6. Sarkodie
Another Ghanaian artist with an ear towards Jamaica, Sarkodie is probably best known internationally for setting off the Azonto dance craze with his 2011 single “U Go Kill Me.” As listeners including Busy Signal —who remade the song as “Same Way” in 2013— noted at the time, the beat was basically a dancehall riddim, and a really progressive one at that — an early hint that Afrobeats production was catching up to, if not surpassing, production coming out of Jamaica. More recently, Sarkodie had an Africa-wide hit with “Adonai” (featuring now-deceased Ghanaian artist Castro) and collaborated with Miami rapper Ace Hood on the hip-hop track “New Guy.”