Afrobeats At Notting Hill Carnival: A Mixtape

Carnival season was in full swing last weekend as hundreds of revelers got ready to whine up on the streets of west London during Bank Holiday at Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's largest street party.

The Notting Hill Carnival was founded in the late 1950s by Caribbean immigrants as a means to celebrate their heritage and ease racial tensions. Originally, the street party took place without permission of local authorities, and so, Carnival goers were met with brute force from the police in an attempt to quash the festivities. Police would violently clash with residents to break up the event which added to hostilities between authorities and the black community. Despite this, the community fought to keep Carnival alive and over the decades the event has grown into one of the world's biggest and most diverse celebrations with up to a million visitors, 38 sound systems and 50,000 performers which this year included big names like Sean Paul and Disclosure.

With its colourful costumes, steelpan bands, air horns and soca, Carnival is very much a celebration of West Indian culture, but has been embraced by many other communities as London's beautiful melee of cultures has had a great impact on the event, making Notting Hill Carnival one of a kind. Visitors can find foods from all parts of the world from the staple jerk chicken, rice and peas to Brazilian and Italian cuisine and listen to anything from dancehall to jungle, R&B, hip-hop, reggae, old school garage and grime. Now, with the ever increasing popularity of African artists such as Wizkid and London-born Fuse ODG, afrobeats have become well incorporated into carnival with sound systems and an afrobeats float playing smash hits from Africa's very best. This includes 'The Nigerian Corner' sound system with DJs, live PAs, stand up comedy and Nigerian food. However, the inclusion of afrobeats floats at Notting Hill Carnival also stirred up some controversy with many voicing their opinions that African music shouldn't be present at a Caribbean festival.

Despite all the drama Notting Hill Carnival is not one to be missed and for those who couldn't join the party, Okayafrica is here to help you warm up relive this weekends festivities with a special mix by Jamaican and Liberian DJ and visual artist Pepper Coast. Listen below for a taste of Carnival featuring a hot blend of dancehall, funky house, afrobeats and soca.

Tracklist

Burna Boy- Yawa Dey

Gaza Slim - Everything Fi Hold Him

Mavado - My League

Baby Tash - Nah Sekkle Down

Kaakie - Kumcha

Bodwese ft. Kofi Kinaata & Ramz Nic - Abrewa Borga

Kwamz & Flava ft. R2Bees -Wo Onane (remix)

Sticky - Jumeirah riddim

DJ Spen presents DJ Technic - Gabryelle

Macka Diamond - Lexxus and Benz

Applause Riddim

Denise Belfon - Wining Queen

Lil Silva - Different

Timaya ft. Machel Montano - Shake your bum bum (carnival mix)

Munnah - Celebration

Destra Garcia - Piece Ah Dat

Dotstar - Stick Up Instrumental

Togar Howard - Basima Basima

Grizzy & M Dargg - Look Like You (DJ Taey remix)

Sarkodie ft. Timaya - One Chance

Ericgeso - No Spacing

Apple - De Siegalizer

Girl Unit - Club Rez (Rizzla's club Cecile bootleg)

DJ Chuckie - Caribbean Drums

Iyanya - Kukere (Thirstpro remix)

Spooky - Coolie Joyride

Square One - Togetherness