Key Takeaways:

• These genre-blending tracks showcase the artistic synergy between Afrobeats and hip hop artists.
• Collaborations like “Water (Remix)” and “Sittin’ On Top Of The World” replicate a rising world sound.
• The rise of Afrobeats in hip hop circles indicators a shift in how mainstream music defines affect.

With artists like Tems, Davido, and Ayra Starr crossing over internationally, Afrobeats is extra world than ever. Along the way in which, lots of our favorites have teamed up with rap, one other style constructed on collaboration.

Tyla’s self-titled debut, for example, featured Travis Scott remixing her breakout hit “Water” and Gunna popping up elsewhere. Burna Boy has additionally bridged these worlds, with I Told Them… that includes names like J. Cole, 21 Savage, U.Okay. mainstay Dave, and RZA. Rap has all the time been about boundary-pushing, and like many people, a number of Afrobeats stars grew up as followers of hip hop, whether or not by its aesthetics or the music itself.

As a consequence, we’ve gotten moments like Drake and Wizkid’s “One Dance” and Burna Boy aiding Gunna on the tremendous seductive “wgft.” With that in thoughts, Rap-Up rounded up 11 songs the place rappers and Afrobeats stars got here collectively and made magic. See our favourite picks beneath.

1. Gunna and Burna Boy’s “wgft”

Over the years, Gunna has given the women not less than one music to gravitate towards on every album. What “clear my rain” was to 2024’s One of Wun, “wgft” turned on 2025’s The Last Wun — simply turned up a notch with a contact of Afrobeats affect. An enormous purpose for that’s Burna Boy displaying up for a short however memorable visitor verse. It’s simply probably the greatest songs on that LP, in our opinion.

2. Tems and J. Cole’s “Free Fall”

Arriving towards the tail finish of J. Cole’s 2024 function run, the North Carolina native confirmed up on Tems’ Born within the World by “Free Fall.” In the Lagos singer’s personal phrases, “This is about, after you fell in love with someone, they fell in love too.” With Cole being certainly one of simply two friends on her debut album, it was good listening to how comfortably their voices sit subsequent to one another.

3. Davido and Nicki Minaj’s “Holy Ground”

Nicki Minaj has tried her hand at dancehall, Latin music, and, sure, Afrobeats. In 2020, she joined Davido on “Holy Ground” from his star-studded A Better Time album. “Ayo, ‪I’m giving medals, I gotta give you the G / I’m bouncing all on the D‬ / ‪I just had to give you the V‬,” she rapped. According to Davido, Minaj even did her verse totally free.

4. Cardi B and Tyla’s “Nice Guy”

Tyla had an enormous breakthrough after the world caught onto “Water,” and since then, she’s develop into one of many faces of African pop. Because of that, artists — whether or not in rap or R&B — appear extra comfy pulling her outdoors of Afrobeats manufacturing. You hear it on Cardi B’s “Nice Guy,” the place the South African singer handles the refrain and does a little bit of sing-rapping on the ultimate verse. It’s simply another reason to like 2025’s AM I THE DRAMA?

5. Drake and Wizkid’s “One Dance”

Drake’s “One Dance” pulls from slightly little bit of all the pieces: dancehall, Afrobeats, and home, because of its use of Kyla’s “Do You Mind.” Wizkid additionally reveals up towards the again half of the Views observe. “One Dance” won’t be everybody’s choose for one of the best rapper-Afrobeats crossover, however it did make Wizkid the primary Nigerian artist to prime the Billboard Hot 100.

“I gotta at least honor the person that handed me the football before I ran for the touchdown,” Drake shared on “Rap Radar,” in keeping with REVOLT. “Wizkid was on the music with me. I had blessings from the true dons in that area, you realize.”

6. Asake and Central Cee’s “Wave”

“She a baddie, got my validation, say your body need examination / Say you want vacation, then we ain’t goin’ Afro Nation,” Central Cee dishes out on his Asake collaboration “Wave.” Before dropping his personal debut album, the “Doja” hitmaker confirmed up on the Nigerian artist’s Lungu Boy. Of course, Cench hardly does something midway, so he flew all the way in which to Lagos to shoot the video.

7. David Guetta, Ayra Starr, and Lil Durk’s “Big FU”

It’s exhausting to recollect a time when Lil Durk wasn’t a dependable function. French DJ and producer David Guetta teamed up with the Chicago rapper and Ayra Starr on “Big FU,” an enormous center finger geared toward their so-called replacements. The 19 & Dangerous artist offers the document its melodic spine.

8. Ice Spice and Rema’s “Pretty Girl”

We’re unsure whether or not to be extra impressed by the truth that RIOTUSA produced “Pretty Girl” or that Ice Spice rode the Afro-infused instrumental the way in which she did. In addition to giving the Bronx rapper an help with ad-libs, Rema lent his vocals to the refrain: “Yeah, pretty gyal, me no do no kiss and tell / As long as you treat me well, I will treat you more than gem.”

9. ODUMODUBLVCK, Bloody Civilian, and Wale’s “BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR”

Wale has experimented with Afrobeats fairly just a few occasions all through his profession, which made him an ideal match for ODUMODUBLVCK’s “BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR.” Alongside Bloody Civilian, we get to listen to the DMV mainstay faucet into his Nigerian roots with a point out of Ondo. “And I don’t trust nothing but this God-given flow / Dobale to Folarin when you pass Ondo,” he raps on the EZIOKWU minimize.

10. Childish Gambino, Amaarae, and Flo Milli’s “Talk My S**t”

Amaarae seems on two songs from Childish Gambino’s fifth studio album, Bando Stone and The New World: “In The Night” and “Talk My S**t.” On the latter, the “Atlanta” creator begins rapping proper out the gate, and fortunately, we get Amaarae in her factor, too. “I feel like Gucci Mane, I might just throw her at the drop / I keep that hoochie out the hummer, almost killed the thot,” the Ghanaian American singer spits. Flo Milli serves because the practically four-minute observe’s good final touch.

11. Fireboy DML, 21 Savage, and Blxst’s “Peru (Remix)”

Fireboy DML’s model of Afrobeats usually blends the style with outdoors influences, which is how you find yourself with an artist like Ed Sheeran on a music like “Peru.” For the document’s official remix, DML swapped Teddy for 21 Savage and Blxst. “I wanna see you wine, get on all fours / Lace front, but she like her beats Afro,” the London-born rapper dishes out after referencing Chanel and So So Def.