Show Dem Camp, Joshua Baraka, Lasmid and More on New Music Friday

This week’s New Music Friday is a study in contrasts — the sacred, the sensual, and the street all finding common ground in rhythm. Show Dem Camp’s ‘Afrika Magik‘ opens the slate with a cinematic sprawl that folds African memory into modern sound, a reminder that heritage still has basslines. Joshua Baraka and JAE5 trade youth and yearning on “Still Young”, their third collaboration crackling with both urgency and melancholy. Johnny Drille arrives with a whisper rather than a roar on “I’m Available”, crafting intimacy that feels handwritten. Over in Ghana, Lasmid and King Promise exhale ease on “No Issues”, while Poco Lee’s “Enjoyment” kicks the door open, turning chaos into catharsis. Together, they form a compelling mosaic — artists stretching sound to mirror the many moods of a continent constantly in motion.

Show Dem Camp’s Afrika Magik

One of Nigeria’s finest duos, Show Dem Camp, have unfurled their seventh studio album titled ‘Afrika Magik’, which unfurls like a late-night Nollywood reel with a rollout that saw lead releases like ‘Italawa’ and ‘Normally’ featuring Jey B and Boj. The revered rap duo—Ghost and Tec—step outside the familiar warmth of their Palmwine Music and Clone Wars series to build something more expansive, a body of work that studies heritage, identity, and the evolving pulse of African reality. The twin engines of Nigeria’s rap dynasty have long been alchemists, turning palm wine grooves and clone-war bars into cultural elixirs. The newly released 17-track opus, ‘Afrika Magik’, produced almost entirely by Spax, with nods to Guiltybeatz, Genio, and Yinka Bernie, is a sonic grimoire that conjures ’90s highlife ghosts, amapiano pulses, and introspective bars into something profoundly alive. The album boasts a stellar supporting cast, including Taves, Tems, BOJ, Winny, and Mereba, delivering an immersive fusion of hip-hop, R&B, soul, alté, and Afro-fusion.

The opener, “Libations”, sets the tone for the album like a floating jazz haze and pays homage to Sunny Ade and William Onyeabor, with SDC’s voices layering like ancestral whispers over sparse keys. It’s a libation poured for the legends, but it spills into the present, inviting listeners to sip. From there, the album shape-shifts without stumbling into the Taves feature before slipping into Tems’ ethereal coo on “You Get Me”, draping over Tec’s vulnerable flows like a silk veil, dissecting love’s quiet chaos with the precision of a surgeon. The track is raw, reflective, and rings with that SDC hallmark: bars that hit like sticky proverbs. “Magik” feat. Moonchild Sanelly flips the script to a buoyant amapiano bounce – light yet heavy with Moonchild Sanelly’s spirited Xhosa flair, resulting in a track that bubbles with excellent replay value.

The heart of Afrika Magik beats in its midsection, where storytelling reigns supreme with the features bridging distinct sonic worlds and turning personal lore into a pan-African psalm. Show Dem Camp’s seventh studio album nods to old Nollywood with its retro interludes and subtle dramatic touches, managing to alchemise it into something futuristic, Afro-fusion threads with R&B soul, and highlife horns bleeding into trap snares. With a masterful pacing, while it may be too early to make objective opinions, Show Dem Camp’s ‘Afrika Magik’ serves as a cultural document that reaffirms Ghost and Tec as rap’s griots, pushing African narratives without pandering.

Joshua Baraka & JAE5’s Still Young

Ugandan crooner Joshua Baraka—fresh off the introspective highs of ‘Growing Pains’ and a handful of collabs that span continents—teams up once more with the Grammy-nominated British-Nigerian producer JAE5 to release a brand new single titled “Still Young”. The single marks Joshua Baraka and Jae 5’s third collaboration, following earlier releases like “Wrong Places” and “Dive In” this year. At just under three minutes, “Still Young” is a Polaroid of reckless nights, fleeting thrills, and the quiet dread of time slipping. Like a typical Joshua Baraka record, the song’s chorus locks down a listener with its gloss but haunts with its honesty, blending Afropop’s sun-kissed bounce with R&B’s velvet ache. JAE5’s production simmers with layered percussion that bubbles without boiling over, a low-end bass that pulses like a heartbeat under neon lights, and subtle synth washes that evoke those endless summer drives where the windows are down and the regrets are up. It’s familiar territory for the duo – think the dreamy Afropop haze of their prior cuts – but dialled up with a youthful urgency. Joshua Baraka’s voice, that golden falsetto that’s made him a Spotify Radar darling, glides over it all, starting soft and confessional before blooming into a chorus that’s equal parts defiant and desperate: “We’re still young; let’s chase the high / Before the morning makes us wise.” The lyrics weave tales of lovers tangled in bad decisions – late-night whispers, borrowed time, the intoxicating pull of “one more round” – delivered with the raw poetry that earned him nods from Rolling Stone Africa as Uganda’s pride. It’s not preachy; it’s participatory, like Baraka’s pulling you into the passenger seat, pedal to the floor.

