Boj: Gbagada Express review – a sensual Afrobeats celebration

No sooner has Afrobeats achieved global domination than spin-offs are in hot pursuit. Leap forward alté, a Nigerian movement that is apparently an alternative take on the mainstream fusions of West African roots music and R&B. Listening to the debut album by Bo, a British Nigerian who has been called a founder of this scene, it’s not exactly the experimental shift suggested, but it does feel less flashy and more mellow than its predecessors, despite features from some of Afrobeats’ biggest names: Davido, Tiwa Savage, Wizkid and Mr Eazi.

Irrespective of genre, though, Gbagada Express is a sensual celebration of the diaspora that avoids the posturing of the chart-toppers and unites Nigeria, where Boj lives, with the UK, where he spent his school years. It’s often romantic, sexy and pulses with silk-soft subtlety – even in its trap song Get Out the Way, with Ghanaians Kofi Jamar and Joey B: heavy on sweet licks of slowed-down highlife guitar and, like South Africa’s amapiano genre, saxophone. Action Boyz is the opposite of its title, an almost ambient backdrop for Boj and Londoner Obongjayar’s tag-team about avoiding drama. In a move that still feels unique, the album’s strongest songs, In a Loop and Culture, are led by women (Moliy and Mellissa, and English rapper Enny).