AfricaIs aCountry

Young warriors of light

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

Young warriors of light

By
Tom Devriendt

What is with the increasing use of sci-fi and horror elements in fairly recent music videos and films by African artists.

A still from "Woklow."

Malinese rapper Amkoullel gets some help from Pap G and Young Keitch in his “battle between good and evil.” The track itself is so-so, but it did remind us we should soon try and properly make sense of the increasing use of sci-fi and horror elements in (fairly) recent music videos and films – which would include Matthew Jankes’s Umkhungo, Niyi Akinmolayan’s Kajola and Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s Les Saignants, amongst others.

Further Reading

Atayese

Honored in Yorubaland as “one who repairs the world,” Jesse Jackson’s life bridged civil rights, pan-Africanism, empire, and contradiction—leaving behind a legacy as expansive as it was imperfect.

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.

A world reimagined in Black

By placing Kwame Nkrumah at the center of a global Black political network, Howard W. French reveals how the promise of pan-African emancipation was narrowed—and what its failure still costs Africa and the diaspora.

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.