Naira Marley Essentials

Through a combination of catchy rhythms and controversial antics, Naira Marley consistently captures the imagination. After spearheading Afrobashment’s fusion of trap, dancehall, Afrobeats, and grime with 2015’s “Marry Juana,” Marley’s “Issa Goal” was selected as the Super Eagles’ 2018 FIFA World Cup theme song. With his socially inclined musings (“Am I a Yahoo Boy”) and witty pidgin and Yoruba lyrics, cult status has since followed. Despite brushes with the law, the subsequent success of the risqué “Soapy”—a 2020 Soundcity MVP Viewers’ Choice award recipient—proves a lingering resonance.