigerian music is much more than Afrobeats, and the market’s continued boom has made space for DJs and producers who lean into the foreign influence of EDM and electronic music to create a wholly original Nigerian EDM scene.