NSG released Sounds of the Diaspora 2 on Friday, May 22 — a 9-track sequel to the January project that the East London collective dropped at the top of 2026. The follow-up clocks in at 29 minutes and is built in the same template: Afroswing percussion, UK rap cadences, Afrobeats melodies, and dance-ready rhythms running into each other in short, summer-loaded bursts.
What's on it
The album expands the Diaspora project's brief. The first record stitched together the African and UK rap diaspora through features with Nasty C (South Africa) and King Promise (Ghana). The second pushes the map further east: Kenyan rapper Toxic Lyrikali appears in his first international placement, alongside the group's usual cast. The result is less "UK Afroswing as a closed scene" and more "UK Afroswing as a routing point for African pop talent moving between Lagos, Nairobi, Joburg, and London."
NSG — six members deep, all formed at Islington Arts & Media School — have been at this since the early 2010s. Their breakthrough on "Options" with Tion Wayne in 2019 hit #7 on the UK Singles Chart, and they were the first act to reach #1 on the Official UK Afrobeats Chart when it launched in July 2020 with "Grandad." Sounds of the Diaspora 2 is the seventh release of their catalog and continues the slightly experimental, mixtape-loose feel they have been carrying since Roots in 2020.
Listen
Also on Spotify.
Comments