“Ilashe” brings peers-turned-opps-turned-friends Ruger and Bnxn together to reflect on their success—and the attention it affords them. It’s lifted from their first collaborative album, 2024’s RnB, a project that brings out the best of both stars. “Most Afrobeats artists, they’re always [talking about] gyration, enjoyment—songs people will party to, money and that,” Ruger tells Apple Music. “We’re talking about everything! Go back to our projects, we talk about everything. We talk about relationships; we’re saying the deeper things. If you listen to Bnxn’s ‘Pidgin & English’, you understand what I’m saying. It’s deep! If you listen to ‘Red Flags’ by me, you know how deep it is. It’s only me and him doing this for real, so that’s why we had to come together and bring all this toxicity, aggression into the project.” Listen to “Ilashe” on Africa Now, the playlist that brings together the sounds of the continent, from hip-hop, highlife, Afrobeats and alté to house, Afrobongo and kuduro—and if you hear something you like, add it to your library.