2015 was indeed one year that was filled with lots surprises in the Afrobeats entertainment circle in Cyprus. The year kicked off with the explosion of new artists like JayDee with his single 'Bamijo' which was all over the web and on almost everyone's mobile devices, we also saw the rise and rise of a few artists like multi-award winning rapper, Kevin Tita (well his shine is not a surprise as he has been on the rise ever since he burst into the scene in late 2013, his awards and hit songs as well as collaborations can prove that). This year a few artists exited Cyprus due to graduation and pursuit of the greater purpose, among these artists are rapper, El Bee who was undoubtedly the biggest African artists while he was around, we also have others like TeeHigh, JiggaMan, WordSmith and the afrobeats music duo, M3B. They are definitely been missed.
One Unique thing about the afrobeats music scene in Cyprus is the fact that as older artists left the island, new ones quickly filled up the void by dropping hit tunes that we enjoyed this year and quickly got to sourcing for management deals and show bookings to support what ever wave their songs gave them.
Today ReplayTunes Magazine bring you the list of the top 10 artists that had the biggest hits and made the biggest waves this year. This list is compiled using the following criteria's and is open for public criticisms and opinions. See criteria's below
1. Must have won or be nominated for one or more awards related to music in 2015.
2. Must release one or more songs of their own, as in as a lead artist on their very own song in 2015.
3. Number of both regional and high profile shows and concerts performed.
4. Artists that have featured on collaborations that gained popularity have a higher chance on this list.
5. Must be resident in Cyprus as at the time this list was published.
Yes Yes and Yes, the boy that stood and said 'You dont need gold chains or rented cars to chase your dreams as an artist in Cyprus' on the stage after winning the award for Most Promising Artist at the ANAN Awards has finally lived up to his words. Kevin Tita won a total of 4 wards last year including the Song Of Th Year Award for his song 'Grass To Grace'. In 2015 he started the year with the release of his smash hit song 'CashOut' which trended on Twitter in Nigeria and in the UK the day it came out, got playlisted on over 20 radio stations in Nigeria including RayPower FM, Metro FM, Liberty FM, Rainbow FM, RadioOne in Ghana, UrbanJazz Radio in the UK, Star FM Nigeria and the list goes on. 'CashOut' is also the song with the highest organic streams on SoundCloud by an African artist in Cyprus this year with over 5,000 streams without radio or TV support. When it come to awards, Kevin Tita landed three nominations at the ASGA Awards in the categories of Song Of The Year for 'CashOut', Artist Of The Year and Pride & Spirit. He took home the Pride & Spirit Award which is given to African youths representing Africa in a positive light in Cyprus. When it comes to collaborations, he slayed it this year starting with a guest feature on rapper Prime's single 'Brag' to a brilliant verse on Xtine's 'Made Men' with GSoul then to JayBlinkz 'Million Dollar Movement' which has gone on to become the No.1 Afrobeats song right now in Cyprus then to 'Dan Gata' remix by rap new comer, Jakie Boy. Do you think that is enough, ok.. Kevin Tita has also been featured on all the shows both regional and high profile shows that took place in Cyprus in 2015 and has shared same performance bills with WizKid, LAX, Lil Kesh, Simba Tagz, Stanley Enow, in fact we can boldly state that he barely spent any week end at home this year due to constant show bookings. His social media following has really grown as well with a whopping 8,000+ followers on Instagram. Will he get even bigger in 2016.. yes he will by God's grace.
Yung Tizzer has really grown alot from being the new face of Afrobeats music in Cyprus in 2014 to helping break out 2 artists in 2015 and winning his first award as well as the Best Indigenous Artist of The Year, OPU Awards. He kicked off the year with a guest feature on JayDee's 'Bamijo', his performance was so good that we initially thought he owned the song. Then he blew our minds with his guest feature on 'Soke' by TBonez and when we thought it couldn't get any better, he came back with yet another brilliant performance as a featured act on 'Kamaro' by JayBlinkz before finishing off with his own single 'Arewa Forever'. What a year. He also featured on same performance bills with WizKid, LAX, Lil Kesh and Stanley Enow though he didnt perform in most of the shows he was invited for. Yung Tizzer has had a really great year.
The duo of KurtoNeway and Procam popularly known as the VersaceBoyz in Cyprus have really had a good year. They kicked off the year with the release of a viral video for their hit song 'Control' which was quickly followed by the released of their follow up song 'TooFine' which came with a video and drew a lot of press mention due to the amount of YouTube views it got. They performed in all the high profile shows that took place in Cyprus as well as recorded a collaboration with Skales which is yet to be released. They also took home 2 ASGA Award plaques this year.
In 2015, DJ SimonSayz finally showed us the other side of him as an artist with the release of tunes such as 'Fake It' featuring KayP, 'Bring The Girls Out' which both came with a video. He then proceeded to grow his reach through doing shows here and there while turning up parties as a DJ and even winning an ASGA Award for DJ of The Year. You need to see the amount of love he gets from his fans in Cyprus especially from the Zimbabwe demographic. He rounded off the year with the release of his buzzing song 'Zunza Shake' featuring HKN's Danagog and making a guest appearance on 'Roll It' by Kurto of the Versaceboyz fame. He has also been getting press coverage back in Zimbabwe and even radio play.
