After what appeared to be a slow start to the music year, the projects have begun to roll in—LPs, EPs, two-track packs; you name it, the scene has got it. And while not all have been instant classics, if at all any, there has been a fair share of quality music in circulation, particularly from the EP side of things. As you enjoy your week, here’s a list of 10 solid EPs from the past few months that you might have missed. We at Culture Custodian have taken the time to select some of the best of the lot across multiple genres and from different sections of the industry. If you’re especially tired of generic mainstream Afro-pop, this is the list for you. Enjoy!
MOON 1 – EF Moon
Of the many sins plaguing music discourse in Nigeria, which previously included abuse of the noun ‘crooner,’ and currently includes conflating every fusion sound as ‘experimental’, characterising unorthodox artists as ‘avant garde,’ has become a favourite misstep. But sometimes, some artists really are avant garde. EF Moon ‘the American boy’ is avant garde. His fashion-forward Denrele Edun-reminiscent aesthetics drape Yeezus’ Kanye-styled musical genius that would leave even open-minded listeners perplexed.
No, this is not an exaggeration. You’ve probably seen a video of the Bouyon-influenced I Know on TikTok or elsewhere (“E funny but e go sup, if money touch my hand e go soft” “I go make money ni oh, I know”l). Or the Punk R&B hybrid Life is Slo, shouldered-monkey-inclusive. But there’s so much more magic on the 9-track MOON 1 EP.
Take Fearful, a song that camouflages as just another ragga track, but actually dissects anxiety and the worries of being broke. Real emo wails, not that faux UG nonsense. And No Trust Me, which in this writer’s opinion is one of the best songs of the year. Honestly, we should play this at the next Presidential inauguration instead of those doldrum parade compositions. Invite Starjay to produce a new national anthem, while at it.
Caleb & Jamz’ Folder – Cosamote, Caleb Clay, Jamz FR
All 4 tracks on Caleb & Jamz’s Folder are extensions of the music collective Cosamote’s collaboration album, Files ‘26, released last year, and more particularly its breezy intro, Consistency, which features Caleb Clay and Jamz FR.
The pair brings the summer energy back on their collab EP. Summer Baby is sultry 90s R&B; less baby-making, more flirtatious pick-up at the club. Proper 18+ music for your house parties. Consistency reappears to solidify the mood. Jamz FR’s alto runs here make for a sexy sing-along, propelled by bouncy drums and a playful oriental flute. And is it really summer if there’s no Heartbreak? Recall those delirious IJGB tales—Detty December is our own summer, please—about breakups over the phone and inconsiderate ghosting. That’s what Caleb Clay raps about when he says, “Do your thing, mama, I’mma catch you on the flipside/ If you’re happy then you know I’m happy outside/On the inside, I hate you, can’t wait to replace you. Toxic, toxic Lagos lovin’.
Avant God – Esoterica
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the brilliance of this EP’s official artwork? Esoterica’s palms are placed on either side of her face, sheathed in shiny grey satin gloves. Glitter over her closed eyelids compliments galaxies in her veil, set against an acrylic azure background. The artist captured the EP’s essence in this way, a brazen inward turn declaring self deity-hood, and her relationship with God. Right from the first line on the opener, Idols, Esoterica makes it clear that she’s rejecting the normative, shedding society’s ideals in a rock number to remember.
Faith is a neo-soul confessional about declining faith in the face of life’s challenges. “I couldn’t gauge it if you were gonna stay because of all my shame/But you’ve been calling for me,” she belts in a piercing vibrato. By the next song, Famous, it’s back to rock, electric and bass guitars guiding a melodramatic chorus about just wanting to be famous regardless of the cost. And if you’re a fan of the Boy Toy controller herself, SGawd, Esoterica has something for you. Their collaboration, Decisions, rides on heavy-hitting bass drums and guitar loops, alternating between SGawd’s sassy self-affirmation bars and Esoterica’s choral stacks.
Avant God is 17 minutes of indie pop, soul, folk, dance, and rock in the tradition of alternative foremothers like Mumford and Sons, Florence + the Machine, and Lana Del Rey. Music to be swaddled by.
Small Chops – Mannywellz
Mr. Chocolate and Caramel returned on June 5, 2026, with a sumptuous serving of signature soul and R&B aptly named Small Chops. At this point, each Mannywellz project is simply an opportunity to bask in the grand poetic musings of one of the best active songwriters out there. It takes an exceptional writer to describe their lover as a sweet-smelling petrichor navigating hell and earth, as he does in How It Feels. And then Wale follows that up with an interpolation of Davido’s interpolation (Assurance) of Heavy D’s Don’t be Afraid with signature laidback delivery.
