Remember that year when the most popular party jam was “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira and “Beautiful Girl” by Sean Kingston? Contrast that with today’s party scene where all you can here is Nigerian music, and not just in Nigeria, but all over the world.
eelive.ng‘s TOKONI AKOSUBO takes a look at Nigerian music, particularly Afrobeats, as a technological and cultural revolution transforming the face of pop music all over the globe.
What is Afrobeats?
Afrobeats is the percussive-driven electronic sound of modern Anglophone Africa. It always has a strong beat but softens up with a full-bodied baseline and pushes people to dance. The danceability of an Afrobeats track usually determines its value.
Afrobeats does not have a singular origin. It is a hybrid of different sounds from different cultures, which explains why it is so easily adapted into different genres.
The sounds that make up Afrobeats include house music, hip hop, dancehall, soca, Jùjú music, highlife, R&B, Naija beats, and Palm-wine music. Different songs have varying degrees of these elements.
Therefore Afrobeats is more of an umbrella term for music driven by percussion with a wide range of elements. It is basically a musical melting pot with an infectious beat to drive it.
When you mix different influences, there tends to be something for everyone. A good example of this is how “Bang Bang” by Timaya blew up in Jamaica, “Maradona” by Niniola topped charts in South Africa, and South Americans still make covers of Burna Boy’s “Anybody“.
Afrobeats as a genre has seeped into western pop music and is now at the top of the charts. It is not uncommon to look through the hit playlists of a music streaming app and find familiar names all over it.
The winner for ‘Best African Act’ is @burnaboy. Congratulations on your #MTVEMA win!! pic.twitter.com/uqAaZJ70O7
— MTVAfrica (@MTVAfrica) November 3, 2019
Weeks ago, Wizkid sold out the O2 Arena and Burna Boy has been selling out arenas for months on end. In fact, just last week, Burna Boy won the African Act Award at the European Music Awards. This made him the fourth Nigerian in a row to win the award.
But how and why did all this happen? Did the white people and the cool urban black Americans just wake up one day and decide that African music was suddenly cool? Or is this a product of years of strategic collaborations and internet exposure? Let’s find out.
International features
Drake’s summer ‘16 hit “One Dance” took the world by storm. Not only did it have an infectious beat and catchy lyrics; it also featured Nigerian superstar Wizkid.
And although Afrobeats had been thriving for years, the Wizkid feature on the track of a high-profile musician shot the genre into the international realms.
Fast forward to 2017, Wizkid would go on to feature on another song with Drake and gain international fandom.
Wizkid’s collaborations with Drake eventually opened up a lot of opportunities for other Nigerian artistes like Davido, Tiwa Savage, and Burna Boy.
Davido is now besties with Chris Brown. Yemi Alade, Tekno, Burna Boy, and Wizkid have collaborated with Beyonce. And the most fascinating part about it is that they were the ones sought after.
Even within Africa, the influence of Nigeria is undeniable. The intracontinental collaborations have been rife and other African artists have begun to sample Nigerian songs.
In fact, featuring an Afrobeats musician or singing an Afrobeats song is a rite of passage if you’re trying to make a comeback. Just ask Omarion.
Escapism
The world has become an extremely unpleasant place to live in. The economy is in the gutter and human rights are basically a myth. For the common Nigerian, this has always been so.
The wealth gap is widening and society has become ideologically polarized. But the one place where everyone is happy and no one cares about your politics is when you’re vibing or dancing to Afrobeats.
Afrobeats is joyous and escapist. How and even when it attempts to talk about a serious issue in society that would otherwise make us sad (see “Dangote“ and “Ye“, we just relate and dance anyway.
The escapism of Nigerian music draws listeners from other countries who are trying to escape too. Even though they might not understand the language, they get the message and the spirit behind the song.
The internet
There has never been an easier time to discover music and cultures from all over the globe. This is because of the internet. Drake first found out about Wizkid from hearing “Ojuelegba” online. things pretty much changed after that. Maybe a future historian would describe this as the first wave.
Then there was the “Ye” incident. In 2018, Kanye West released an album that shared the same name as a Burna Boy song. And while Kanye’s fans searched streaming sites for the album, they found Burna. Talk about serendipity.
Imagine the surprise of Nigerians when “Iron Man” by 19-year-old singer Rema made Barrack Obama’s summer playlist and “Dumebi” blasted on speakers at Rihanna’s Fenty launch in Paris and Korea!
The YouTube channels and streaming profiles of Nigerian musicians draw fans from the US, Europe, Asia, South America, and fellow African countries. Through the internet, people all over the world get to become fans of music they otherwise would have been unlikely to ever hear.
Nigerians in diaspora
Despite the fact that we make bomb music, Nigeria has not been so kind to its people. But when Nigerians decide to go abroad, they take the best aspects of Nigerian culture with them and a huge part of that is music.
The size of the Nigerian diaspora varies greatly and ranges from about 5 million to 15 million people. The Nigerian Diaspora covers practically every part of the world but the largest populations of Nigerians can be found in the UK, USA, and South Africa and the influential group was said to have remitted about $25 billion (6.1% of our GDP) which was injected into the Nigerian economy in 2018, according to a report by led by chief economist at PriceWaterCoopers (PwC) Nigeria, Prof Andrew Nevin.
The Nigerian diaspora, said to be the country’s biggest export, is also the most loyal fanbase for Afrobeats in the world. They have the resources to buy the music online through the right means and actually out money in the artistes’ pockets. So they pretty much work both ways.
The centuries-old walls of London reverberate with Afrobeats as an Olayinka lingers with her friends, waiting for her next class. The white Britons are wondering what exactly Naira Marley is singing about in “Soapy”.
The presence of Nigerians in diaspora leads to an expansion of the fandom. This thereby necessitates and encourages Afrobeats musicians to come over and perform.
Another huge factor is that African diasporas who respond to African music the same way get a hold of this music. Suddenly, Timaya is flying to the Caribbean to perform in makeshift patois.
The search for roots
Related to the topic of diaspora is black people seeking to connect with their African roots through music. And as we all know, black people are the gatekeepers of the entertainment industry.
One example of that is the legendary superstar Beyonce’s “Lion King: The Gift” album. Beyonce called the album, which majorly consists of Afrobeats tracks, her love letter to Africa.
She also features a lot of Afrobeats artistes who are, no surprise, Nigerian. Wizkid, Burna Boy, Yemi Alade, Tiwa Savage, and Tekno feature on various songs on Beyonce’s album.
Latin music had a moment in the 2000s and it experienced a resurgence as a backlash to the immigration laws in America. Now it seems Nigerian music is having its time in the limelight.
There has never been a better time to be a Nigerian artist. With the heavy followership Nigerian music is getting, streaming apps and record labels are paying attention. Sony Music and Universal Music now have branches in Nigeria.
Now Nigerian artists can directly monetize their sounds and talents without having to rely on shows. Young musicians no longer have to risk exploitation from poorly-structured record labels.
And most importantly, they get to be heard. They can share their message with the world, regardless of what it is they have to say. This is a good thing for Nigeria and we hope this era lasts a long time.