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In House: Best Albums of 2023

It’s almost impossible to keep up with all the amazing albums that drop every year. The Best Albums of the Year is a Culture Custodian compilation of the best bodies of work that defined the musical year 2023. From groundbreaking Afrobeats collaborations to the commanding rap albums and the palpable street vibes and energy, we […]

Culture Custodian Editorial Team

11 months ago

Welcome to The Culture Custodian Album of the Year list of albums that transcended boundaries, and stayed with us, as voted by the Culture Custodian editorial team.

10. Pan-African Rockstar– Lady Donli

In 2023, Lady Donli made a comeback with her sophomore album, Pan African Rockstar; an ode to her decade relevance in the Nigerian music industry, and one of the pioneers of the now-established alté community. On the album which features Obongjayar, Kah-Lo, Pierre Kwenders, and The Lagos Panic, Lady Donli makes a statement of fact, an ode to her lofty contributions to the growth of the Nigerian music industry, and the alté scene in particular in songs layered with Jazz, Pop, R&B, Afrobeats, and other new sounds. On the 12-tracker, Lady Donli catches and retains our attention with her excellent bars, one-liners, standout sounds, and themes that speak about her navigation of the difficult terrains of the industry, and her eventual triumph.

In this phase of her elevation to a Pan African Rockstar, Lady Donli unabashedly celebrates herself, her body of work, and the community she has built, which are credences of her unrelenting and unwavering dedication to her craft.

9. Boy Alone (Deluxe)- Omah Lay

In 2020 after working as a producer, and getting no accolades and recognition for his work, Omah Lay struck out with You and Bad Influence after releasing a couple of emo-centric numbers. Consolidating on the successes of his debut album, Boy Alone; about mental health and hedonism and relatable to young Nigerians and Africans, Omah Lay establishes himself as an artist who captures with lyrics moments difficult to express with words in Boy Alone Deluxe. Described in some quarters as the pioneer of Afro-Depression, Port-Harcourt-born, Stanley Idibia renews his message of inquiries of mental health, and youthful existence on the deluxe project with stellar songwriting, and groove. Boy Alone and its deluxe are poignant extensions of Omah Lay’s traumatic life stories told in flawless lyrics with a complementary standout production.

8. Maverick– Kizz Daniel

2023 could be said to be Kizz Daniel’s year. Starting the year with hits like Buga, Cough, RTID (Rich Till I Die) which went on to dominate the soundscape, and became street anthems culminating in an album Maverick, a project that expresses the current phase of his life. On the 20-track project, tapping artists of diverse musical genres; Blaqbonez, Chike, Pryme, Johnny Drille, Jahmiel, Nomcebo Zikode, Not3s, DJ Big N, Yemi Alade, Young Jonn, Kizz Daniel explored themes that are reminiscent of his realities over the years with up-tempo sounds.

The album; his fifth project was Kizz Daniel’s clear message of liberation and freedom from the restrictive conventions that frequently trap musicians in the Nigerian entertainment circle and presents himself as a true maverick who is steadfastly committed to his artistic ideals and forging a unique path in the industry.

7. Emeka Must Shine- Blaqbonez

A recurring theme in Blaqbonez’s journey so far is that the musical artist certainly knows how to command attention and hold it, and his third album Emeka Must Shine puts that on full display.

The 14-track album which boasts of collaborations with top music acts including Young Jonn, Black Sherif, and an international feature with Ludacris is a strong step into the pop scene for Blaqbonez who has not let his original identity as a hip-hop artist stop him from experimenting with different genres or sounds.

The album showcases Blaqbonez’s outstanding storytelling ability and creative energy. From Road Runners which sets the tone for the album to the sensual Cinderella Girl that wraps it up, Blaqbonez weaves different narratives through each song with catchy melodies and infectious beats.

While some of the tracks on Emeka Must Shine may feel stronger than others, with a few moments where the album loses momentum, this doesn’t overshadow the overall impact of the project.

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6. Body & Soul– Joeboy

From the moment he showed up and showed out with his hit track Baby in 2019, Joeboy has over time carved out his own space in the music industry. Four years after his debut EP Love & Light, Joeboy dropped his sophomore album Body & Soul in May 2023, a body of work that showcases the artist’s talent and versatility.

Unlike his previous solo project, Body & Soul features collaborations with Bnxn, Ckay, Ludacris, and other music stars. This blend of various artists and genres captures his essence as an artist and all together makes for a cohesive body of work.

From hit tracks like Sip, which quickly went viral on TikTok when it was earlier released as a single, to the infectious and upbeat Duffel bag, and the loverboy longing on Body & Soul, the album blends afro-pop beats, R&B melodies, and the heartfelt lyrics that faithful listeners have come to expect from Joeboy.

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5. I Told Them– Burna Boy

In I Told Them, Burna Boy captures the spirit of his artistic journey in the narratives, beats, and melodies that characterize his personality. The project develops a colourful fusion of sounds with complex blending of musical influences, including elements of 90s Hip-hop and Afrofusion. At the same time, Burna’s storytelling style takes center stage, drawing listeners into a universe where themes of success, grit, and resiliency coexist.

