In case you need a break from all that grime you’re listening to, nip over to France where “Afro trap” is all the rage.
The man of the moment is Mohamed “MHD” Sylla, a Parisien of Guinean and Senegalese heritage who began putting home-made music videos on YouTube in 2015, while working as a pizza delivery man.
The music is terrific fun, uniting danceable beats, emphatic rapping and up-to-the-moment electronica, and addictive enough to make his debut album double platinum in France. But it’s the clips that are really distinctive. A camera floats around the streets, mostly in one take, while Sylla and friends jostle and dance around it.
His signature manoeuvre, as seen by over 35 million YouTube viewers in the video for Afro Trap Part 4 (Fais Le Mouv) (“Make the Move”), involves tick-tocking the hips like a pendulum while playing an imaginary banjo.
It has been copied in public by the likes of Drake and Didier Drogba, and is apparently just the thing to do upon scoring a goal. He can show you how it’s done in person when he plays his first London gig at Village Underground next week.
March 30, Village Underground, EC2 (020 7422 7505, villageunderground.co.uk)