Imagine gliding across the dance floor on your knees as loud, rhythmic music fills the room while strangers shout your name and cheer you on. The host asks the audience, “Is she the winner?” If you’re lucky, you’ll hear a loud chorus of approval. Earn extra party favors, get congratulations, and earn bragging rights until your next community party. The music is Afrobeats and the experience has become a rite of passage for young people across the continent.
More than just a catchy beat
With roots in West Africa, Afrobeat is a combination of funk, jazz, and traditional African music. Afrobeat sounds are diverse, but harmonious melodies blended with percussion instruments such as shekere (beaded gourds), gbedu (large drums), clave (short wooden sticks), and akuba (another style of drums) It is characterized by It can also be identified by its technical style, including songs averaging 115 beats per minute, limited reverb, and his 2:1 compression ratio for vocals and drums.
When Drake collaborated with Nigerian Wizkid on “One Dance” in 2016, there were collective eyebrows, gasps, and confusion across the African diaspora. The song continued to receive rave reviews and dominated the US charts for 10 weeks.
Afrobeat founder Fela Kuti and drummer Tony Allen never shied away from uncomfortable realities. The aim was never to hide the sounds of civil conversation, but to amplify them. When people sang along to Kuti’s “Zombie” and “Shuffling and Schmailing,” released in Nigeria in the mid-1970s, it was less a performance and more an organized protest; showed that disagreements can arise through
By the time the #EndSARS uprising against police brutality erupted in Nigeria in 2020, there were already many songs expressing frustration at incompetent governance. Songs like “This Is Nigeria” by Fars and “Jaga Jaga” by Idris Abdulkareem conveyed the issues of the time. However, what supported the resistance movement was Davido’s “FEM,” a song that demands silence from the police and politicians so that the people’s voices can be heard. Although Afrobeats is often misunderstood as escapist, it has always been political. Today, even the most popular Afrobeat artists approach this genre in a clear and unmistakably political way. One of his major contributions to Afrobeats was that it provided a new lens through which political grievances could be framed.
When Afrobeats is played on Caribbean radio, South American festivals and in the headphones of ordinary listeners in Australia, the experience is “spiritual”, says Ghanaian Afro-fusion recording artist Dede Speaks. To tell. Afrobeats is about being able to live a life full of joy, similar to the goal of a political revolution. The lightness of this music overlays the more harrowing experiences of many in the African diaspora, but it is full of hope. It encourages people all over the world to dance, knowing that one day we will be free of our predicament and able to fully live up to the genre’s stubborn, long-standing optimism.
A sense of pride and community
Robert Nishimwe was born in Tanzania and immigrated to the United States when he was eight years old. He currently runs an African music blog called ‘Afro Banta’. As Nishimwe says, this kind of music is not just “giving the world a new sound,” but a new identity is being created from its rhythms and lyrics. Afrobeats changed his experience as an immigrant. Until recently, African immigrants in the United States clung to an identity distinct from their homelands in places like Angola, Kenya and Ghana. Or, their parents were from Africa, but they themselves were not African.
With Afrobeats songs reaching billions of streams on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, investors are sure to be listening.
On a typical night at an Afrobeats club in New York City, a circle forms around the most dedicated foot warriors. As the song changes, the person in the center of the circle also changes.
“This is the purest form of love,” Nishimwe says. This is similar to the Ghanaian club nights that Speaks described as influential. Both reminded me of parties I attended in England, and memories of my knees sliding across the floor in dance halls in Ibadan, Nigeria, where I grew up. There’s the familiar pat on the shoulder, but now instead of party favors, there’s a possibility of exchanging social media handles. No winners are announced, but there’s an unmistakable feeling of being surrounded by people who are into the exact same thing as you. Africans not only want to be associated with Afrobeats, but they also want to be recognized as black and African. The popularity of Afrobeats has instilled a sense of pride among the African diaspora.
Expanding economic opportunity brings more than money
As Afrobeats gained popularity in the United States in the 2010s, new opportunities also emerged. When Drake collaborated with Nigerian Wizkid on “One Dance” in 2016, there were collective eyebrows, gasps, and confusion across the African diaspora. The song continued to receive rave reviews and dominated the US charts for 10 weeks. In many ways, “One Dance” symbolized Afrobeats at the time, and the global socio-cultural status of Africans. Wizkid’s voice barely appeared on the track, appearing only towards the end, almost as if it were an afterthought.
Just a year later, the two collaborated on another hit single, “Come Closer,” which went platinum in the UK and gold in Australia. His second song with them resonated more true to the essence of Afrobeats and the sounds that define it as a genre. Although it paved the way for international acclaim and future collaborations, its commercial success did not lead many in the African diaspora to perceive it as revolutionary.
