It is 2024, and Afrobeats is at the peak of its global presence. Clearing music charts across the world, the genre has solidified its stance as the biggest cultural export to cross African borders. According to the music docu-series, Journey of the Beats, the formation of Afrobeats can be credited to the experimentation by artists like Weird MC, The Remedies, Plantashun Boiz, and P-Square. They influenced Fela Kuti’s glorified “Afrobeat” with foreign sounds like hip hop, pop, and R&B to create a new genre. then transitioned to the revolutionary generation of Olamide, Tiwa Savage, Phyno, and the famous big three; Wizkid, Davido, and Burna Boy (in no particular order). The Afrobeats class of music now revolves around a new generation of energetic creators: Asake, Ayra Starr, Rema, and Tems, whose sole purpose looks to be global dominance and an unceasing evolution of their sounds—but that is the dilemma here: evolution, change, and something dissimilar from what the crowd is accustomed to. Nigerian music fans love what they get fed by their favorite artists, but at the detection of the slightest change, they unnecessarily riot.
The subjectivity of music is the most beautiful characteristic of the concept. We are all permitted to like what we like, giving each production beat a meaning of ours, or in other instances, unifying with the artist’s intentions. At the same time, we are allowed to play critics on works we do not find appealing or that are objectively of low quality. However, this critical license has developed a trend amongst Afrobeats fans that involves condemning projects as soon as they are released.
Take the reintroduction of Grime and Drill. After ODUMODUBLVCK collaborated with EEskay on 2022’s drill anthem, Agbalagba, and released his breakout track, DECLAN RICE the following year, it began to look sunny for fans of the abandoned genre. While they enjoyed the menacing bass beats of the newly introduced “Okporoko” rhythms that ODUMODUBLVCK was pioneering, others who were not fancied by them immediately formed an unconscious horde of haters, mockingly referring to ODUMODUBLVCK and other drillers as “Afro Cultists.”
Seeing how large the drill genre’s fanbase has grown, shows how useless and unprecedented the initial clamors for the cancellation of this subgenre were. The same “Afro Cultist” hosted a sold-out show at the Irving Plaza, New York, in May of this year and also took home the 2023 Headies Award for the best rap single category with “Declan Rice.”
For some reason, these fans do not want unfamiliar sounds but, at the same time, hate repetitive productions. Asake came out in 2022 as one of Afrobeats’ biggest breakout stars ever. Working harder than the devil and delivering back-to-back hits, everybody loved Mr. Money because he made amazing music and wasted no time in what he did. But, after consecutively releasing PALAZZO with DJ Spinall, Mr. Money, and Sungba, fans began to complain about the monotonous nature of his up-tempo style of music. This contributed to Asake’s soulful experimentation on his sophomore album, Work of Art.
Music is mysterious with how it can immediately go from being exciting to jarring. Trends are unpredictable, and for that reason, artists have to be on their toes when choosing the type of music they make at every point. This in turn has led to interesting reinventions of musical identities, like the transformation of Kampala-wearing folksy Adekunle Gold to beaded-hair Nigerian R&B and Alté “AG Baby” and the BRIA’s (Best Rapper in Africa), Blaqbonez, fusion of pop to his rap game.
In a 2022 interview, Adekunle Gold said, “If I hadn’t done what I wanted to do, I would have been classified as a legend barely three years after my debut album because people were already likening me to legends. When people call you a legend when they shouldn’t, it’s a decent way of saying, ‘You’re good at that, but it’s okay.’” In essence, the rebrand and evolution motif in Afrobeats is one of the most interesting storylines that comes around now and then, and has contributed to the longevity of some artists as well as their global presence of the genre. That is why it is sad to see the level of conflict that the majority of these transitions and style changes face with fans and critics.
Sometimes, the criticisms are channeled from the fact that listeners fall in love with a particular style of an artist, hence finding it hard to flow with new patterns they introduce. Recently, Rema released his sophomore album, and it has been a tough one for the online music jury to decide on. Unlike the 18-year-old teddy bear-clutching Dumebi singer that his initial fans fell in love with, the self-proclaimed “Prince of Afrobeats” came out with a distinct style on HEIS. Dark, mean, electric, fast, and infective, Rema took the high road in his discovery and solidification of the Afro Rave subgenre he claims to father.
For an artist who has done well to redefine Afropop since his breakout track, this new rave album appeared to be directed towards a different group, and for that sake, was greeted with mixed impressions. While some adored the artist’s confidence to settle on new grounds and quickly adopted the energetic nature of most tracks, which often resulted in a dance mania, many others felt Rema had fumbled his experimentation with an advanced sound.
The purpose of versatility is to keep the game attractive, innovative, and non-tiring. Afrobeats involves the combination of various genres with indigenous African sounds. Having everyone boxed into a particular genre renders Afrobeats’ dynamism futile. At the same time, the exploration and publicity of underground subgenres pave the way for the new generation of artists who are seemingly inquisitive and daring in how they translate music. Impatiently denying new sounds and unexpected musical combinations for any reason depletes Afrobeats. We kill our music for the sake of ignorance, unhealthy “stanship” wars, and sometimes short-lived social media relevance. That is pathetic.
I feel what Nigerian Afrobeats fans still fail to understand is that music is a form of art, and art is all about expression. As much as they are the most important party in the listening business, especially commercially, the role of music as a mouthpiece of an artist’s mind should be in no way undermined. They should be allowed to grow at whatever pace they want and experiment with whichever sound corresponds to past stories they wish to tell and future goals they want to share. Yes, criticisms and analyses are welcome, but before that, take your time to absorb the message or purpose of each track on every project, whether it is “Afro Terrorism,” “Afro Cultism,” “Afro Depression,” or whatever other hysterical title exists to mickey avant-garde sub-genres.
Favour Overo is a multifaceted writer, a literary lover, and an acute logophile. He spends his free time discovering new things, listening to podcasts, and watching the best team in the world; Liverpool Football Club.
