About the event

Imagine an alternative dimension where cruise beat is the mainstream music and culture. Enter the first edition of a new event series named Play: @kobrabar.oslo. Each month @endre_3000 and/or a relevant DJ play a set dedicated to a particular genre, and on the 14th of February it’s time for PLAY: CRUISE BEAT. How is TikTok affecting the future of music? The answer may be in Nigeria’s cruise beat, as well as the related genres mara beat and free beat This sound is chaotic like the streets of Lagos, unmanageable like Tiktok: Cruise Beat is not only related, but borrows elements from other Afrodiasporic genres such as amapiano, afrobeats, gqom, kuduro, baile funk and techno. It is often peppered with all sorts of twisted and quirky samples from memes and the like. This week @boilerroomtv released Lagos: Street Beat – filmed at the mythological location now named Femi Kuti’s New Afrika Shrine, with DJs and producers such as @_djkhalipha, @azzi_onthebeat, @djtobzyimolegiwa, @official_djcora. The underground in Nigeria creates new genres out of necessity: ‘We called this ‘free beat’ because the beats were given away for free’, DJ YK tells music journalist Joe Muggs in a Bandcamp article. However, now even Nigerian afrobeats superstars like @heisrema and @seyi_vibez are adopting the sound on major hits like «Ozeba» and «Shaolin». CC: Free Graphic design: @justdaisyo