Martell Is the Brand Behind the Podcast Documenting Afrobeats at Its Most Critical Moment

OkayAfrica presents the fifth season of Afrobeats Intelligence, its long-running music podcast hosted by Joey Akan, with Martell as sponsor for the new season. Five seasons in, the show has become something genuinely rare: a serious, sustained record of African music told by the people who made it, building an archive that holds its value long after each episode drops.

The show has hosted Tiwa Savage, Mr Eazi, Ayra Starr, Don Jazzy, and Bella Shmurda across its previous seasons, among many others, producing a body of work that functions as primary material for understanding how this era of Afrobeats actually developed. Season 5 adds to that archive with featured conversations from Shallipopi, Wale, Sarz, Ladipoe, Kcee, Joshua Baraka, BOJ, Aniko, Dr. Sid, Magixx, Tec of Show Dem Camp, and others.

Joey Akan described Season 5 ahead of launch as the deepest the show has gone: bigger conversations, sharper stories, more access to the people building the future sound of African music on a global scale. The guest lineup reflects that. Sarz on the construction of the sound. Wale on carrying the music across borders and what that journey actually looks like from the inside. Shallipopi on where things are heading. Each episode adds to a record that will matter well beyond the moment it was made, one that becomes more valuable the further Afrobeats travels.

Martell‘s sponsorship of the season says something about where the brand places its investment. Rather than chasing the loudest moment, Martell has consistently backed the conversations and spaces that carry lasting weight in the culture. A cognac house founded in 1715 understands the long game, and sponsoring a show that is building an enduring record of African music is entirely consistent with that thinking. The partnership reflects Martell’s broader commitment to championing the voices and stories driving Afrobeats’ global influence, and positions the brand where it has always sought to be: inside the culture, not on the periphery of it.

Season 5 is presented by OkayAfrica and sponsored by Martell. New episodes are streaming weekly on YouTube and across all major podcast platforms.