What elevates “Still Young” beyond a vibe check is its duality: the production’s euphoric lift clashes beautifully with the undercurrent of melancholy, mirroring that peculiar ache of your twenties. On “Still Young”, Joshua Baraka and JAE5’s chemistry crackles like static on an old radio. The bridge drops into a sparse vocal run over echoing keys, a moment of vulnerability that hits like a gut punch, before the beat swells back in, refusing to let a listener wallow. Joshua Baraka’s “Still Young” is ultimately an earworm with emotional teeth.

Johnny Drille — I’m Available

Johnny Drille’s newest single, ‘I’m Available’, arrived on today’s New Music Friday like a folded note under a dorm door and is one of his most tender yet. The Mavin folk-pop prince – forever armed with a guitar, vocals that could hush a storm, and lyrics that feel like diary entries read aloud – returns with a three-minute confession that’s equal parts devotion and desperation. The track opens with that signature Johnny Drille minimalism: a lone acoustic strum, warm like morning tea, before soft keys drift, as he croons, “I’m available anytime you want me…” It’s not a grand declaration. It’s a whisper. A plea. A quiet rebellion against pride. And in under ten seconds, he’s got you. The production by Godwyn (heyGoddy) stays restrained – fingerpicked guitar, muted percussion, a faint string swell in the bridge – never overpowering the message. Every harmony, every breath, every pause between lines for Johnny Drille is deliberate, like he’s choosing his words the way you do when you’re scared to say too much. “I’m Available” is peak Johnny: romantic without clichés, vulnerable without weakness. He’s not begging – he’s offering. There’s dignity in the surrender.

With his new release, Johnny Drille reminds us that sometimes the loudest statement is a whisper, and “I’m Available” is that song you play when you finally hit send on that risky text.

Lasmid & King Promise — No Issues

Lasmid and King Promise slide into the scene with No Issues – a collaborative exhale that feels like a therapy session and beach party. The Ghanaian heavyweights, who’ve traded verses before on tracks like the groovy ‘9:45’, reunite here for a single that feels like the sonic equivalent of kicking off your shoes after a long week. Lasmid, the Kumasi-bred storyteller with a voice like sun-warmed honey, locks in with King Promise’s velvet falsetto – the king of feel-good confessions – over a beat that simmers low and inviting. On first listen, it’s the ultimate vibe reset: three minutes of Afrobeats polish that promises peace without the preach, making a listener forget their worries before the chorus fades.

The production, humming with that signature Ghanaian finesse, opens with a lazy log drum pulse and airy synths that float like palm fronds in a breeze. It’s understated luxury without the thunderous 808s, just a groove that sways, inviting a listener to follow and sway accordingly. Lasmid kicks it off with his youthful bounce, painting pictures of love unchained – “No issues, baby, we good like that” – delivered in that effortless patois that turns everyday romance into poetry. Then King Promise glides in, his runs wrapping around the hook like a scarf. His delivery is soulful, assured, and dripping with that quiet charisma that has made him one of Ghana’s staples in the last 5 years. Lasmid and King Promise’s voices entwine without clashing – Lasmid’s energy sparking off Promise’s calm – creating harmonies that feel like a shared sunset drive down the coast.

Poco Lee, Mavo & Diamond Boy — Enjoyment

Poco Lee, Nigeria’s undisputed hypeman and flagbearer of Naija’s dancefloor dynasty, unleashed a new single, “Enjoyment”, following the wide-reaching success of the earlier released street pop hit “Hey Jago”. Teaming up with fast-rising artiste Mavo – the 21-year-old “Burbur Music” phenom slinging viral street anthems like Escaladizzy – and Diamond Boy, the sharp-tongued newcomer injecting fresh fire into the fray, this trio crafts a three-minute adrenaline shot that’s pure escapism. Produced by Dibs with that glossy Afrobeats sheen laced in amapiano flirtations, “Enjoyment” isn’t much of a subtle track; it’s chaotic joy bottled – infectious, unapologetic, and engineered to make you forget the hustle for a hot second. With log drums thumping low and insistent, synths bubbling with that carefree bounce, and a bassline that grabs a listener before the delivery even lands. Poco Lee dives in first, with raw energy and his gravelly hype-man bark chanting the mantra. Mavo slides through next, his smooth, patois-laced flow weaving tales of luxury lows and no-stress highs, turning flex into philosophy without the preach. Diamond Boy caps it with punchy ad-libs and razor verses – “This is your body, e dey feel me” – adding that youthful edge that makes the whole thing pop. Their chemistry is seamless chaos with the hook looping like a love letter to the good life unfiltered. The production keeps it tight, slamming a percussive flair that clocks in under three minutes but feels like an eternal rave.