Dare Babalola
Singer Seun Kuti has stressed that Afrobeats is more of a title than a genre of music as widely believed.
The singer said this during an interview on The Beat 99.9 FM Lagos, where he noted that many Afrobeats artists and executives don’t approach it as a defined genre but instead create eclectic sounds that blend multiple influences.
Kuti explained that the term is often used as a broad identifier for music from Africa, rather than a genre with unique characteristics.
He further argued that artists frequently switch between styles such as dancehall, Nigerian pop, or Amapiano without being confined to one genre.
Kuti declared that Afrobeats is more of a catch-all title than a specific musical category.
Kuti said, “I think Afrobeats is more of a title than a genre. You can see Amapiano is the new Afrobeats. It’s the new title, it’s the new thing in Afrobeats. So, Afrobeats is just a generalisation; it’s just a title to identify something from a particular place [Africa].
“I don’t think it’s a genre. Even the gatekeepers, the big names, don’t deal with it like a genre; they don’t work it like a genre. They are [Afrobeats] artists that are eclectic in a way that they could do a dancehall track today, do a blue track tomorrow, do a Nigerian pop sound, jump on Amapiano, and whatever is trending. So, I think it’s actually a title.”
