Flavour Essentials

Like so many African stars, Flavour—a.k.a. Chinedu Izuchukwu Okoli—shaped his early groove by perfoming in church. The Nigerian singer, songwriter and drummer dropped his highlife debut album N'abania in 2005, and the record's self-titled single caught fire thanks to its squirming synth lines and a ragged verse from Nigga Raw. Flavour continued his climb by experimenting with reggae, with the gorgeous, empowering tune "Black is Beautiful", and soulful R&B in the touching "Baby Oku"—but he truly blew up with the 2011 remix of "Nwa Baby", which helped broadcast his name all over Africa.