Afrobeats as a genre of music has over the years garnered critical acclaim from music lovers and critics across the globe.
Afrobeats, which is an umbrella term for contemporary Afropop and pop music from West Africa nations majorly Nigeria and Ghana should not be confused with Afrobeat, a genre of music characterized by long instrumental solos, trumpets and heavy use of percussion with reference to Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti as Creator.
The massive success of Davido’s “Fall” and “If”, Ckay’s “Love Nwantiti”, Burna Boy’s “Ye” and Wizkid featuring Tems “Essence” are all pointers to the growth of Afrobeats over the years.
However, as the wave of Afrobeats rises, a major concern for most Afrobeats enthusiasts is the cultural appropriation of Afrobeats records by international artistes and whether same should be discouraged or considered part of the Afrobeats evolution.
What is Cultural Appropriation?
Cultural Appropriation can be defined as the inappropriate use of the elements of a culture unique to a particular country or group of people without permission from, due credit to or developing a relationship with such people or country.
Childish Gambino’s “Summer Time Magic”, Swae lee “Guatemala”, Neyo “Push back”, Janet Jackson “Made For Now” and Doja Cat “Woman” are all Afrobeats /Afrobeats influenced records by international artistes with little or no credit to the genre itself.
These tracks are not tagged appropriately as the Afrobeats genre in their meta-data on digital streaming platforms nor referred to as such by the artistes during media tours and interviews.
Music lovers fear that the appropriation of Afrobeats records might lead to claims that these international artistes are responsible for the globalization of the genre and the core elements of Afrobeats that made it unique will be forever lost to appropriation.
The argument is not in support of gatekeeping the Afrobeats genre or that foreign acts cannot collaborate or work on Afrobeats records. The argument is that proper research should be put into creating same, collaboration should be done with Afrobeats artistes and producers to make such records and due credit should be given to the genre.
A good example is the Beyoncé Afrobeats Album “Lion King: The Gift” which featured a host of Afrobeats artistes like Wizkid, ShattaWale, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, etc and Drake’s “One Dance” featuring Wizkid and productions from Sarz and DJ Maphorisa, popular Afrobeats producers from Africa.
K-Pop music genre from Asia also has artistes like Penemeco and YDG with their Afrobeats single “Bolo” giving due credits to Afrobeats and artistes like Burna boy.
In Conclusion, it appears that the key thing to differentiate between cultural appropriation of Afrobeats and aiding the evolution and globalization of the genre is the intent of the artistes and their willingness to give credit and collaborate with the original owners and practitioners of the Afrobeats genre.