Hot Streams: From Afro-pop, R&B to all-time reggae beats

While you’re browsing digital music platforms, here are five new albums across genres, from Afro-pop to reggae, R&B to country, that BDLife recommends for your listening pleasure.

Music fans first heard of the singer-songwriter in 2018 as the featured vocalist of the group, Le Band, when he was still a law student at the university. Today, 28-year-old Charisma (official name Fidel Eli Shamah Omusola) is among the hottest talents among Kenya’s new generation of urban artists.

His debut album, The Motions, is a diverse collection of styles and moods, from romantic ballads to rumba-influenced dance songs.

“The album talks about the emotions that a young person goes through and how life is not linear when you’re young, there’s no stability, you don’t know if you’re going to fall in love or fall out of love,” Karisma explained in a conversation with BDLife last week.

The album contains 10 songs filled with collaborations with his contemporaries: Okello Max, Trio Mio, Bensoul, Ywaya Tajiri, Coster Ojwang, Watendawili and Mutoriah.

“Even two weeks after the album came out, I still listen to the songs as if they’re not my own,” he admits. “This album is all that’s playing in my car.”

Standout tracks include the deeply romantic “Let You Know,” the dance-oriented “Form,” and the amapiano-influenced “Away (Omale).

This is the fourth album from the Nigerian artist who became a global star thanks to his hit song “Peru” in 2021. In this album, Fireboy DML (Adedamola Oyinlola Adefolahan) takes a nostalgic look back at his past, searching for inspiration.

“I feel like this album is a reconnection to my roots on a more personal level, because it’s really me getting to know my true self,” the 29-year-old artist told Apple Music.

He collaborates with his compatriots, Lagbaja on Back and Forth (fun fact: the legendary musician, who hides his identity behind a mask, didn’t allow Fireboy to see his face during the recording) and Seun Kuti who plays saxophone on Ecstasy.

Grammy Award-winning American singer, producer and pianist Jon Batiste participates in the album’s slowest song, the soothing “Ready.”

Recommended tracks are Call Me, an old-fashioned classic, with a sweet trumpet solo flavour and the catchy Afrobeats rhythms of Wande’s Bop featuring Nigerian DJ/producer, Spinall.

Bob Marley’s legendary band has just released a new album of songs featuring famous Jamaican names as guest vocalists: Marcia Griffiths, one of Marley’s backup singers, iThree, Michael Rose of the popular Black Uhuru band and Gramps Morgan of Morgan Heritage.

The Wailers have gone through several incarnations since Bob Marley’s death in 1981 and all of the original members have either left the band or passed away.

The current line-up consists of Aston Barrett Jr., son of legendary guitarist Aston “Family Man” who passed away in February 2024.

The band retains the Wailers’ trademark roots reggae influences, but as the album’s title suggests, the music has evolved into a more inclusive and contemporary sound, influenced by other genres.

The highlight of this album is the sweet, rootsy Close My Eyes, one of two tracks that features Michael Rose’s wonderful vocals.

In 2015, following the release of his Grammy-nominated album Black Rose, Tyrese announced that his recording career was over.

Surprise, surprise! The singer and actor is back with a double album, featuring 17 new soulful songs that harken back to the golden age of R&B.

The album’s subtext is personal pain: a divorce from his wife in 2020 (sample titles include Don’t Think You Ever Loved Me, What Happened to Forever, and When Is It Over?).

Tyrese also pays tribute to his mother, Priscilla Murray Gibson, who died in 2022 from complications of COVID-19, in the song “Wildflower” (watch the accompanying short film on YouTube), a cover of the 1974 classic by R&B band The New Birth.

Among the noteworthy covers from the 1970s is “Neither One of Us,” originally sung by Gladys and the Knight and the Pips, in which Tyrese sings a duet with singer-songwriter and actress Tamar Braxton.

The guest list of artists also includes Lenny Kravitz, El DeBarge, and Kenny G with his signature saxophone on Unbelievable.

“When I’m 30, I’m going to be a country/folk singer,” rapper Post Malone tweeted in 2015, two months before he turned 20.

Nine years later, the artist, whose official name is Austin Richard Post, turns to country music with a 27-track double album, at a time when the genre is enjoying unprecedented appeal — thanks to the embrace of stars like Beyoncé (Post Malone appeared on the song “Levi’s Jeans” on Beyoncé’s country album, Cowboy Carter).

The album features different generations of country icons, including Morgan Wallen on the US No. 1 hit “I Had Some Help,” Dolly Parton on “Have The Heart,” Blake Shelton on the infectious “Pour Me a Drink,” Luke Combs on “Guy for That,” and Brad Paisley on “Goes Without Saying.”