Intersections

What happens when distinct worlds collide?

In this issue, we are navigating the spaces where boundaries blur and new cultural languages are formed. Across art, music, film, and food, we are looking at creators who refuse to stay neatly within the lines.

We see this delicate balance in Paulcy Odama’s work, where the sensitivity of medicine informs the fragility of art. We hear it pulsing through Northern Nigeria, where Khalifa Suleiman is unapologetically carving out a lane for UK Grime while wearing a turban. And we feel it in the broader Nigerian music scene, where our street-pop stars and producers are pushing so aggressively into drill, trap, gospel, and house that the global industry is forced to invent entirely new genres just to categorize them.

This friction brings up necessary questions. As MTV quietly retires its Best Afrobeats category, we are forced to ask: is Afrobeats an actual sonic genre, or has it just become a geographic catch-all for any "Song From Africa"? Meanwhile, in the cinematic world, we look at Niyi Akinmolayan’s Colours of Fire to argue that Nollywood’s current AI problem might actually be a reflection of its audience.

We also make space for the quiet, internal collisions. We explore Abdulsalam Saba’s unsettling look at silence and missed chances, and we break down the real-time philosophy of EF Moon, where self-reliance, faith, and flex culture meet. And to ground us, we bring it back to the most fundamental intersection of all—the plate—proving the boundless culinary versatility of yam and cowpeas.

This issue is a celebration of the crossroads. It is for the artists, critics, and readers who know that the most exciting culture isn't found in the center, but at the edges where things meet.

July to September 2026

Cover Art by Paulcy Odama