‘I don’t do Afrobeats, I do Afrofusion’- Davido

Nigerian singer Davido is the most recent Nigerian musician to criticise Afrobeats, following Wizkid, Burna Boy, and Fireboy in their recent departure from the genre.

The "OBO" crooner bemoaned the "boxing" of all African musicians, regardless of their musical genres, into the Afrobeats genre during an appearance on the most recent episode of the Business Untitled Podcast.

He said: “The first place that accepted African music outside Africa is the UK before America later joined. The UK termed African music Afrobeats.

“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.

“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.”

Recall that in March 2024, Wizkid caused an uproar on social media after stating that he didn't want to be labelled as an Afrobeats singer.

According to the Grammy award-winning singer, his decision to cease identifying as an Afrobeats artiste was because he makes “all sorts of music.”

“U lost people always want someone to educate you. U got your phone Google research sh*t or take a flight and see the world don’t be ignorant and stupid all the time.

“Listen, am I African? Yes! But I do make all sorts of music. Fine music! But I don’t want these labeled just afrobeats. That’s like saying every American artist makes rap. That’s stupid. This is why no matter how good or amazing the music we make be it RnB or whatever other genre, we all get nominated in one Africa category or the other.

I’ve made songs from different genres of music. Made in Lagos is not an ‘Afrobeats’ album. That’s a fusion of different sounds. Real music!

The word Afrobeats was made up by y’all to put all we make into one box.

Fela created Afrobeat!! I make All sorts of music. Fusion of sounds! ‘I’m an artiste’ before anything else. True to my art. Not scared to try shit. Now y’all drink some milk!”

GA