Ibeyi – ‘Ash’
Ibeyi, the musical duo composed of French-Cuban twin sisters, Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz, was first introduced to most of us when they were featured several times in Beyonce’s Lemonade visual album. But Beyonce’s fandom for the group reaches far back beyond Lemonade. She’d already paid a number of nods to the group and when she announced her monumental 2015 Vogue September issue in an Instagram clip, Ibeyi’s River was featured as the background music for her moment.
You only need to play the first few minutes of Ash to understand why these two have taken Queen Bey’s heart. Ash doubles down on the unique fusion of Soul, Hip Hop with a pop flair, rooted in the Afro-Cuban drum sound that they introduced on their self-titled debut. The twins are proud of their Afro-Cuban heritage – a culture that owes much to the Nigerian Yoruba tribe from whom many Afro-Cubans originated. (Ibeji is, in fact, the Yoruba word for twins).
Ash charts new territory for the twins, as they take a stand against oppression, speaking a message of resilience, resistance and hope to those that face systematic oppression. No track speaks this message louder than Deathless – “Whatever happens, Whatever happens… We are deathless”. Ash delivers this message through several energetically catchy, rhythmic songs, with strong melodies and thumping Yoruba percussion. It’s a rousing listen from start to finish.
Start With: River, Deathless, Away Away, I Wanna Be Like You
H.E.R. – ‘The B Sides’
Not strictly an album but we had to put you on to this one. We featured mystery singer H.E.R. on our list of the singers to watch this in 2017 and true to our prediction, the singer has released a slew of great music over the past year.
H.E.R. is proof that you can still do contemporary R&B and be boundary-pushing and whipping up the excitement of fans worldwide. H.E.R.’s latest release, The B Sides is an extension of E.P, H.E.R Volume 2. It’s a 6-track package of mostly mid-tempo head-bumping R&B goodness. It also includes H.E.R.’s tenderly transcendent Daniel Caesar collaboration, Best Part.
Start With: 2, Free, Rather Be, Best Part
