Why Asake’s M$NEY Live Album Matters

Almost two months after releasing his fourth studio album, M$NEY, Asake is set to return with M$NEY IN LONDON (Live), a live version that also doubles as a deluxe. This is not a drill. 

News of the live album broke after his exclusive one-night only show at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, on 21 June, 2026. The invite-only Spotify-coordinated concert featured Asake’s first performance of M$NEY since its release in April. Attendees were regaled with renditions of the original 13 tracks on the LP and 5 new ones (Kings Intro, Psycho, Akọ, Ego, and Bad Boy), backed by the critically acclaimed band, The Compozers, who will also serve as producers on the live LP. And while it’s yet to be confirmed by the artist himself—circulated instead by trusted media outlets, including the artist’s fan page, Giran Republic—the M$NEY live album will supposedly be exclusive to Spotify and will arrive sometime in July. 

With this step, Asake embraces a path only a minute of Nigerian artists, and even contemporaries abroad, have taken in recent times. The ‘Afrobeats’ era’s most relevant live albums aren’t  by Afro-pop singers: neo-soul icon, Aṣa’s Aṣa: Live in Paris (2009) and Aṣa: Live in Lagos (2017), and the cantankerous Brymo’s Live! At Terrakulture Arena. Others like Chike’s Valentine’s Day 2022 album, Boo of the Booless (Live at NMNL) from his ‘No Music, No Life’ Lagos concert ,and Burna Boy’s 2023 Apple Music-exclusive Apple Music Live: Burna Boy from his historic 2023 London Stadium show have been released to minimal fanfare—M$NEY IN LONDON was likely modelled after the latter. 

Afro-pop has become less live performance-centric over time, thereby disincentivising such releases. Unlike a genre like gospel, where the atmosphere of live performances elevates recordings exponentially—think Nathaniel Bassey’s 2023 album, Hallelujah Live, and Sinach’s record-breaking Shout it Loud (Live) (2012) at the Lyric Theatre, South Africa, containing the mega hit, I Know Who I Am—Afro-pop isn’t reliant on immersive effect live production. Similarly, genres like Afrobeat and Juju are synonymous with stellar live productions, like Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s seminal album repertoire (Live!) 1971, Fela With Ginger Baker Live! (1971), and Live in Amsterdam (1983), Femi and Made Kuti’s Legacy + New Afrika Shrine Live Sessions  (2023), and King Sunny Ade’s Live Live Juju (1988), to name a few. 

There’s also the commercial cost of producing live projects, when originals already exist; that’s burdensome for young acts. It was bad enough when numbers didn’t matter to a pathological degree. In the age of streaming, artists who don’t release concert videos on YouTube wouldn’t be moved in this direction. The fact that an alarming majority lack live-performance skills, even in über-controlled environments like NPR’s Tiny Desk, cements this further. And the fact that labels are unlikely to recoup profits or attract new fans, lays the idea to rest decisively.

Still, there are more pluses to a live album, in the long run. Consider that the term ‘performing artist’ isn’t just a mere descriptor for singers. It’s an elaboration on what they do. How their actions sum up the art of making music. How they bring written music to life for an audience. Through live albums, artists are able to cement their legacies further, capturing the magic of a show(s) for listeners to experience long after the limelight dims. There’s an intimacy to live recordings that you don’t quite get from the original tapes. Improvisations in response to real-time audience reactions that wouldn’t be possible otherwise, captured in sonic amber, circulated for fans craving dynamism. The big-band assemblies, call-and-response with teeming attendees, and cult moments—like Freddie Mercury’s  yodels at the Wembley Stadium 1985 Live Aid Concert—make for inspired listening. MTV’s Unplugged tapes remain such a big deal to this day for these reasons. Lauryn Hill. JÄY Z. Maxwell. Nirvana. And most recently, indie pop group, Twenty Øne Pilots. Heck, there’s John Bellion’s LIVE FROM FOREST HILLS released exactly 3 weeks ago as a reference point—ponder on the saxophone and trumpet bursts on KID AGAIN. You don’t have to see the artist in action. You can hear the magic, and that’s the beauty of  ‘live.’

Comparing the American music industrial complex to contemporary Nigerian pop in this regard isn’t an apples-to-oranges scenario. As was mentioned earlier, our musical forebearers have released live albums, as have much younger artists. The comparison simply identifies the similarities between both industries and the novelty value of live albums. For what it’s worth, Asake’s music is more tailored for live recordings than most, if not all, of the Western acts mentioned. His November 2025 Red Bull Symphonic performance of Fuji Vibe was extremely impressive. As was his Bandana duet with Fireboy at his 2023 02 Arena Concert. If JAŸ Z had The Roots, Asake has The Compozers—not that both groups are of similar compositional pedigree, but for live performances, the British-Ghanaian band can hold their own on stage anywhere in the world. A live album is essentially part-novelty, part-legacy extension, and part-documentation for Asake. 

Production on M$NEY fits the template required for this undertaking. Who wouldn’t love to hear the genre-hopping percussion of OBA live? Or to sing along with the audience to the hooks on FORGIVENESS and GRATITUDE? Asake, centring his project on South-African dance and House music, gives room for considerable experimentation that this writer is certain will be achieved. And if not, well, at least we have more music to listen to; that and a possible drive to level up his stagecraft. There’s nothing to lose from a consumer POV, nor from a promotion perspective for his label and Spotify. This might even influence more artists to follow suit, with live video recordings not so far behind. Streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music already incorporated video a while back. YouTube will always be unmatched for distribution. So, who knows what could come next? At the end of the day, the ball is in artists’ courts to step out of the box with moves like these, keeping it fresh and innovative.