Doing It In Lagos (Boogie, Pop & Disco In 1980s Nigeria)
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Album Summary
"Doing It In Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco In 1980s Nigeria" is a compilation album released in 2016 on Knitting Factory Records, gathering a treasure trove of boogie, pop, and disco recordings laid down in Lagos during a decade when Nigeria's commercial music scene was absolutely on fire. Compiled with the loving hand of someone who understood that these grooves deserved to be heard far beyond the dusty crates where they'd been sleeping, the album rescues some of the most infectious dance music ever to come out of West Africa — music made by Nigerian artists and session players who were soaking up the sounds of American funk and disco and cooking them down into something wholly their own. This was Lagos in the 1980s: a city humming with studio energy, nightclub heat, and a generation of musicians who knew exactly how to make a dancefloor move. Knitting Factory brought these recordings back into the light as part of a sincere effort to document and preserve Nigeria's golden era of popular music production for the world to finally reckon with.
Reception
- The compilation drew strong critical praise from world music, funk, and disco communities, celebrated for its authentic and immersive portrait of the 1980s Lagos dance music underground.
- Critics and collectors alike singled out the quality of the remastering and the careful, authoritative curation of recordings that had long been difficult or impossible to find outside of Nigeria.
- The album quickly became a touchstone for DJs and diggers with a passion for African boogie and disco, cementing its reputation as one of the essential documents of the era.
Significance
- "Doing It In Lagos" captures a pivotal and too-often-overlooked moment in West African music history, when Nigerian artists were synthesizing imported American disco and funk with the deep-rooted traditions of highlife and Afrobeat to forge a sound that was thoroughly and proudly Lagos.
- The compilation stands as powerful evidence that Lagos in the 1980s was not simply absorbing global dance music trends but transforming them — the city's studios and session musicians producing work of real sophistication and genuine originality.
- By bringing these recordings together under one roof, the album makes the case that Nigeria's 1980s pop and boogie scene deserves a permanent and honored place in the broader story of the African diaspora's contribution to the world's dancefloor culture.
Tracklist
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A1 Fellas Doing It In Lagos —
5:37
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A2 Don't You Know —
3:23
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A3 Only You —
6:28
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B1 Enjoy Your Life —
6:15
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B2 Ivory —
5:11
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B3 Holiday Action —
5:15
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C1 Don't Give Up —
6:40
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C2 Funk With Me —
5:23
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C3 Too Hot —
5:15
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D1 Ore Mi —
5:44
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D2 Colourful Environment —
5:25
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D3 Shake Your Body —
6:15
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E1 Where Is The Answer —
7:02
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E2 Don't Stop That Music —
5:10
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E3 Be My Lady (Mix) —
4:29
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F1 Groove I Like —
3:39
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F2 Let's Do More Music —
7:39
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F3 Distant Lover —
5:32
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G Burning Jungle —
3:19
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H On The Air - Rap Mix (Frankie Francis Edit) —
3:46
Artist Details
Here's the thing about Various, baby — this artist burst onto the 1980s rock scene like a force of nature, blending raw energy with a sound that was somehow both timeless and perfectly of its era. Various carved out a reputation for delivering tracks that hit you right in the chest, the kind of music that made you pull over your car just to let the song breathe. With a catalog that speaks for itself, Various remains one of the most compelling figures to come out of that decade of big hair, bigger riffs, and even bigger feelings.
