In 1981, after the untimely death of Bob Marley, Bunna and Madaski formed the Africa Unite, starting the path that has led them to become the longest-running and representative reggae band in Italy. The recording debut took place in 1987 with Mjekrari followed by the Ep Llaka thanks to this release A.U. collected a good number of live shows around Italy.
In 1991 they published People Pie that aided to increase their fame. In the same year they are called to open the Gregory Isaac’s concert in Negril, Jamaica. The 90s in Italy, were the years of cultural and musical ferment, of the creative explosion born and raised in movements of counterculture, in this context the album Babilonia e Poesia took shape and has been released by Vox Pop in 1993. Babilonia e Poesia it’s an album sung almost entirely in Italian which will prove to be a crucial record for the band’s future. Several concerts in Italy followed up to the release and then the band signed a license for distributing the album in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Africa Unite were invited to perform live at festivals around Europe. Later, they’ve been called to play at the Babylon Festival in Iraq and in Palestine for two concerts. Un Sole Che Brucia, album released in the 1995, obtained an unexpected success with positive and great reviews that have paved their way to the future collaboration with Polygram / Mercury. The following year Africa Unite published the live album In Diretta Dal Sole. 1997 is the year of Il Gioco: the band explored and mixed all the most modern Central European musical trends, breaking away from the reggae stereotype to approach drum'n'bass, funk, passing through R' n' B. Il Gioco has been released also on vinyl: the eleven tracks of the album dubbed by Mad Professor in London.
The return to the traditional reggae is marked by Vibra, released by Universal Music in 2000. The tour from the album continued for almost two years. In 2001, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of Bob Marley's death, the band released the tribute album "20": selection of songs by Robert Nesta Marley revisited Inna Africa Unite Stylee. Mentre Fuori Piove came out in 2003 and marks the band's return to self-production, with the collaboration of Venus, for the distribution of the disc. Refined sounds, precious arrangements and intense lyrics are the distinctive elements of this work. Un'altra Ora, published the following year, is a collection of live songs combined with a DVD, 160 minutes of upbeat rhythm, lots of music, footages of the travels to Jamaica, Iraq, Holland, Palestine as well as some backstage’s curious pills. In 2006 the band released Controlli, a perfect mix of dub, reggae and hints of electronics, with two special guests: Natasja, a talented Danish artist, who died prematurely, and Raiz (Raiz, Almamegretta). Then the band published 4 Riddims 4 Unity where Africa Unite hosted most part of the Italian Reggae and eminent names of the international scene such as Kymani Marley, Princess Julianna, Sergent Garcia, to sing on four bases from the album Controlli. Biografica Unite was released in 2008 a co-production with the label Universal. A prestigious monographic box containing two CDs and a DVD. In the summer of 2009, the band staged twenty concerts between Italy and Spain with an episode in Los Angeles. During 2010 the album Rootz marks the coming back to the traditional reggae, a mix of warm sounds, dub and inspiring poetry.
After seventeen albums, the first official biography has been written down during 2011 with the title Trent'anni in Levare, published by Chinaski Edizioni. During the same year the band started a successful tour that touched the main European capitals, obtaining brilliant reviews from critics and audiences. Twenty years after the Babilonia e Poesia's 1993 tour, the band reconstituted the original line-up, including the technicians, and returned to tour in Italy, reproposing the same repertoire and sound. During April 2015 Il Punto di Partenza has been released: a totally self-produced work, available for free download on the band's website as a gift to all the fan base. The album embraces the reggae genre with episodes of experimentation and masterfully conducted orchestral themes. Music as a powerful tool to tell the story that Africa Unite have lived on their skin from its origins till today, through their own lens. A profound analysis of the time we are living in, scratched by contradictions and crossed by changes, with the consequent need to affirm one's own lucid and coherent point of view. With Il Punto di Partenza, downloaded by more than seventy thousand people, the band won two nominations for the Targa Tenco in the album of the year and single song sections. The album has been advanced by the single track L’esercito con gli Occhiali a Specchio, free interpretation by Madaski of a text by Quit the Doner (Quititaly, Italy as you would not tell your children. Book of the 2014, Indiana Editore). During 2018 Africa Unite, together with Architorti and the Modenese dance company MMCDC, are committed to bringing the piece Offline, a multimedia show in real time, around the Italian theaters, where the soundtrack is provided by the Africa Unite songs in an elaboration for strings quintet, Architorti plus electronics. Offline inspired the writing of the new album In Tempo Reale (year 2019) released also on a limited edition vinyl.
During May 2021, the band remade the 1991 album People Pie including Forty-One Bullets, new single inspired by the Amadou Diallo’s murder.