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rod stanley travelled to Lagos,
Nigeria to meet some of Africa’s
biggest music stars, and get crunk
with the kings of kuduro
Photography Chris Saunders
There ain’t no party like a Lagos party, or so they say. Last
December, Dazed flew out to Lagos, Nigeria for the third
annual MTV Africa Music Awards and spent a few days and
nights meeting rap, R&B and kuduro superstars from all
across Africa: names like Banky W, Fally Ipupa, Daddy Owen,
Cabo Snoop and Radio & Weasel, from Angola to Uganda,
Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond, all huge stars
in their own countries, selling truckloads of records despite
rampant piracy and a rickety music industry. Basically, these
guys are kind of the Jay-Zs and Snoops of Africa.
 resigned to high-level corruption as a way of life in an oil-
In our brief time in Lagos, we managed to get chased off
the red carpet, drunkenly talk shop with the boss of MTV
Worldwide (a man who had just arrived in a blacked-out 4x4
with two AK47-toting guards), accidentally start a game
of musical chairs with Public Enemy’s Chuck D, and find
ourselves in a packed Lagos nightclub at 3.30am with only
a bottle of tequila and our new friends the Angolan kuduro
kings Cabo Snoop for company.
Our hotel seemed to have been lifted from the pages of a
dystopian future novel, featuring an impressive split-level
outdoor pool with multiple water slides that absolutely no
one was using, surrounded by razor wire and rusty freighters
rumbling past in the rubbish-strewn lagoon. In the main bar,
escorts touted for business – one thoughtfully pressed her
naked breasts against the terrace window, causing us to choke
on our burgers. To change money, you had to take your dollars
down to the main gate, where a gang of “bookies” would come
over to your car and conduct business through your window.
Beyond the security gate lay a hooting, seething bedlam
DAZED CONFUSED 119
of motorised madness: weaving and honking cars, trucks
and motorbikes rattling over potholes, while street vendors
sold everything from cold drinks to rat-catchers and electric
shavers, risking life and limb as they twirled from window to
window amid the roar.


Our time in Nigeria also coincided with Wikileaks CABO SNOOP
revealing Shell’s insider dealings with the unimaginably Angola, Kuduro crew
corrupt Nigerian government. No one we spoke to, from street
vendor to TV presenter, seemed in any way shocked, sadly What’s your biggest hit and how
many records did you sell last year?
rich country that unforgivably spends next to nothing on its The biggest so far has been
people. As Afrobeat legend and political revolutionary Fela “Windek!”, I think it’s sold more
Kuti’s daughter Yeni said when we visited her at The Shrine than 12,000 copies at home.
nightclub she established in her father’s honour: “If Fela was What’s your music’s message?
alive today, he would not be surprised.”
 My music is like a social comment,
The people of Lagos did not kidnap us or blow us up as but in a positive way. I try to put
we had been warned they would, and instead were funny, everything that happens around
friendly and generous with their booze. Several of the people me in my music.
we partied with over the two days picked up awards, including What about your personal style?
R&B stars Banky W and Sasha from Nigeria, Congo’s master A bit of Michael Jackson… a bit
of the “Sexy Dance” Fali Apupa (“These are men’s leggings! of New Boys, the “jerk” dance guys.
Men’s!”), Kenya’s gospel rapper Daddy Owen and the mighty Have you made a lot of money?
Cabo Snoop kuduro party crew from Angola, so we celebrated My life has changed a lot, I can do a
our surprising foresight by drinking pints of Hennessy all lot of things now I couldn’t do before.
night at the awesome after-party, surrounded by a squadron What’s your hope for the next
of G4S security. Chuck D later told us: “Africa is the centre generation of musicians in Africa?
point of hip hop and rap for the next generation  –  if they Through my performance, I want
believe it.” So, pay attention to the man and meet some of the to help spread their names across the
biggest stars you’ve never heard of. world, not just across my country.
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RADIO & WEASEL
Dance duo, Uganda
What’s your biggest hit and how
many records did you sell last year?
Radio (left): Haha, it’s not like that
where I come from! We don’t have the
law for music, we have piracy. But all
our songs are very big, especially across
eastern Africa.
What kind of music do you do?
Radio: Reggae, ragga, hip hop, zouk…
We mix it up! The good-life music,
What’s your music’s message?
Radio: It’s all about love, peace, unity.
Weasel: Africa needs to unite, so that
we can explode… To America,
to Sweden! Everywhere.
Tell us about your personal style.
Radio: These chains are my swag,
man. We are the musical twins! We like
the same things. I admire the way that
HE dresses, haha! Don’t you?
Has music rewarded you with
a good lifestyle?
Weasel: Yeah, music is paying, man.
Radio: You also get to meet great
people. And you get to be known. The
other thing, we get to meet people like
you, maybe you gonna help me in the
future! Haha! Wanna smoke?
DAZED
DADDY OWEN
Gospel rap, Kenya
What’s your biggest hit and how
many records did you sell last year?
For two years, I have had the biggest
hits in my country. Yeah! But in Africa,
it is so hard to count sales. The only
things that help now are the shows that
you perform. But in five years’
time, things will have changed.
What’s your music’s message?
I am preaching the message of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that’s why
I am here. I fuse different styles that
brings this to the youth, yeah.
How has music rewarded
you personally?
I come from a very poor family.
I am now here in Nigeria! Trust me,
this is the biggest thing ever.
What is your hope for the next
generation of artists in Africa?
I believe we are trying to make
way for the guys who are coming and
making links all over Africa. The guys
in the next ten years will find the road
already paved for them. So for us,
I believe that we are really pioneers and
we are really fighters. The dream for me
is not even to make it big, but for my
brother or son or whoever is coming next
to be the big thing. Yeah!
CONFUSED 121
FALLY IPUPA
Congolese music / R’n’B,
Democratic Republic of Congo
What’s your biggest hit and how
SASHA
many records did you sell last year?
First Lady of R’n’B, Nigeria
The “Sexy Dance” song has sold a lot.
Albums have sold well, but I don’t have
What’s your biggest hit and how
any numbers. But they’ve done really
many records did you sell last year?
well – tres, tres bien!
In Nigeria we honestly can’t tell, but
What is the message of
we did do a lot of records!
your music?
What is it like being a female
Moi, je suis un ‘lover’. It’s about
artist here?
having fun, no war, no trouble… It’s
It can be challenging, you have to
about peace and partying. That’s it.
work 200 per cent harder. But once
Tell us about your personal style.
people realise you’re here to stay, they
Je suis un fashion victim!
support you as an artist.
I love fashion! Look at my
What is the message of
trousers… Congolese people love to
your music?
dress up. These are men’s leggings,
My message is very positive, I believe
though. Look – pockets. Men’s!
in empowering women.
How has music rewarded you? “I believe that What do you hope for the next
generation of musicians in Africa?
I’ve been blessed, I’ve travelled. But
money-wise, a lot of things like royalties
we are really That they work hard, and drop the
and publishing rights are not being
sorted. But we’re working on it.
pioneers and politics and competition. To value and
remember their African culture. And
Is it important for artists from all we are really for them to keep pushing.
over Africa to come together?
It’s good to collaborate with artists
fighters…
from countries like Uganda or Tanzania,
we can integrate our fanbases and make
the guys after
the industry bigger. Maybe one day we us will find
can be as big as the American industry,
selling records all over Africa. Nigeria
the road paved
alone has 150 million people! Imagine
those numbers all over Africa…
for them”