The global footprints of 6 African artists

SHINGAI DARANGWA

Uncle Waffles

Of all the artists on this list, South African DJ Uncle Waffles has probably charted the most unique and unconventional path to global fame. Since she burst onto the scene through a viral social media video that captured a delirious crowd eating out the palm of her hands as she DJ'd and danced on stage at a sold out show in Jozi last October, Uncle Waffles has quickly become one of the most popular DJs on the continent. After catching Drake's attention and earning global plaudits, she immediately took off and started to take bookings across the continent.

For the past few weeks, the 21-year-old has taken things to a new level as she's been headlining shows in different cities around Europe. This past weekend, following the release of her debut single Tanzania with Sino Msolo, Tony Duardo and Boibizza, Uncle Waffles had her first sold out show in Ireland. Amidst this buzz, she also recently signed an endorsement deal with Sprite. While naysayers on social media continue to question her talent as a DJ and whether she has what it takes to stand the test of time her, Uncle Waffles continues to make bigger and bigger moves by the week. What's next?

AYRA STARR

A member of Nigerian record producer Don Jazzy’s Mavin Records, 20-year-old afrobeats star Ayra Starr always seemed destined to success. After all, Don Jazzy and Mavin Records have in the past few years enhanced their reputation of grooming global African stars with their work with Rema and Ladipoe. Since bursting onto the scene with her brilliant, concise and expertly produced selftitled debut EP early last year, Ayra Starr has continued the label’s rich tradition as she’s swiftly established herself as one of the continent’s top exports.

She followed that up with an impressive project 19 and Dangerous last August. Project standouts Bloody Samaritan, Fashion Killer and Beggie Beggie featuring Ckay, have helped her gain traction not only here in Africa but abroad too. Bloody Samaritan in particular has been a TikTok hit worldwide with hundred of thousands of users creating dances and other types of content using the audio.

FOCALISTIC

Focalistic has been going from stride to stride and consistently raising the bar since the release of his star-making single Ke Star in 2019. Since Davido hopped on the remix shortly afterwards and helped propel the amapiano star’s sound across the continent, Focalistic has not looked back. His latest Davido collaboration Champion Sound has extended his reach across the continent and into Europe.

DIAMOND PLATINUMZ • OMAH • LAY TEMS

The Pretoria born-andraised artist has been almost exclusively holed up in Europe for months now playing several shows in countries such as England, France and Turkey.

He’s also gone on to become a brand magnet with partnerships and collaborations with major brands like Jagermeister, with whom he has a long term endorsement deal, and Hyundai. He was recently nominated under the Favourite African Star category at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.

DIAMOND PLATNUMZ

Tanzanian superstar Diamond Platnumz has been one of the most prolific continental stars for almost a decade now. Over the past few years, he's turned the heat up by releasing new music at a searing pace.

In 2020, while most artists were mulling over the coronavirus pandemic, the 32-year-old had his most productive year to date, releasing music almost every month. He's continued on that momentum over the past two years. A couple of weeks ago, the East African star released a new EP titled First of All.

The EP, which has East, West and Southern African features, stands out for its varied sounds that demonstrate just how diverse and versatile he is. Collaborations include Adekunle Gold, Focalistic, Zuchu, Mbosso, Jaywillz, Pabi Cooper and Costa Titch. His latest single, Melody is currently on the cover of Apple Music's flagship global African playlist, Africa Now. Diamond has also been in the headlines of late thanks to his role on the new Netflix reality show, Young, Famous & African.

TEMS

2021 was Tems’ year. Not only did she score a feature on Wizkid’s Essence, which was dubbed the Song of the Summer in the U.S, she also landed a placement on Drake’s blockbuster album Certified Lover Boy with the afrobeats-leaning single Fountains.

While Essence has been nominated for a Grammy Award and become the first Nigerian song to go platinum in the U.S, Fountains was remarkably certified gold in the U.S within a month of release.

In the midst of all the attention she’s garnered through these two huge features, Tems released her sophomore EP, If Orange Was A Place in September last year. The EP, which was smartly released just over a week after Drake’s album release, thrust Tems firmly onto the global scene by showcasing that she wasn’t just a great feature artists but could hold her own and carry a project as a solo artist too.

OMAH LAY

When Omah Lay burst onto the scene with the infectious and instantly viral hit Bad Influence in 2020, it seemed clear to most that he'd be the next big afrobeats superstar. He followed that up with Damn, a huge continental single which caught the eye of U.S star 6lack, who gave the young artist his first international feature on the Damn Remix.

He's since followed that up with another global co-sign, this time from Canadian superstar Justin Bieber who features on his latest single Attention.

His early success through these fire singles and the two EP's What Have We Done and Get Layd have led to him touring across parts of Europe and North America over the past year.

This past week, he took off to Manchester, England for the start of his Boy Alone World Tour. This latest tour will see him play in cities like Zurich, Munich, Paris, Istanbul, Berlin, Rome and Madrid.

AYRA STARR • FOCALISTIC • UNCLE WAFFLES