Davido, the acclaimed Nigerian artist, has joined a growing list of musicians, including Wizkid, Burna Boy, and Fireboy, in denouncing the term “Afrobeats” to describe African music.
In a recent appearance on the Business Untitled Podcast, the ‘OBO’ crooner expressed frustration over the tendency to label all African artists under the Afrobeats genre, regardless of their musical styles.
He highlighted the historical context, stating, “The first place that accepted African music outside Africa is the UK before America later joined. The UK termed African music Afrobeats.
“Afrobeat is a sound that was originally pioneered by Fela Kuti. But now all African songs are termed Afrobeats. If an African artiste sings pure R&B, sounding like SZA, Summerwalker, they put them under Afrobeats. If an African rapper rapping like Drake, they still put them under Afrobeats.
“I don’t get offend when we’ve been categorised as Afrobeats. I mean, we need a genre. It could be R&B or Afropop. I call my music Afrofusion but I’m not big on ‘O put Afrofusion on my song.’ I know how long it took for African music to become mainstream.”
