American magazine and entertainment brand, Fader, has compiled their official list for 2021 best albums which contains 3 albums by an African act on it. In ascending order, they are: LV N ATTN by newcomer Lojay and reputable producer Sarz at No. 48, Love Is War by multifaceted artiste – Prettyboy D-O and Sound of My World, positioned on No. 17, a perfect blend of African artistes both home and in diaspora, with production and compilation done by Ghanaian producer, Juls, placed at the 9th spot.
These albums where picked for different reasons, surprisingly surprisingly it is to see LV N ATTN, the 5-song EP by Lojay with the productions entirely handled by Sars; on why it is on their list, Antoinette Isama for Fader writes: “[Sars], the genre-defying Nigerian producer’s beats are in high demand, he chooses his collaborators carefully, and there’s little reason to change up the method — just about every new Sarz single makes a dent in the Nigerian pop scene . . . Lojay is an effective partner for Sarz’s iconoclastic view of Afrobeats on LOVE N ATTN, sending his love interests playful and wildly effective flattery . . . [LV N ATTN is] a perfect project for a world slowly adjusting to a new normal, inching back towards the dancefloor.”
On the genre-bending sounds of Prettyboy D-O on Love Is War, we read: “Love Is War weaves in elements of galala music, but his jagged cadence and forthrightness matter recall the fearless Nigerian hip-hop legend Tony Tetuila . . . He’s determined to express the frustration of Nigeria’s youth, and on Love Is War he does so powerfully.” D-O receives upvotes on his distinct style of blending concious lyrics with street style (or street-hop) persona and cadence.
Juls’ Sound of My World is the only album to make it to the top 10, sitting comfortably at No. 9; the album blends soul music with African sounds, majorly Afrobeat and Afro-fusion. This is what the Fader write up by AI says: “to get the full scope of the album’s breadth, you have to ignore the shuffle button . . . By threading together sounds that might have sounded disparate in less careful hands, Sounds of My World goes further than that — it reminds the diaspora that it’s in fact separated only by geography.”