Award-winning Nigerian musician and global music star PATORANKING kickstarts his new era with ‘NO JONZE’, the street-rooted and festival-ready dance offering, and lead single from his forthcoming fifth studio album coming soon.
Built on the raw bounce of late ‘90s and early noughties Galala music, and laced with modern Afro-dancehall sensibilities, ‘No Jonze’ is pure forward motion and celebration with purpose – applauding hustle, urging focus, and reminding underdogs to keep their foot on the gas, with the title flipping Lagos street slang into a mantra for life, imploring listeners not to fumble the moment.
‘No Jonze’ is the first taste of a highly anticipated forthcoming project that will see Patoranking revisiting the streets and culture that raised him, and reframing that energy for today’s global afrobeats stage, connecting his reggae and dancehall foundation with global music momentum.
At the core of ‘No Jonze’ is Galala music, the Ajegunle-born dance-led sound that Patoranking grew up dancing to, and has long championed in his own music. Often described by Patoranking as the “stepchild of dancehall”, Galala music is raw, percussive, and defiantly alive, and ‘No Jonze’ pays that lineage forward, while echoing an era when music was resistance, survival, and freedom.
Patoranking also widens the lens with this one, placing Lagos’ street rhythm and culture in a global conversation – the same dancehall DNA that birthed Dominican Republic’s Dembow music, Kidandali in Uganda, and Kenya’s Gengetone also runs through the veins of Galala music. The message from Patoranking threading it all together, and the thesis of his forthcoming album, is clear – afrobeats is not dying, you’ve only heard a few voices, and there’s a continent of stories, styles and sub-cultures yet to explore.
The accompanying video for ‘No Jonze’ lands this manifesto back in Ajegunle, where it all began. Shot in the heart of the bustling Lagos suburb, also known as “the Kingston of Nigeria”, Patoranking shares the frame with Galala greats Marvelous Benjy and Allen B, while a street mural salutes the forebears who birthed the culture, from Daddy Showkey, Daddy Fresh, and Oritse Femi, to Baba Fryo, African China, and Danfo Drivers.
Directed by Nigerian filmmaker Director K, who has also worked with Rema, Wizkid and Davido, among others, the visuals bring ‘90s Lagos City vibes and culture into 2025 with cinematic effect, while capturing the essence of ‘No Jonze’ – pure raw energy, galala dance as its finest, real street faces, and fearless fashion, It is improvised, communal, and true to the Nigerian spirit – a love letter to the streets that shaped Patoranking, and a statement of intent into the next generation.