TBonez won the ANAN Award for Artist of the Year last year and he definitely was in the top tier through out the year, this year he started off with the release of his single 'HiiPower' which he quickly followed up with 'Soke' featuring Yung Tizzer. To be honest, we all thought 'Soke' was going to be one song that will own 2015 due to the fact that it was going to have a video and there was so much hype around the song..... what the hell happened to date we don't know. He released his next single titled 'Nawti' featuring Yung Zap. However, TBone still made some good impressions with his show performances and a guest feature on YungZapz's single 'Lasgidi'. He was also nominated in the category of Song of The year for Soke in the ASGA Awards 205. Will he do more in 2016, lets see.
Jay Blinkz is currently the only female rapper/artist of African descent in Cyprus. She first burst into the scene with the release of her debut single 'Kamaro' featuring Yung Tizzer in May which gained a buzz at the time and even got her a nomination in the category of Best New Act in the ASGA Awards 2015 and put her on performance lists of various shows. She finally solidified her position with the release of her sophomore single 'Million Dollar Movement' featuring 2 of Cyprus biggest names in Afrobeats music Kevin Tita and El Bee. The song is currently one of the reigning songs in 2015 and will definitely be even bigger in 2015.
This is one artist that became big in Cyprus as a surprise to people. Yung Nature is currently enjoying a huge buzz due to the release of his single 'Adim Bad' featuring DJ Activityz, Bushel TMT and Syko. He would have been placed higher on the list if the song did not have so many features but one things is sure and that is the fact that Yung Nature has profited in popularity more than anyone on the song. He has also featured in almost all the regional and high profile shows that took place in Cyprus since the song dropped. He won an ASGA Award in the category of Video of The Year for his debut single 'Back In The Game' which was released last year.
Jaydee first gained notoriety in January 2015 with the release and popularity of his break out song 'Bamijo' in Cyprus, thanks to a guest feature from label mate Yung Tizzer. The song quickly became a fan favorite and had Jaydee on every performance bill that came out around that time. He won the award for Best New Act at the ASGA Awards 2015. He released a follow up single 'Suegbe' shortly before the summer but the song failed to live upto the hype of 'Bamijo'. He has announced that he has more songs coming in 2016.
GSoul is one promising act who has steadily been building his profile as an afrobeats act in Cyprus, he had released his debut song in 2014 but did not get the buzz he needed then till he dropped his breakout song '37 Pelebe' in 2015 which came with a video. It was nominated in the category of Song Of The Year at the ASGA Awards 2015 also. He dropped a follow up single titled 'Stay With Me' but it failed to live upto the hype of '37 Pelebe'. He then featured on 'Made Men' by Xtine featuring Kevin Tita. GSoul has also featured in some of the high profile shows this year and shared performance bills artists like WizKid, LAX, Lil Kesh and Stanley Enow. We are very optimistic that Gsoul will get even bigger in 2016.
Xtine may not be a very popular face in 2015 but we can bet our money on him thay he will take over in 2016. We first heard him from his debut song 'Korrect O' featuring DJ Skylighter which gained him a little notoriety then he released his sophomore single titled 'Made Men' featuring award winning rapper, Kevin Tita and singer GSoul. He plans to release more songs in 2015 and a big collaboration with an A List Nigerian artist as well as videos.
Honorable mentions.
1. Jakie Boy.
Jakie Boy is fast gaining notoriety for his single 'Dan Gata' which has been trending on the web and has amassed over 1,000 downloads withing a short time. The remix with award winning rapper, Kevin Tita is also spreading fast across the web in Cyprus as well. Will he make it into the top 10 in 2016? If he keeps up the momentum he has now he will.
2. YungZap
Yung Zap is definitely a very talented artist. He made a good impression as a featured artist on TBonez's 'Nawti' and on his own single 'Lasgidi'. There just seems to be this disconnection between the fans in Cyprus and his brand as an artist. 2016 might be his year.
3. Lil Tee.
We didn't know about Lil Tee till he started performing on stage and we saw the amount of love he got from the crowd. Apparently his single 'Nagode' is very popular among his core fans but not big to the wider afrobeats audience in Cyprus. Mark these words, Lil Tee will be big in 2016.
4. Bushel TMT
Bushel TMT was definitely a top 10 contender last year but this year he seems to be more focused on event promotions and organizing than music. He still managed to put out a hot verse on Yung Nature's 'Adim Bad'.
5. DET.
Apparently one of the most underrated rap groups of all time in Cyprus. They keep coming with good songs but lack enough promotions or hype to get the songs to people that need to hear them.
#EXCLUSIVE: 10 African Artists Who Rocked Cyprus In 2015.
Reviewed by Unknown
on
03:11
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Reviewed by Unknown
on
03:11
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