London trio Radiant Children return with a new song “Sky Mind.” The group emerged in 2018 with their debut EP TRYIN’. Their pop and jazz sensibilities got a boost of visibility when Issa Rae used “Life’s A Bitch” and “Go Left” in the first season of her HBO show Insecure. “Sky Mind” comes out before the release of their debut album later this year. 

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Q-Tip just celebrated his 50th birthday last Friday and thanked all his well-wishers in an Instagram post. He announced three new albums in a written message while playing the bass guitar. He is currently working on Riotdiaries, the long-awaited The Last Zulu and AlGoRhythms. His last solo album was Kamaal The Abstract from 2009. 

In case you missed it, you can stream Questlove’s two-day celebration Q-Tip 50 that took place last weekend. 

Taiyel is an Afrobeats artist based in Brooklyn by way of Nigeria. “Enemi Say” is the catchy lead single from her EP slated for release in spring. Last year she introduced herself with the songs “P.O.P. (Power of Persistency)” and “La Vida Loca.” She openly cites Afrobeats stars Wizkid, Davido and Burna Boy as influences and gave a description of “Enemi Say”:  

“It speaks to the values of persistency and it is about that feeling of triumph and defiance in the face of people who want you to fail as soon as they see you doing good, without considering how hard you’ve worked to get even a sliver of success. “Enemi Say” is a song for everyone, because we can all relate to chasing our dreams, and facing opposition and obstacles from others. This song reminds me, and I hope you, that even if people want you to fail or expect little from you, if you have the ‘power of persistency’, you will be triumphant.”

https://soundcloud.com/taiyel/enemi-say

South African native Petite Noir calls his style of maneuvering rhythm Noirwave. He introduced himself with the single “Blame Fire” that sounds like early ’90s house music with an international influence. Today he shares the trailer for his visual mini album La Maison Noir that was shot in Namibia. The songs are influenced by the four elements: earth, air, water and fire and he has collaborated with Saul Williams and Danny Brown on some of the music. La Maison Noir comes out October 5th and Petite Noir will celebrate by curating the first No Borders International Music Festival on November 3rd to bring together Noirwave artists. The film will stream at lamaisonnoir.com on the day of the album’s release. [youtube id=”PDRLf_0_ZK4″]