Hilarious quips and ‘100,000-volt’ energy: the hypemen (and women) redefining Afrobeats music

Toby Shang, uma das principais estrelas do crescente gênero Afrohype. Fotografia: Sogo Oladele/The Guardian. O estilo de emcee baseado em vocais de alta octanagem e improvisados floresceu graças à sua maneira única de cativar multidões.

Prefer the Guardian on GoogleFor the 2015 freshmen cohort of the history degree programme at the University of Lagos, their classmate’s first-semester presentation was so captivating that they began calling him Toby Shang, after the 16th-century Chinese dynasty he had focused on.

His crowd engagement that day had been harnessed from his high school days as a ginger-man (energiser) in a three-man band and as a private tutor. By his final year at university, his viral catchphrases and infectious energy had resulted in a hit song, Shedibalabala.

Today, he is one of the self-acclaimed “evangelists and pioneers” in the Afrobeats sub-genre some are now calling Afrohype or lamba.

Ver imagem em tela cheia Toby Shang à beira da água no subúrbio de Akoka, em Lagos. Fotografia: Sogo Oladele/The Guardian “Até minha mãe me chama de Shang agora,” disse o 32‑anos, nascido Tobi Michael Adeyeye, em uma entrevista perto da beira da lagoa da universidade, onde ele já conduzia eventos.

Since then he has hosted his own rave, released two EPs and run four editions of his School of Hype – a one-day masterclass with online mentoring that has launched several rising stars.

Hypemen neither sing nor rap entirely, but perform high-octane ad-libbed vocals “and onomatopoeic sounds” over fresh beats or popular instrumentals such as Dorime, a made-in-Nigeria version of 1996’s Ameno by the French group Era, a song that has become a continental nightclub classic.

Em resposta, frequentadores de boates doam ou pulverizam dinheiro – a tradição nigeriana de lançar ou colocar dinheiro sobre alguém para celebrá-lo.

View image in fullscreenToby Shang made a name for himself while still a student at the University of Lagos. Photograph: Sogo Oladele/The Guardian“Hypemen have the gift of the gab and fine mic control,” said the London-based doctor and cultural critic Dami Ajayi, who encountered one at a party in Tirana last month.

Despite being a male-dominated sub-genre, a few women have made their mark, such as the Yaoundé-based bikutsi artist Lady Ponce, known as the “100,000-volt lady” because of her energy.

Other notable female figures in the scene include Deborah ‘Hype Queen Baddy’ Francis – an alumnus of Shang’s school who died in September – and the radio presenter Melody “M.

A arte de hype, como é conhecida na África Ocidental e Central, tem suas raízes na música de louvor e nos estilos de música de chamada e resposta, enraizados há séculos nas populações negras de ambos os lados do Atlântico.

In west Africa, this tradition took the form of oral historians known as griots. In the US, it was sustained by negro spirituals, sacred folk songs created by enslaved African Americans.

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Exponents of this style include the American gospel singer Kirk Franklin as well as the Congolese rumba bandleader Koffi Olomide and the Congolese singer Awilo Longomba.

The success of Olomide and Longomba at the turn of the 21st century set off a craze in Côte d’Ivoire, where coupé-décalé music embraced the atalaku trend alongside farotement, the act of showing off by throwing cash at performers or guests at parties.

View image in fullscreenThe Congolese singer Koffi Olomide performing at a festival in Abidjan in September 2021. Photograph: Sia Kambou/AFP/GettyA line encouraging audiences to gallop like a horse in the Ivorian star DJ Arafat’s 2003 viral homage to a late friend – “Tout le monde galope, kirikata kirikata” – influenced later hits from Nigerian Afrobeats musicians Flavour N’abania and Skales.

A rede nacional de televisão da Costa do Marfim, RTI, organizou um concurso de talentos atalaku por vários anos. Lili Djely, mulher ivoriana de origem maliana, venceu a edição de 2006 com uma mistura de nouchi ivoriano e francês, derrotando homens para levar a coroa.

In recent years, an MC/hypeman of the year category was introduced at the Ghana DJ awards as hype flourished there too.

Thanks to the success of Afrobeats, Afrohype is now widely recognised as a full-time career. As artists became more expensive to book after Covid-19, promoters turned to hypemen – previously criticised for simply doing voiceovers.

Some are now reportedly paid as much as 5-8m naira (£2,844–4,550) for a 30-minute or one-hour performance.

Alguns observadores, no entanto, dizem que o hype é um incômodo, aumenta os níveis de ruído em eventos ou incentiva estilos de vida fraudulentos, e que muitos artistas não personalizam a linguagem e o ritmo para se adequar ao evento.

View image in fullscreenThe Congolese musician Awilo Longomba performing at the All Africa music awards in Lagos in November 2019. Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/GettyNevertheless, hypemen are now a permanent fixture on the entertainment scene.

For Shang, they are helping fun-seekers and club-goers get back on the dancefloor.