.jpeg)
Despite signs that a new Gunna album was imminent, when, on Monday, he announced the impending arrival of a new album, The Last Wun, most were taken aback. The fact that the album is scheduled for release this Friday, a mere four days from its announcement, also heightened the excitement around it. The album's rollout, The Last Wun, has since unspooled with the smooth precision of a cruise missile.
In the time since he announced the album, he has whetted the appetite of fans with a slew of promotional videos. Among them is one monochrome clip in which he teases a song with Wizkid. In the clip, captioned “FOREVER,” we see him and Wizkid in a studio session, by turns, recording and bobbing their heads to the glistening production.
Whatever excitement this video stirred up intensified with the release of the official track list. In addition to Wizkid, the album features other Afrobeats stalwarts, namely BurnaBoy and Asake. The prospect of having three of the most important touchstones within the Afrobeats milieu on a Gunna album has sent fans into fits of ecstasy—for the music, yes; but also because this move signals Gunna’s intent to further deepen his relationship with Afrobeats culture.
One tweet reads: “Gunna is so wise. He peeped that he’s currently the biggest foreign artist in NG and he’s trying to cement that with his incoming album by featuring the top 3 biggest NG artists currently. A smart artist!”
Gunna’s dalliance with Afrobeats traces back to 2018 when he featured on Davido’s Big Picture, a summery pop song on his A Good Time album. Since then his numerous collaborations with Afrobeats acts have made him something of an honorary Afrobeats act.
In 2023, at a concert in Los Angeles, Gunna brought out Nigerian Gospel artist Victor Thompson for a performance of his hit single This Year. He later collaborated with Thompson for a remix of the song. Later that year, he teamed up with legendary Nigerian producer Sarz and Asake for a single called Happiness, a cherry song which straddles Afrobeats and Amapiano. In December last year, he visited Nigeria, headlining the Rhythm Unplugged, an annual Nigerian music festival.
The Last Wun, upon release, will certainly offer a surfeit of gems to listeners. But for Afrobeats fans in particular, his collaborations with Wizkid, Asake, and BurnaBoy will offer a special thrill.
