Before now, addressing him was a lot easier because one could easily describe him as a maestro afrobeat artist, but not anymore since he recently denied being one. The consequence is the confusion millions of fans and music critics have been thrown into while trying to rediscover their favorite type of sound.
Wizkid recently caused a buzz in cyberspace when he shared several posts on his Instagram story, advising media practitioners and the global music industry not to refer to him as an afrobeat artist. According to him, his style of music transcends the ordinary afrobeat genre but rather incorporates a blend of various genres.
He particularly emphasized that his last music album, “Made in Lagos (MIL),” was not an afrobeat compilation as erroneously projected by media houses. He also revealed that his forthcoming music album, which is already 100 percent complete and will be released soon, is also not an Afrobeat album. He wrote in one of the posts:
“Listen, am I African? Yes! But I do make all sorts of music. Fine music! But I don’t want these labeled just Afrobeats. That’s like saying every American artist makes rap. That’s stupid. This is why no matter how good or amazing the music we make be it RnB or whatever other genre we all get nominated in one Africa category or the other. I’ve made songs from different genres of music. Made in Lagos is not an “Afrobeats” album. That’s a fusion of different sounds. Real music! The word Afrobeats was made up by y’all to put all we make into one box. Fela created Afrobeat!! I make All sorts of music. Fusion of sounds! “I’m an artiste” before anything else.”
It can be recalled that the prolific singer had previously described his sound as Afropop. According to sources, he once graced the cover of an international magazine, GQ, which introduced him as ‘King of AfroPop.’
Meanwhile, in recent times, a big controversy that has been lingering in the Nigerian music industry has been Nigerian artists’s attempts to refine the popular Afrobeat genre and rename it to suit their sounds.
For instance, Burna Boy calls his sound Afro-fusion because it is generally a fusion of the original Afrobeat sound with several other music genres, including traditional African rhythms, elements of reggae, dancehall, and hip-hop.
On his part, Rema calls his sound “Afro-rave.” This was confirmed in a tweet he made in 2021, where he declared that henceforth, his sound should be called Afro-rave, a sub-genre of Afrobeat. According to him, his newly released album at the time was a seal on the claim. This cleared the air for a majority of music listeners who seemed to be unclear about the singer’s kind of sound, which, from the onset, was perceived to have been influenced by hip-hop, pop, R&B, Afrobeat, and more.
Similarly, another highly talented Nigerian artist, Fireboy DML, had reportedly named his sound “AfroLife,” while a former Jonzing signee, Ruger, described his sound as Afro dancehall and promised to make the whole world fall in love with his sound.
Ckay, in an interview, also described himself as the first ever “emo afrobeat artist” and the originator of the sound that went global with the release of his global hit single “Love Nwantiti.”
But while these prevail, the afrobeat genre of music, which was originally founded by the legendary Fela Kuti, remains a highly cherished global sound, breaking barriers in the global music sphere.
