Award-winning Nigerian musician and global music star Patoranking kickstarts his 2026 campaign with ‘African Soldier’ featuring GRAMMY Award-winning dancehall legend Buju Banton. The powerful roots reggae offering is a statement piece from Patoranking and Buju Banton that champions African pride, calls for the liberation of its people, and extols the global rise of Black excellence.
Serving as the second single from his forthcoming fifth studio album, ‘African Soldier’ sees Patoranking directly reconnecting with the reggae and dancehall sounds that shaped him, while reaffirming the musical foundation that has always run through his afrobeats journey. With this new one, Patoranking is offering a reminder to Africa – our stories are alive, our culture is expansive, and our music remains a living force, as he speaks to unity on the continent and the strength of Black people worldwide.
Produced by Jazzwad (Bounty Killer, Popcaan, Damian Marley), ‘African Soldier’ reunites Patoranking with the revered chart-topping producer who he worked with on ‘Cheating Zone’ from his debut album. The track leans fully into Patoranking and Buju Banton’s penchant for live musicianship, with Jazzwad recording the drums, bass, keys, guitar and full horn section with live session players from Jamaica, which adds to the track’s warmth, lift and reggae resonance, while GRAMMY winning audio engineer Bonzai (Mariah Carey, Nas, Chronixx) delivers a meticulous heavyweight mix, testament to the level of craft behind the message. Additionally, the accompanying music video for ‘African Soldier’, which was shot in New York and directed by Nigerian filmmaker UAX (Tyla, Rema, Tems) brings the song’s themes of Black and African pride, unity, excellence, growth and liberation further to life.
Speaking about the inspiration behind ‘African Soldier’, Patoranking shares, “While working on my album, the goal for me was to go back to the music that inspired me. The sounds I grew up on, and reggae has been that core for me. My breakthrough single ‘Alubarika’ was a good reference to this fact, so was my last release ‘No Jonze’. Throughout my journey as an artist, reggae and dancehall blended with Afrobeats has been my primary sound. So ‘African Soldier’ is just that intentionally curated root reggae song that serves as a reminder of who we are. The power we possess as Africans and black people all across the globe. And having the legendary Buju Banton who over the years has been a great voice when it comes to matters concerning Africa’s liberation, growth and unity on the continent to be a part of this record just complements the entire message this song seeks to convey”.
MORE ABOUT PATORANKING
Patoranking is an award-winning Nigerian musician whose sound is global, his story grounded, and his mission bigger than music. Born and raised in Lagos, he forged his own lane from “nothing to something”, as first declared on ‘Alubarika’, by fusing afrobeats, reggae and dancehall into his music, not as a trend but from his lived experience in the streets of Ebute-Metta in Lagos. A cultural ambassador for the continent, he is one of Afro-dancehall’s most defining voices with era-shaping hits like ‘My Woman My Everything’ and ‘Babylon’, and culture-shifting collaborations with Major Lazer, Popcaan, Bryson Tiller, and the late great Bob Marley. He comes with a much-coveted catalogue that boasts over 2 billion global streams, and Billboard-charting projects, from his 2016 debut album God Over Everything to 2023’s World Best. On stage, he has taken that message to over 50 countries, from London’s O2 Arena and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to the FIFA World Cup Fan Festival in Qatar.
Beyond the charts, Patoranking stands at the intersection of craft and purpose. Through his charity, the Patoranking Foundation, he has directly impacted over 5,000 young people, awarded 250+ scholarships across primary, secondary and university levels, launched tech scholarships, and unveiled a new community football turf in Lagos – work that he advances as the United Nation Development Programme’s Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Africa, championing youth innovation, entrepreneurship and its Sustainable Development Goals. As a musician, Patoranking is bold and street-rooted, equal parts cultural guardian and global African voice, as reflected in critical acclaim from tastemakers such as Billboard, Rolling Stone, CNN, and Vogue, as well as major award recognition from The Headies, MTV Africa Music Awards, and AFRIMMA, and a two-billion-plus streaming footprint that travels across Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, North America, and Latin America.