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2022 saw the world start to properly re-open following multiple pandemic lockdowns and the musical floodgates came with it. If 2021 was breathless then 2022 was unrelenting in it’s release of music. From big mainstream acts to smaller and newer … Continue reading Next Gen Greats’ Top 22 Songs of 2022.
30minutes to Soweto is a conscious rap song that uses Woody Guthrie’s American folk anthem This Land is Your Land as a reference to paint a portrait of his own home grounds.
The track is a sobering listen that sees Priddy Ugly recounting tales from his family and upbringing. Continue reading 30minutes to Soweto – Priddy Ugly [produced by Shooterkhumz], Top 22 Songs of 2022
Our next selection is a piece of African folk music that’s crying for a culture it can feel eroding. Ziyobalwa is sorrowful music that sooths in how it wallows. It’s a cry for preservation from a bold voice fighting for his space and culture. Continue reading Ziyobalwa – Xhanti Nokwali [produced by Nduduzo Makhatini], Top 22 Songs of 2022
When it comes to contemporary R&B, there are few songs that have had me as addicted as the sneaky link escapade that is We Can Go Again. MAUIMØON delivers top-shelf crooning as he appeals to a girl to leave her man and come to him for another night of sexual pleasure. Continue reading We Can Go Again – MAUIMØON & La Soulchyld featuring Chxf Barry, Top 22 Songs of 2022
Armed with a piercing voice and a revealing pen, Bad Weather finds Nanette establishing the persona of a contemporary balladeer who’s mode of storytelling is often dripping in anxious energy. Our pick for this list is a song that finds her lyrically swirling within that anxiety whilst providing one of her best vocal performances thus far in Vent. Continue reading Vent – Nanette [produced by Nanette, Lee Global, Zadok & Batundi], Top 22 Songs of 2022
If there’s one thing K.O knows his way around it’s a hit. The iconic artist is nearing an almost two-decade run of capturing the zeitgeist, if not outrightly shifting it, with his music. This year saw him extending this run by producing one of the biggest hits of his career and of this decade with the sumptuous Sete. K.O recruits Blxckie & Young Stunna for this extravagant Afrobeats banger that finds them fawning over their partners, assuring these ladies that they will be set with them. Continue reading Sete – K.O featuring Young Stunna & Blxckie [produced by Calliemajik Beats, K.O & Glody ‘GloBeatz’ Kasongo], Top 22 Songs of 2022
Just like good wine our next pick matures and refines itself with time. Preye delivers a deliciously sensual serenade about lovemaking with the steamy Red Wine. Red Wine is bedroom R&B that finds Preye indulging in an intoxicating night of intimacy as she laments on the power that great sex holds. Continue reading Red Wine – Preye [produced by Ikon Ekwuyasi & Joshua Ahazie], Top 22 Songs of 2022
“Pulchritude… ‘It’s derived from the latin word pulcher meaning beautiful, isn’t it?’” You know, I would have never guessed that my favourite pop song of 2022 would be titled after a word so obscure in use that the only reason I know the word is because of my obsession with Akeelah and The Bee growing up. Whether intentional or not, it’s a fitting connection because just like Akeelah, Manana is a poetic wordsmith with an encyclopedic range of words at his disposal. Continue reading Pulchritudinous – Manana [produced by Noble, Manana & Maxonproduction], Top 22 Songs of 2022
Wizkid is here for a good time and makes exquisite music for those occasions. Our selection is one of the more primal cuts from his latest offering, the venereal Pressure. Pressure is one of the slinkiest songs to have scintillated my ears in 2022… Continue reading Pressure – Wizkid [produced by P.Priime], Top 22 Songs of 2022
There’s something quite ironic about a heartbreak anthem of this magnitude being built on top of one of this century’s sassiest R&B diss tracks… It shouldn’t work as well as it does but Burna Boy is a revelation, Last Last is defiantly captivating. Continue reading Last Last – Burna Boy [produced by Chopstix, Mds, Ruuben and Off & Out], Top 22 Songs of 2022
Kick It With You is a grand display of affection that finds Thato Saul trying to show how serious he is about a girl. It is finely-tuned hip-hop soul that doesn’t relent on Saul’s general optics in its pursuit of romance, and that’s really what makes this such a captivating listen for me. This isn’t just a love song, it’s a Thato Saul love song tightly fitted to his image. Continue reading Kick It With You – Thato Saul featuring Marcus Harvey [produced by MashBeatz], Top 22 Songs of 2022.
Next Gen Greats 