I Told Them is a significant turning point in Burna’s artistic development. The title of the album is a potent declaration of Burna’s confidence and confirmation of his ascent to the top. It captures his development from an ambitious artist to a world icon by leveraging his music as a launchpad into the international scene. Burna Boy’s influence goes well beyond Nigeria’s borders. I Told Them is ready to further solidify his standing as a global music sensation. His music connects with fans in many countries. Burna Boy’s commitment to his craft is evident in the album, which is expected to offer listeners an immersive and compelling listening experience.

4. Blessed- Mohbad

On the 30th of June 2023, Mohbad released his 8-track sophomore EP titled Blessed, and sadly his last ever project before his passing three months later. The project, a deeply emotive body of work, is an expression of his personal journey, in predominantly street pop/ghetto gospel. Through this project, it’s hard to miss Mohbad’s self-awareness and introspection, as his words vividly carry motivation, fear, and eventually, hope. At the same time, his love for upbeat street pop shines through, on tracks like Account Balance, and La Pio Pio.

This project, although created during a rough patch in his life, is a commendable body of work. Blessed, proved that Mohbad’s art and light have surely transcended him.

3. Tequila Ever After – Adekunle Gold

On this project, Adekunle Gold proved that he’s truly evolved into a global Afro-pop star. His rebrand was first evident on Afro Pop Vol. 1, refined on Catch Me If You Can, and solidified on Tequila Ever After. With practice, more comfort, and perhaps the charm of a third attempt, this body of work explores Adekunle Gold’s versatility, and storytelling and stretches his overall creativity. From the quality of production and features, it was quite obvious that he wasn’t playing small. The album features a crop of global music heavyweights including Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers, Coco Jones, Ami Faku, Khalid, and Simi, amongst others.

Amongst other things, this project validated his rebirth, etching his evolved sound into the minds of his audience, and staging a known presence in the global music scene, as an international Afro-pop sensation.

2. Work of Art– Asake

Asake is arguably the prince of Fuji-piano, a crossbreed that fuses elements from street-affiliated genres like Fuji with more mainstream ones like Afrobeats and Amapiano. Released last September, his debut album Mr Money With The Vibe, with both its critical acclaim and commercial success, gave him entry into the elite, exclusive club of Nigerian pop music. It won Album of the Year at the 16th Headies, but also peaked at the 66th position on the Billboard 200 chart. Thus, the question on Asake’s mind must have been how to either match or outrival that success on subsequent outings.

For his sophomore album Work Of Art, released this June, his answer to that question was: by not fixing what isn’t broken. Thus, the album reprised several of the debut’s formulas: most of the songs are set to Amapiano; it reprises his creative partnership with Magicsticks, but this time relies on two other producers, Pprime and Blaisebeatz; it also features only one guest artist, in this case Olamide, Asake’s boss; you can also hear the choral backup singing in some songs, one of the first album’s noticeable strains.

With its fourteen songs, Work of Art touches on several concerns, one of its songs, Sunshine, for instance, presenting a hopeful message for the downtrodden, recalling Dupe from his debut album. But the dominant concern here is Asake himself, most of the songs conspiring to tell you how awesome, how much of a “walking poetry” he is, a claim to both genius and greatness that he makes through references to the late American Neo-Expressionist painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. This reference is most pronounced in Basquiat, the sixth track, but is also rendered in visual language: a portrait of the painter can be seen in the album’s cover art.

The album may not have enjoyed as much critical acclaim as did its predecessor, but it remains one of the year’s most popular and acclaimed projects. The proof is its wide patronage, as, this July, it peaked at 4th place on the Billboard’s US World Albums Chart. One of its songs, the Olamide-aided Amapiano, has also been nominated for the newly created Best African Music Performance award at the Grammys, for which Asake would be competing with Burna Boy, Ayra Starr, Davido, and Tyla. If you thought the success of his debut album was beginner’s luck, Work Of Art offers a plausible rebuttal.

1. Timeless– Davido

It’s just one of life’s complexities that in certain instances, tragedy and disaster collide, and as Rudyard Kipling memorably implored us, we “treat those two impostors just the same”. For Davido, the final weeks of 2022 embodied this. In November, the same month in which he would turn 30, his son, Ifeanyi passed away. Into hiding he went save, for a performance at the World Cup final. In the midst of this, it’a perhaps no surprise that the music acted as a balm. No Nigerian artist of his generation has mined his pain for our pleasure like Davido has and this forms the origin story of Timeless.

With Timeless, Davido needed to prove two things: that he could make a truly great album and that he could still command a seat at the high table of Afrobeats, in the wake of the arrival of new entrants like Rema and Asake. The result is undoubtedly his best body of work. For an artist more beloved for his hitmaking instincts, the decision to strip back some of the layers by working with a diverse cast (Angelique Kidjo, Fave, The Cavemen, Asake, Logos Olori, and Morravey) and prioritizing cohesiveness was a stroke of genius which elevates his position in the Afrobeats GOAT stakes. The much-coveted Grammy nod was the ultimate validation and reminder that OBO is still a primetime player.