Nigerian Afrobeats sensation, Davido, recently offered insight into his musical identity, distinguishing his sound as Afrofusion rather than Afrobeats.
This declaration places him among a growing cadre of artists, including Wizkid, Burna Boy, and Fireboy, who resist classification solely within the Afrobeats genre.
In a candid conversation on the Business Untitled Podcast, Davido expressed concern over the tendency to homogenize diverse African musical styles under the umbrella of Afrobeats.
The ‘Unavailable’ crooner talked about the historical trajectory of African music’s acceptance abroad, noting the pivotal role of the UK before its resonance in the American market.
I don’t get offend when we’ve been categorised as Afrobeats. I mean, we need a genre. It could be R&B or Afropop. I call my music Afrofusion but I’m not big on ‘O put Afrofusion on my song.’ I know how long it took for African music to become mainstream
Afrobeat is a sound that was originally pioneered by Fela Kuti. But now all African songs are termed Afrobeats. If an African artiste sings pure R&B, sounding like SZA, Summerwalker, they put them under Afrobeats. If an African rapper rapping like Drake, they still put them under Afrobeats.
The first place that accepted African music outside Africa is the UK before America later join. The UK termed African music Afrobeats.