Tiakola fans had a hint this was coming. The French-Congolese rapper slipped a tease of his Rema collaboration into the music video for “Upa Solide,” and now the full thing is here as “Best,” one of the clear highlights on his new second studio album, WpointM.
The pairing makes a lot of sense on paper, and it works just as well on the track. Both artists live in that fluid space between singing and rapping, so neither has to bend too far to meet the other.
Tiakola brings his smooth, melodic French rap delivery, while Rema leans into the Afrobeats cadence his fans already know by heart. The production helps glue it together, with London co-producing “Best” specifically. AOD and Washy also contributed across the wider album.
Best” sits among 17 tracks on WpointM, a project that feels like Tiakola planting a flag for the next phase of his solo career.
The album pulls together French rap, Afrobeats and sounds rooted in his Congolese heritage, which fits the path he has been carving since stepping out from the La Courneuve collective 4Keus and releasing his debut album Mélo in 2022.
That Congolese thread runs deep on the guest list too. Legendary rumba outfit Zaïko Langa Langa appear alongside British singer Jorja Smith, Theodora and Bné, giving the record a spread of voices that crosses generations and borders.
Tiakola also staged the rollout in two parts. A six-track preface, WpointM 93120, arrived on September 24, a day before the full album, carrying songs like “Upa Solide” and “Winter Melo Music” with Leto. The number in the title is the postal code for La Courneuve, a nod to where it all started.
From Rema’s side, “Best” lands in the middle of a very busy international run. The Nigerian star was recently announced as a headliner for Afro Nation Portugal 2027, sharing the top of the bill with Davido and Congolese icon Fally Ipupa in Portimão from June 9 to 11, 2027.
It also adds another entry to his growing list of cross-border link-ups. Rema has been hopping genres and continents for years now, from the global run of “Calm Down” with Selena Gomez to the attention around his 2024 album Heis, which earned him a Grammy nomination.
For French listeners, this is a homegrown artist pulling one of Afrobeats’ biggest names into his world. For Rema’s audience, it opens a door into a French rap scene that has been absorbing African sounds for a long time, with Tiakola as one of its most melodic voices.
The collaboration arrives at a moment when the lines between Lagos, Paris and Kinshasa keep getting blurrier, and “Best” slots right into that conversation.
With WpointM now out in full and Rema’s festival calendar filling up, the next question is how far this track travels beyond the fanbases that were already waiting for it.
