Published in: EDITORIAL

AFROBEATS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR A DISTINCT SONIC IDENTITY BY: DANIEL NKANGA (SOUNDFREAK)

Many people believe that Afrobeats has been bastardized. Do you think Afrobeats has been bastardized?

I’ve been procrastinating writing about “Afrobeats and the Struggle for a Distinct Sonic Identity.” But, here we are!

Afrobeats, at this moment, is undergoing a serious kind of identity crisis. This crisis stems from the blending of Afrobeats, a genre originating in West Africa, with Amapiano, a genre originating in South Africa. The fusion of these two genres has created a sound that no longer fully represents either one, yet it’s still being mislabeled as Afrobeats.

From a survey I conducted, many agreed that there’s a new sound emerging. It’s neither Afrobeats nor Amapiano, yet some artists and even influencers within the Afrobeats scene continue to erroneously refer to it as Afrobeats.

My goal and intention with this article is not just to point out this problem but to resolve it — to draw a clear line between Afrobeats and Amapiano, to redefine Afrobeats, and to officially name the new hybrid sound.

The identity crisis is evident in three major award events that have happened this year 2024:

The inaugural Best African Music Performance category at the 2024 Grammys.

The second edition of the Best Afrobeats category at the 2024 MTV VMAs.

The 2024 MTV EMAs, which featured a second edition of the Best Afrobeats category.

Let’s start with the Grammys. When South African artist Tyla won the Best African Music Performance at the 2024 Grammys, the announcement was followed by Fela Kuti’s “Water No Get Enemy,” not Tyla’s mid-tempo, sensual track. This moment gave the impression that the organizers didn’t even know or understand the music they had chosen to crown as the best African performance.

Very importantly here, let me unequivocally call on the Grammys to create dedicated categories for Afrobeats — Best Afrobeats Performance, Best Afrobeats Album, Afrobeats Artist of the Year, and more subcategories. The creation of the Best African Music Performance category signals that the Grammys are hearing us, but they’re not listening closely enough. Afrobeats is the essence that is coming from West Africa and deserves to be properly and respectfully represented.

The second issue occurred at the MTV VMAs, where Tyla was nominated alongside major Afrobeats names like Tems, Ayra Starr, Davido, and Burna Boy. She won the Best Afrobeats Award. However, she made a notable point during her speech, criticizing the grouping of African artists under the Afrobeats umbrella. She clarified that she considers herself an Amapiano artist, not Afrobeats.

While her statement was passionate, it is also laughable because she went ahead to receive an Afrobeats award which does not represent her art. Why did she not denounce the award? Why did she not say, “No! I am not an Afrobeats artist and my music is not Afrobeats. Therefore, I won’t receive this award”?

In the third case, Tyla once again won the Best Afrobeats Song award at the MTV EMAs 2024. Though she acknowledged Afrobeats’ role in the global recognition of African music, her victory sparked a larger debate about the misclassification of genres.

Many in the industry voiced their concern that this decision blurred genre lines, leaving out Nigerian artists who are more authentically aligned with the Afrobeats sound.

Additionally, Tyla was nominated at the Billboard Music Awards for Top Afrobeats Artist and Top Afrobeats Song, with three of her tracks competing in the latter category.

This is where we need to be clear: Tyla is not an Afrobeats artist. She is not creating Afrobeats music. Instead, she is an ambassador of Amapiano, as she has publicly stated.

Now, the challenge here is that her music contains light elements of both Afrobeats and Amapiano. For instance, her hit song “Water” was produced by Sammy Soso, a London-based Ghanaian producer, a West African.

Sammy Soso has worked with music producer P2J on a Nigerian musician Wizkid’s album Made in Lagos, contributing to songs such as Sweet One and Grace. The duo extended their collaboration on Wizkid’s album, More Love, Less Ego, featuring notable songs like Bad to Me, Everyday, and Flower Pads. This can explain the slight Afrobeats blemish on Tyla’s Water.

Very importantly, also, Adam Port, a German DJ and producer, was nominated for Best Afrobeats Song at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards. His song, “Move” featuring Malachiii & Camila Cabello, was nominated alongside other songs.

The nomination of “Move” is nothing but a careless and wrong move by the Billboard Awards. Although nominated in the Afrobeats category, the song primarily features Amapiano and House influences in its arrangement, while still maintaining an Afrobeats delivery style.

The organisers of the Billboard Awards failed to do due diligence on Afrobeats, a genre that is becoming increasingly popular globally. They eventually and wrongfully nominated “Move” under Top Afrobeats Song, a colossal disaster and blatant malfeasance. This is a heinousness move towards the hijack of Afrobeats by foreign actors.

But there’s a deeper issue here: the award organizers seem to struggle with correctly labeling music. There’s this damaging misconception that Afrobeats is an umbrella term for all African music, but Afrobeats — often called Afropop — is its own distinct genre that emerged from West Africa in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The mislabeling has become so widespread that even on TV, you can see Amapiano tracks being played and wrongly categorized as Afrobeats. This not only sabotages the Afrobeats genre but also misrepresents Amapiano.

The situation is further complicated when Afrobeats stars like Davido create songs that blend Afrobeats and Amapiano elements — like his track “Unavailable.” Despite these songs being a fusion of sounds, Davido and others continue to label them as “Afrobeats.” This, in turn, creates confusion, because while Amapiano elements are clearly present, the songs are still presented under the Afrobeats banner.

Emerging stars like Asake, Shallipopi, Zerrydl, and Seyi Vibes are riding this wave of a new, nameless sound—one that doesn’t yet have a proper identity.

To clarify, here are some examples of “pure” sounds: Rema’s “Calm Down” is a quintessential Afrobeats record, while Kabza De Small’s “Sponono,” featuring Wizkid, Burna Boy, Casper Nyovest, and Madumane, is a true Amapiano track. Notice that in Sponono, we see Afrobeats artists collaborating within an Amapiano context—but the genre of each sound remains unaltered.

So, what’s the solution? How do we resolve this dilemma?

Well, it is simple. We live in a world marriages are legal. And marriages support the growth of humanity.

In the world of music, music genres are also allowed to marry and to give birth to new sounds. This aids the growth, sustenance and evolution of genres.

Since the popularity of Amapiano in South Africa, Nigerian music producers and music artists have merged and married elements of Amapiano into Afrobeats giving birth to a new sound which I hereby name.

With the authority and power vested on me, I hereby recognize the marriage of these two African genres, Afrobeats and Amapiano, and the birth of this baby genre.

And as someone who’s been deeply invested in the growth of Afrobeats, I’m proud to say that I have the authority to name this new genre. I present to you, Afropiano — a fusion born from the Nigerian and South African musical legacies.

This new-born genre shall be called Afropiano, a new genre of music born in Nigeria by Nigerian and South African parent genres.

Afropiano will stand tall as its own genre. It will respect its parents —Afrobeats and Amapiano — while bringing honor and glory to them. This hybrid genre will shine globally, and its identity will be as unique as the cultures that birthed it.

My name is Soundfreak, the Afrobeats Ambassador. And these are my words: I proudly introduce you to Afropiano.