Rema hails Fela, Wizkid, Davido others for paving way for afrobeats

The remix of chart-topping single ‘Calm Down’ by Nigerian afrobeats singer Divine Ikubor better known as Rema and American singer Selena Gomez was announced as the Best Afrobeats Song at the MTV Video Music Awards which was held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

This is a historic moment for Rema as he is the first afrobeats artiste to win the category.

An excited Rema mounted the stage with Selena Gomez to pick the award.

He praised the recognition of afrobeats on a worldwide scale and also paid homage to the iconic Fela Kuti.

Rema also acknowledged the new generation of afrobeats artistes.

He said: "I am so happy but one thing I will not forget to do tonight is forget to shoutout the people who open the doors for me".

"Big shouts to Fela, who started Afrobeats in the first place, 2 Baba, Don Jazzy, D Banj, De Prince, Runtown, Timaya, 2Face, Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido".

Selena Gomez also expressed her gratitude to Nigerians for their support and Rema for working with her.

The award comes days after Spotify revealed that the song was the first African artist-led song to reach 1 billion streams on the platform, with the US, India, Mexico, Brazil, and the UK accounting for the majority of those streams.

Watch the moment Rema gave his acceptance speech below



GA/NBA