# Hilarious quips and ‘100,000-volt’ energy: the hypemen (and women) redefining Afrobeats music

- Source: Guardian World
- Published: 2026-10-18T09:00:55+00:00
- Category: World
- Original: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/18/lagos-hypemen-redefining-afrobeats-music-afrohype
- Canonical: https://groundlevelnews.com/story/hilarious-quips-and-100-000-volt-energy-the-hypemen-and-women-redefini-01213f/

Style of emceeing based on high-octane, ad-libbed vocals has flourished thanks to its unique way of captivating crowds For the 2015 freshmen cohort of the history degree programme at the University of Lagos, their classmate’s first-semester presentation was so captivating that they began calling him Toby Shang, after the 16th-century Chinese dynasty he had focused on. His crowd engagement that day

_Ground Level News shows a short summary only; the full article and all rights belong to Guardian World._