Today, there are Afrobeat clubs, Afrobeat producers, Afrobeat DJs, and Afrobeat singers. With 13 billion cumulative streams, the addition of an African Music Performance category to the Grammy Awards, and millions of listeners around the world, the genre’s popularity is undisputed. Statista predicts that he will earn a whopping $44 million from the Nigerian music industry in 2023. That’s nearly double the amount the industry generated just 10 years ago.
With Afrobeats songs reaching billions of streams on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, investors are sure to be listening. Afrobeats has not only generated the usual profits in the music industry, but it has also generated careers. From radio hosts to composers, record label heads and disc jockeys like DJ Atobz, Afrobeats is creating economic opportunities for individuals and businesses, unlocking the potential of a historically overlooked continent. It shows gender.
“Afrobeats showed that Africa has something to offer,” said DJ Atobz. Africans are now able to pursue identities and livelihoods that were impossible a decade ago.
Trailblazers like Fela Kuti and Shina Peters gave way to younger artists like Asake, Wizkid and Burna Boy, who sold out arenas overseas. The international exposure and appeal of Afrobeats is a big reason why opportunities are being created and monetized around the genre. Streaming, social media and the internet have further enhanced this.
Traditionally, the only way to make a lot of money from Afrobeats was to run a record label or be an artist. Producers, songwriters, and band members were notoriously underpaid. Salaries were often based on live performance and endorsement of the artist’s brand. Artists and other Afrobeat entrepreneurs are reinvesting their new earnings. Dede Speaks is hiring a producer and videographer and purchasing new music equipment. She creates a subversive type of Afrobeat, blending elements of soul, R&B, and spoken word. From her perspective, music is both a life and a livelihood.
Now that Afrobeats has reached a global audience, opportunities are opening up for niche professions. Adesop Olajide, Wonu Oshikoya, and DJ Loft are a few podcasters who are leveraging the streaming era to make a living while bringing recognition to the genre. He has millions of viewers on his podcasts and social platforms such as The Pulse, Afrobeats The Generation, and Africa.com.
Harnessing the vibrancy of music created not only records, events, and livelihoods, but entire subcultures. “Deti December” is his month-long party, a name coined by popular Afrobeat artist Mr. Eazi, where people flock to Accra and Lagos to an Afrobeat soundtrack for debauchery and fun. It represents an exciting time of the year. Concerts, parties, and gatherings are held all at once. People living abroad return to their home cities and indulge in free fun for almost a month. The Lagos economy alone recorded millions of dollars in cash exchanges in December 2019. This was around the time when Detty December was becoming more famous.
A cautious path forward
As Afrobeats explodes around the world, it can become unrecognizable to its founders, creators, and consumers. While the genre shows no signs of slowing down in terms of global reach and popularity, it comes with its own set of challenges. The soul of Afrobeats is threatened when individuals with no history or understanding of the genre have significant influence over Afrobeats artists and producers. When shows are primarily held internationally, there is little financial benefit to the local communities that inspire the sounds. Local organizations, local event promoters, and even local governments are unlikely to receive financial compensation.
The onus is on the African diaspora to do justice to this genre. To achieve this, we need to document the history of Afrobeats, involve African creators in the formation of Afrobeats songs, and develop opportunities for Afrobeats artists, DJs and producers in this genre, among other things. There is a way. Importantly, creators also need to understand the history of Afrobeats and take control of how their music is created, distributed, owned and performed. After years of internalizing the idea that I was below average, poor, and from a decrepit place, I’m glad to be able to offer a more accurate narrative. Fela Kuti says: “Music is the weapon of the future, music is the weapon of the progressive, music is the weapon of the life-giver.”
Africa is not perfect, but it develops people who are courageous and hopeful enough to create the kind of future we want in melody, harmony and rhythm. We sing, dance, and compose music to our new reality and watch the rest of the world follow the beat.
Chiamaka Okike A multidisciplinary writer, he is the author of the short stories “A Name No Mother Could Give You,” “Songs about Surulere,” “If People Are Art, and Museums Are Graveyards,” and “14 Lasts Forever.” Okike grew up in a quiet small community in Ibadan, Nigeria, and developed a relationship with words through his long walks. Okike serves as one of the editors. Izel Magazine”Women’s issues of the Edinburgh Literary Salon, Brittle Papers, ISele Magazine, and active muse. Okike has spoken at various workshops and panel discussions and was accepted into his MFA writing program at Columbia University.Follow Okike chiamakaokike.com.
Cover photo: Women dance during a “fellabration” at the New Africa Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria, early Monday morning, October 20, 2014. Thousands of Afrobeat fans danced the night away in a cavernous warehouse to remember the Nigerian-born musician who passed away in 2014. 1997. (AP Photo/Sunday Aramba).
