Nyege Nyege Tapes releases mixtape from Nigerian “freebeat” pioneer DJ Tobzy Imole Giwa

Kampala’s Nyege Nyege Tapes have released a new mixtape from Nigerian “freebeat” pioneer DJ Tobzy Imole Giwa.

‘Lagos City Unloaded’ comprises two hyperactive side-long mixes that bring together Eurodance, R&B and local street rap while showcasing the Nigerian freebeat movement. Boosted by dances on TikTok, the music — which blends elements of techno, gqom, amapiano and more — found a grassroots HQ in Femi Kuti’s legendary New Afrika Shrine art centre.

“Anything’s up for grabs, whether it’s Vengaboys-style plastic synths roughly glued to steppy rubber band pings and brittle percussive knocks, before folding in a loop of Lil Wayne’s ‘A Milli’, or a helium-powered trance edit of Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’, that’s almost burst by Tobzy’s bolshy drops,” reads the Boomkat review of the new mixtape.

Check out a taste of ‘Lagos City Unloaded’ via below and pick up a copy via Boomkat or Bandcamp.

Giwa first began putting out recordings in 2020, with his Cruise Beat Album emerging on Nyege Nyege in 2022. quickly built up a dedicated fanbase on TikTok and YouTube, broadcasting the nascent cruise beat scene’s dancers at Femi Kuti’s New Afrika Shrine and integrating memes into his frenetic kitchen sink productions.

‘Cruise!’, a compilation of the then-nascent dance style — usually marked out by tempos of around 125 BPM — was first released by MOVES Recordings in 2022, with a second volume following that same year.

The last release from Nyege Nyege came out in October 2024 with the second volume of its career-spanning DJ Znobia retrospective, ‘Inventor Vol. 2’. 

In 2022, Rian Treanor teamed up with acholi fiddle player Ocen James for a new collaborative album on Nyege Nyege, called ‘Saccades’.