Ladies & Gentlemen, Afrobeats Has Left The Building
Afrobeats has to leave Nigeria for it to properly flourish.
The Headies announced some tweaks to this year's edition of Nigeria's most prestigious music award ceremony a few weeks ago.
The major tweak that stole the headlines was that the 15th edition of The Headies would take place in Atlanta on July 2, 2022.
This major revelation led to many opinions on Twitter (both for and against the decision). While both sides of the debate have salient points, the undeniable fact remains that Afrobeats has left the building.
Nigeria's most durable music award ceremony, rich with history and blessed with archives of dramas and upsets, has decided to move and set up shop in Hip-Hop's hottest spot, at least for this year.
It signifies what I have predicted for some time now, afrobeats has carried its bags, turned off the lights, bolted the doors and left the building.
Over the years, Afrobeats grew from a hot, bubbly sound in Africa to a hipster genre co-signed by soccer mums in America.
Our artists went from superstars in the motherland to the new, cool kids on the block.
International tours, dream collabos, late-night TV show appearances, festival bookings and Times Square billboard placements gradually trumped strutting on the red carpet of any local event.
Now, the Headies has to play catch up and insert itself in the "afrobeats to the world" narrative. Afrobeats is not all about Lagos anymore. For like two years running, Ghana has stolen the ‘Detty December’ thunder.
Today, the biggest Afrobeats concerts are not in Nigeria. The biggest Afrobeats festivals don't happen in Nigeria. Nigerians don't determine if an Afrobeats song goes gold or platinum.
The writing is on the wall. The world (music industries that are better structured and organized) has transplanted Afrobeats from its native origin and created a hotbed for it in their countries.
Even the word 'Afrobeats' is not Nigerian; it is a UK vessel that allowed contemporary Nigerian pop music to travel the world.
Nigeria possesses raw talent waiting to be shipped abroad to properly 'blow up'. The best of our raw materials are processed abroad from oil, sports to music.
The rise of contemporary Nigerian pop music internationally coincides with the japa trend under the Buhari administration. Thousands of young Nigerians have fled the country to create a better future for themselves. Nigeria does not have the physical, moral and structural capacities to accommodate the limitless possibilities of young Nigerians.
The same applies to our sound now. Ladies and gentlemen, Afrobeats has left the building for it to survive.
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The artiste known as Solo Riches (Chukwu Solomon) is an act that embraces both rapping and singing.
The 20-year-old act who is from Abia state says “I love rapping but I find afrobeats familiar cause it enables me to go to my roots.”
Solo Riches claims he started listening to music when he became aware of himself and his surroundings. His mum owned a bar and as a kid he was the one in charge of the music. This early job helped him develop intimate relationships with Nigerian pop and rap.
From then it was only natural that he started composing his own lyrics. “I never learned how. I just got in the studio and did what I could do, but the most interesting part is how I've been able to improve continually without a song writer. I mean I can walk in the studio and make a hit today then make a bigger one the next time I'm in the studio” says Solo Riches.
His influences are Burna Boy, Wizkid, Rae Sremmurd, Post Malone and Future.
Solo Riches has released a new single titled ‘Never Seen’.
You can listen to it HERE