When Nitefreak launched Afroholic Records, the mission statement arrived baked into the first record. The label’s debut, “Masterclass,” paired the Zimbabwean producer with house vocal legend Roland Clark. It was a knowing handshake between Afro house’s new guard and one of the genre’s foundational voices.
For Nitefreak—born Bhekinkosi Mabhena in Bulawayo, and by now a fixture across Hï Ibiza, Ushuaïa Dubai, and MOGA lineups—Afroholic Records is the logical next step in a career spent putting African electronic music onto bigger stages. Co-founded with Terrie T, a Zimbabwean, UK-based entrepreneur, Afroholic was built around a simple frustration: “His whole vision behind starting his own label was so that we could control the narrative and the music we put out, and no one could tell us if it’s not good enough,” Terrie T said.
The early catalog backs the posture. Beyond “Masterclass,” the imprint’s opening run included “Wherever You Are” from Nitefreak alongside Vidojean X Oliver Loenn, and “Asibe Mnandi” from Murphy Cubic and MJ Sings. The latter two are part of the label’s officially signed roster that also includes Samuel Cosmic. The roster is a deliberate move to ensure the label was never just a vehicle for its founder. Instead, Afroholic Records is tapping Bulawayo’s deep bench of producers to help build a catalog to tour globally, borrowing the artist-development playbook from Deep Root Records, the American independent that first managed Nitefreak.
The label’s latest, “Isinwika” featuring Nitefreak with Choujaa and Maline Aura, lands as Afro house continues its commercial surge, with Nitefreak’s official remix of Afrojack and Eva Simons’ “Take Over Control” dropped on Spinnin’ in parallel. Between Afroholic and his HiNDE event brand, which has expanded from Zimbabwe to showcases in New York, Miami, and Mauritius, Nitefreak is quietly assembling something rarer than a hot label: a full ecosystem with the source of the sound at the center of it.
