Nigerian superstar singer, David Adeleke professionally known as Davido, has denied being an Afrobeats artiste.
This makes him the latest Nigerian artiste to denounce Afrobeats after Burna Boy, Wizkid and Fireboy declared that their music does not fall under the genre.
Davido who featured in the latest edition of the Business Untitled Podcast, lamented the “boxing” of all African artists into the Afrobeats genre regardless of their musical styles.
He said; “The first place that accepted African music outside Africa is the UK before America later join. 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.”
In related news…
Ayodeji Balogun, the singer professionally known as Wizkid, has clarified that he is not an Afrobeats artiste, and wants the public to not categorise him as such.
The singer stated this on Friday, 15th of March while announcing that his next album was complete and ready to be released.
Wizkid warned fans not to expect an old version or Afrobeats sound on the album which will be titled Morayo, after his late mother.
In what seemed like a rant, he urged fans who are looking forward to hearing the old Wizkid, to not bother downloading his new project and delete him from their playlist.
Furthermore, the ‘Fever’ crooner warned bloggers and other media outfits not to post his album or report details about it when he finally releases Morayo.
He wrote; “Album done! See you soon b*tches! And abeg if you like Pakurumo Wizkid, don’t download this new album. In fact, delete me from your playlist and your life! If you like Afrobeats, don’t download my album. I’m not a f*cking Afrobeats artiste. I am not Afro anything.”
