Africa Is a Country

Let the music

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Let the music

By
Hinda Talhaoui

Hinda Talhaoui, originally from Paris but based in Brooklyn, drops the second of her posts highlighting the music of her hometown.

Sefyu in a still from the music video for "5 Minutes."

This is the second in my weekly series of popular music from my hometown.  Here‘s a link to my first contribution. This week’s it’s the world of popular rap. Rap style, allow me to reintroduce myself: I am known as Sean’s “French-Algerian connection.” I grew up in the Paris suburbs and now live in New York City. If you wonder how I stay on top of music in Paris, I mine the playlists of her friends back home.

First up is Algiers-born and Montreal-raised Zaho, who is big in Paris. See what she does with the  Bangladesh instrumental for Lil Wayne’s “6 Foot 7” for her song, “En avant la musique.” (We also suspect that’s an Angelique Kidjo sample about 0:46 into the song.)

Zaho’s second album “CONTAGIEUSE” comes out in December.

Bonus: Zaho freestyles with popular rapper La Fouine, on a tune that breaks with his usual, braggadocious style.

Later this month Nessbeal, a veteran of the French rap battles, drops his fourth album, “Sélection Naturelle.” This is the video for the first single “ force et honneur.”

Sefyu never shows his eyes. And he won’t next week when his latest album, ‘Oui je le suis’ (Yes I am) comes out on Thursday. In the video for “5 Minutes,” the lead single off the new album, he keeps that posture. (Random fact: he was a promising footballer when he got injured and became a professional rapper.)

Finally, some nice beats from Richie&Beats. This is “H@y Baby” from his forthcoming (2012) project “Since 1985/ I’@m…MisterBeats.”

Further Reading

Kenya’s vibe shift

From aesthetic cool to political confusion, a new generation in Kenya is navigating broken promises, borrowed styles, and the blurred lines between irony and ideology.

Africa and the AI race

At summits and in speeches, African leaders promise to harness AI for development. But without investment in power, connectivity, and people, the continent risks replaying old failures in new code.

After the uprising

Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure—raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.

In search of Saadia

Who was Saadia, and why has she been forgotten? A search for one woman’s story opens up bigger questions about race, migration, belonging, and the gaps history leaves behind.

Binti, revisited

More than two decades after its release, Lady Jaydee’s debut album still resonates—offering a window into Tanzanian pop, gender politics, and the sound of a generation coming into its own.

The bones beneath our feet

A powerful new documentary follows Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi’s personal and political journey to recover her father’s remains—and to reckon with Kenya’s unfinished struggle for land, justice, and historical memory.

What comes after liberation?

In this wide-ranging conversation, the freedom fighter and former Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs reflects on law, liberation, and the unfinished work of building a just South Africa.

The cost of care

In Africa’s migration economy, women’s labor fuels households abroad while their own needs are sidelined at home. What does freedom look like when care itself becomes a form of exile?

The memory keepers

A new documentary follows two women’s mission to decolonize Nairobi’s libraries, revealing how good intentions collide with bureaucracy, donor politics, and the ghosts of colonialism.

Making films against amnesia

The director of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ reflects on imperial violence, corporate warfare, and how cinema can disrupt the official record—and help us remember differently.