Still on the EP, You Are From God picks up where Mannywellz’s viral 2024 hit, Looking For God, left off. Brief at a mere 50 seconds, but every bit as exciting. And if you ever forgot that this man is a Naija boy, he ensures that’s remedied on Zeze, calling all the zeh-zeh baddies to step out and have a good time. After all, “if you do nothing they will still talk, and if you do something, wọn má sọ̀rọ̀.” Don’t be fooled by the warm pastels and visuals, Mannywellz is every bit a mischievous Yoruba demon at heart.
Grae’s Anatomy – EMO Grae
When your debut year includes singles with BNXN and Zinoleesky, the expectation typically is that you follow up with a project, or at least go on to release, and be featured, on a couple of mainstream records. For singer Emo Grae, life hasn’t exactly played out that way. Appearances on projects by producers Rexxie and Niphkeyz and on the Ejoya Music collective’s inaugural tape have only just built up to his first project, Grae’s Anatomy EP, 6 years on from his first single.
If not for anything else, listen to Grae’s Anatomy for the intro track, Youth, an autobiographical account of his journey into music: losing his mom and grandmother, searching for purpose, and finding release in music. Niphkeyz provides a soulful base for EMO Grae’s confessional lyricism, a detour from the producer’s typical Amapiano instrumentation. Just take a listen, really. Just listen.
B4R$W TAPE – Khaid
Khaid’s ability to fit into any genre is hardly ever spoken about enough. For instance, on GO GO!, he delivers an Afropop banger well in the mold of Kizz Daniel, whom he shouts on the record, with a catchy monosyllabic hook to boot. Y26K is a baile funk-crunk record that’s everything. And when we say everything, we mean everything: mixing an interpolation of Davido’s Dodo, ad-libbed inclusions of “Them know” from Asake’s Amapiano (fear. Olamide), emo rap wails, off-kilter narration from the self-acclaimed Wacko Baby, and a bouncy synth loop that’s hard not to listen to. I GAT YOU is teen-appropriate pop with the spirit of Rema, music the industry hasn’t had enough of. B4R$W closes with WACKO PLAY, another baile funk fusion with a tasty chipmunk sample of Norwegian EDM producer oskar med k’s Knock Me Off My Feet.
Songs About An Angel I Left – Rójú
We might not have the best President. Or the best Senate. Or the best Ministers. Our Governors might be reprehensible. And we might not even have a functional Judiciary system. But as long as we keep minting melancholic R&B lover boys like Rójú, we’ll be fine, eventually. Listen to 4Runner and watch yourself sink to the floor with him, singing “Please stay. Take my pain away.” Avail yourself some time to relish the emotional valley of Butterfl1ies, chords threatening to sweep one away onto the waves of his confessions. Don’t you love no more? Again, Rójú asks, “Don’t You Need Me?” Listen to this lover boy and free him of his burdensome longing, goddammit!
Big Bad World – Ajebutter22
Everybody say a warm welcome to the chief chronicler of suave Lagos doings, His Royal Penship, Ajebutter22. The rapper picks up where he stopped on last year’s Lust in Lagos EP. “Thought I had a dream to chase in Lagos but I must be dreaming/Everybody and their mumsi, ọmọ, ọmọ, them be f**king scheming,” he raps on the suite Everybody Guide, enthusing “It’s the blind leading the blind, I’m only kind to my kind/Illiterate wey no dey read, but them still fit read your mind.” And that’s just the intro track alone. Honestly, this might be Butter at his most densely extrospective since 2017’s What Happens in Lagos. No fillers whatsoever. Come for the bars, stay for longtime collaborator, producer and songwriter Akitoye Balogun’s work behind the boards.
For Me, This Time – Africaine
If you’re a lover looking for healing music, Africaine’s mission is here to set you whole and free. On the EP’s titular track, she reflects on the pain of a relationship, abandoning the weight of shrinking herself for an undeserving love. There For You layers another reflection on a lover who failed to show up when it mattered over theremin notes and minor chords. But even then, she’s still willing to show them love—not financial advice, please. And then Give Me Love is sexy, daring music suited for a speakeasy on a night when you and the new lover have just fought and want to reconcile.
Break Time – Falz
And when the audience needed Falz the most, he returned with Break Time, a reckoning with society currently at ‘breaking point.’ Political apathy. Japa syndrome. Religious indoctrination. The 15 May 2026 Oriire, Oyo State abductions. Corruption. Tribalism. Protest as resistance. Gambling. Falz doesn’t mince words at any point in the 9-minute tape. The question is what we’ll do next with the music.
