Naira

A Nigerian vocalist and MC whose style shifts between a sweetened singing voice and a tense, whispery rhyming flow, Naira—named after the Nigerian currency—also appears under the alternate stylings N.A.I.R.A., NAiRA, and NAIRA. Each spelling expands to the phrase Nigerian American I'm Representin' Africa. In 2009 she offered the album-preview mixtape Lost in Translation as a free download; later the same year she issued her debut full-length album, On Angel's Wings. By then she had already taken the stage on her home continent, in England, and throughout the U.S.