Cameroonian Hip-Hop & Trap Beats: Jovi’s New EP ‘Bad Music’

Cameroonian rapper, producer and label head Jovi returns with his latest project Bad Music—a five-track EP, self-produced by the artist under his alias Le Monstre.

Bad Music doesn't quite live up to its name. Instead, it sees Jovi offering sharp Pidgin, English, and French rhymes while fusing fresh trap beats, understated hip-hop samples and booming electronic production to create a sound that's uniquely Cameroonian.

The artist recently spoke about Cameroon's rich musical history and shared his motivation for starting a record label in his home country in an interview with The Fader. “One of the reasons I started the label was to regain the artistic pride that Cameroon has lost over the years. Cameroon is actually a superpower when it comes to music. I don't think there's a country that plays music like us. We have the best African Jazz artists—guys like Richard Bona who work with Quincy Jones and Japanese Jazz/Bossa Nova artist Sadao Watanabe. We have Manu Dibango. People here don't think highly of hip-hop. They think it's childish. To gain credibility, I have had to demonstrate—using the art form, the engineering, and technology—that we are undeniable."