Over the last decade, Afrobeats has become a global phenomenon, bringing African music into the Western mainstream. There\u2019s now an Afrobeats category at the MTV Video Music Awards, and performers like Burna Boy and Wizkid can sell out major venues in the US and Europe. <\/p>\n
While many African artists have been able to ride the wave of the genre\u2019s international popularity, some musicians are now pushing for global recognition beyond its confines. <\/p>\n
In recent years, popular music coming out of Africa has widely been classified as Afrobeats in the global soundscape, despite encompassing styles such as hip-hop, R&B, amapiano, dancehall, highlife, and more. <\/p>\n
King Promise, whose sound blends R&B, highlife, and hip-hop, began releasing music in 2017 and rose to international fame in 2023 with his TikTok viral dance track \u201cTerminator.\u201d But the 29-year-old singer and songwriter doesn\u2019t want to be boxed into a single sound. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfrobeats kind of serves as the umbrella which all of our music comes together (under),\u201d he says. But he adds that the label has a crossover feel \u201cto make it sound appealing not to just to people back home but to the rest of the world as well.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s the best thing,\u201d he argues. <\/p>\n
\u201cI make music that I love,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf I feel like making R&B today, I make it. If I feel like making highlife I can make it. If I feel like making Afrobeats I can make it. It\u2019s really about my direction.\u201d <\/p>\n
The roots of the Afrobeats genre can be traced back to Nigeria and music icon Fela Kuti, who is widely considered the architect of the similarly named genre, Afrobeat. Popularized in the 1970s, Afrobeat merged American jazz and funk with traditional Yoruba music. More recently, Afrobeat morphed into Afrobeats a looser label and catch all for all African music that took inspiration from the original Afrobeat sound. <\/p>\n
Although King Promise understands the label from a marketing perspective in Western countries, he and other artists believe it robs them of their authenticity. <\/p>\n
At the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, South African Afropop and amapiano singer Tyla described her win for Best Afrobeats song \u201cWater\u201d as \u201cbittersweet\u201d in her acceptance speech. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe global impact that \u2018Water\u2019 had on the world just proves that African music can be pop music too,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
She added, \u201cThere\u2019s a tendency to group all African artists under Afrobeats; it\u2019s a thing, and even though Afrobeats has run things and has opened so many doors for us, African music is so diverse. It\u2019s more than just Afrobeats.\u201d <\/p>\n
Nigerian superstars including Davido, Tems, Wizkid, and Burna Boy, have publicly distanced their music from the term Afrobeats. <\/p>\n
Wizkid even took to social media in March to say that labeling his music Afrobeats was \u201c like saying every American artist makes rap.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cHere you will get put into the same crowd (Afrobeats), so the more street type of song is in the same crowd with someone that sings Afrosoul.\u201d <\/p>\n
She added the Afrobeats label makes no distinction between genres or sounds, leading to audiences to expect everyone to sound the same. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like artists are being stifled,\u201d Simi explained. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be a certain kind of artist before people respect you or give you the kind of accolades that you know you deserve. <\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone like Adele is not having this kind of struggle.\u201d <\/p>\n
King Promise argues that although the Afrobeats sound has evolved over the years with the fusion of new sounds, the foundational element of the music remains the same: African tradition music. He says that will remain a mainstay in popular music. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust like we have hip-hop that stood the test of time, Afrobeats as a representation of our music as Africans on a global scale, it\u2019s locking horns with the biggest, standing its ground, and it\u2019s only getting better,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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