The Arrivals Lounge

This week's episode -hosted by Nick- features new music from Mess Esque, Apples In Bed, Delivery, Roger Knox, Lucy Dacus, Porridge Radio and more. Plus, music news a gig guide and the below review of NIDA, Block Dog & African Diplomat's Black Label EP.

NIDA, Block Dog & African Diplomat: Black Label EP (Psyhope)

Released 10th January 2025

NIDA, Block Dog and African Diplomat are three hip-hop artists hailing from Abidjan, the capital city of Côte d’Ivoire on the coast of West Africa. Released by Psyhope, a coop record label based in Southern France, Black Label marks their first three-way collaboration and provides a window into a little-known local scene with huge potential.

Snippets of information can be gleaned about each artist through their social media and a selection of online videos. Notably, NIDA and Block Dog are regular collaborators, having released a string of singles and EPs defined by a more traditional hip-hop style. African Diplomat’s discography, on the other hand, contains a small selection of releases showcasing the woozy, cut-up samples and knack for experimentation that makes Black Label so memorable.

With a runtime of fewer than fifteen minutes, Black Label’s six tracks contain lyrics and vocals by NIDA and Block Dog delivered over compositions by African Diplomat. Opener Far Ouest is anchored by a loop of sampled string music that mimics the feel of a record getting stuck in a groove. Antiquité utilises the same technique, but this time the loop contains a distorted vocal melody that feels almost ghostly in its repetition, whilst La Compagnie is propelled forward by a seasick melody that owes more to the Middle East than the Ivory Coast.

Despite the lyrics being entirely in French, a lyric video released for lead single Biabou 2 gives some idea of the trio’s politics. “Conscious falsification of history, they transform lies into truth, every evening on the news I hear about Congo, Palestine, I swear the game is rigged…” Given Côte d’Ivoire’s history of harsh colonial rule under the French —and the fact that the coloniser’s tongue is still the country’s official language— it is no surprise that these artists empathise with the plight of those being erased, oppressed and exploited.

Finding Black Label on my own accord has been particularly exciting, for hip-hop, as a genre, sits slightly outside my own realm of musical knowledge. Typically, I rely on friends with a firmer grasp of its myriad styles to suggest releases tailored to my individual tastes, but this approach, although generally successful, lacks the reward of personal discovery. Stylistic considerations aside, Black Label will appeal to anyone with an appetite for the experimental and an ear for the atypical; a short, sharp burst of explorative and innovative hip-hop that, upon ending, immediately demands a relisten.

Nick Stephan