The Gatekeeping of Afrobeats & the Hypocrisy of it All
Gatekeeping Afrobeats is counterproductive to the growth of Nigerian music.
American rapper Russ recently shared a TikTok video previewing his next single 'Gimme Love'. According to him, it's an Afrobeats song.
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As the video wormed its way through different social media timelines, it raised more than a few eyebrows. Russ (or Oluwaruss or Russchukwu) is no stranger to Afrobeats, having done songs with Asake and Davido. His familiarity with the genre and culture (apparently, he has a lot of Nigerian friends) has not spared him from some of the comments online.
This discussion has been percolating ever since our sound piqued the ears of tastemakers abroad. It didn't start with Russ. It's about gatekeeping, ownership and cultural appropriation.
Many feel that it is time for us to protect our sound from foreigners, who if history is anything to go by, will jack it and claim it as theirs. They don't want a doomsday scenario of a white artist (or an African-American act) winning a GRAMMY in the Afrobeats category (the GRAMMYs does not have an Afrobeats category - yet).
Here is my opinion. You can't gatekeep culture. If a culture must flourish, then it has to spread. Afrobeats cannot be one of the top genres in the world if it does not grow to other parts of the world. We need the Biebers, Sheerans, and the Aubrey Grahams of this world to help Afrobeats crossover to a larger audience.
We wail about how gatekeeping is bad, yet we now want to be gatekeepers. We cannot play both sides of the field.
If Afrobeats must be big as rap, jazz, rock, and R&B, then other parts of the world must jump on our sound and culture. It will help market our culture and give more opportunities to Nigerians in the music business. If we become gatekeepers (or, as I like to say, gatemen) of Afrobeats, what we have will die. That in itself would be a tragedy.
Yes, there are legitimate concerns about the globalisation of Afrobeats. And this is why I have always been adamant about ownership. Afrobeats started in Nigeria and Ghana, and this is the unshakeable truth. Let's do away with revisionist history and alt-truth that it's from London, England. The UK has a part to play in this, but the truth remains that Afrobeats is Ghana and Nigeria, like Reggae to Jamaica.
Once we can't take ownership of Afrobeats, the plot is no longer ours. I'm happy two Afrobeats documentaries came out last year. I worked on Journey of the Beats streaming on SHOWMAX, and it breaks down the history of Nigerian music expertly. The documentary is accurately told by Nigerians, and this is what we need more of.
Beyond this, we need to have a proper industry. I am talking about a real music industry, not red carpets and bright lights. Spotify's Artist & Label Partnerships Manager for West Africa Victor Okpala’s, tweet accurately highlights my thoughts. We have no local industry that can boast of the same structures overseas. With this vacuum, we cannot take advantage of the potential of what we have now.
Lastly, who are we to say others can't jump on our genre of music? Some Nigerian artists sing R&B, and rap (in an American accent), sing jazz, play rock music and perform other foreign genres. No one has stopped them from playing these genres.
Oh, and South Africans have not sent a 'Cease & Desist’ letter to the Nigerian embassy to stop Afrobeats artists from jumping on Amapiano.
We have guzzled from the Amapiano tap without South Africans gatekeeping us. Remember when we were all over the Ghanaian sound too?
Yes, I know there is a power dynamic in our relationship with the West. When we jump on their sounds, it is cultural appreciation, but when Drake jumps on Afrobeats is cultural appropriation (I don't think so).
For this power dynamic to be balanced, we need to do some heavy lifting and create an industry with proper structure. The question is, will we do this or cry blue murder when Justin Bieber carries home a GRAMMY for Best Afrobeats song?
P.S. - The DNA of Afrobeats borrows a lot from American music genres.
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Well said, AT. You hit the nail on the head.
Afrobeats is a blend of different genres of music, especially Caribbean and American culture. We add a bit of African culture to it to jazz it up. If we can take from other people's cultures, why can't they take from ours?