MOVES Recordings releases compilation spotlighting Nigerian Freebeat, 'Cruise!': Listen

UK label MOVES Recordings has released a new compilation of Nigerian Freebeat music, also known as Cruise music.

Titled ‘Cruise!’, the release collects five tracks from key artists within the scene, which has mainly emerged from the outer areas of Lagos. The sound fuses amapiano, Afrobeats, gqom, house and techno, as well as meme culture. The producers featured on ‘Cruise’ are DJ Cora, Professional Beat, Slimfit, DJ Stainless and DJ Kalipha.

Cruise’s popularity outside of its Lagos base has come with the help of TikTok dance videos, while, much like gqom, music from the scene has initially been shared around via WhatsApp messages and as low-res files on music blogs.

Writing about the scene, MOVES Recordings said: “The music [is] powered on a similar chaotic energy rush which imbued the early days of house in Chicago and Hardcore in London. Samples are flung in at will, entire passages are lifted from other producers works, and a song lives or dies on how well it does on TikTok.”

Three further EPs of Cruise music will be released through this year, with a larger compilation of music coming later this year too.

Check out ‘Cruise’ below.

Revisit DJ Mag’s feature, from February, on the most exciting amapiano producers around right now.