The NBA All-Star Weekend Was Powered By Three of Afrobeats’ Carriers, And It Shows How Far The Genre Has Come
If you told me years ago, that I’d see footage of Kelly Rowland calling Tems “The Queen” at an NBA All-Star game, right before her performance alongside fellow Grammy Award winner Burna Boy, and Rema, whose smash single “Calm Down”, is currently the most viewed Afrobeats video on Youtube, I would have probably laughed it off. But it’s been building to this, Afrobeats is inevitable, the genre has seen a resurgence in popularity over the past few years and with campaigns that have gapped the bridge between the diaspora and Africa, the genre is now running on nitrous oxide, and the world has no choice than to catch up.
I was in utter shock, when I got home from Primary school, turned my Tv set on, and saw D’Banj win the Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2007, an award that was won by 2face in the previous year. This shows how long the genre and its artists have been thriving to cross waves, and it didn’t even start from there. The launch of MTV Base in Africa in February 2005 marked a significant shift in the quest to go overseas, an idea brought up by Alex Okosi, the man who brought MTV to Africa. The 24-hour music channel is a commercial and cultural behemoth, making an impact as a brand that provides global exposure to talent while elevating video culture in the continent.
Just like any other genre, Afrobeats kept evolving with time, and it was the same as the marketing department. Trace Urban launched in Nigeria in 2011, and the French pay-Tv channel acknowledged Lagos as a hub for its African operations, raising the profile of African Music to the world with their presence. With a thriving music Industry, African artists were also structuring themselves and pushing boundaries. By the end of 2011, Don Jazzy had co-produced a song for The Throne (Jay Z & Kanye West), a record that featured Beyonce and made it tooth famous “Watch The Throne” album, meanwhile, P-Square had signed to Konvict Muzik Record and Universal Music group, expanding their network by default. “Beautiful Onyinye” remix featured Rick Ross and their hit single “Chop My Money” featured Akon. Summer 2012 was owned by D’Banj, who had penned down a deal earlier with Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music label, his latest single then, “Oliver Twist”, was a worldwide hit, becoming the first Nigerian song to debut on the UK singles chart. The record was accompanied by a music video that featured Kanye West and label mates from G.O.O.D Music. His appearance on GOOD Music’s album marked a series of transcontinental feats.
By 2014, the gap between Afrobeats and the global industry was within arm’s reach, tailored with BET awards between Wizkid and Davido, the next generation of artists had already capitalized on a soaring industry, aligning themselves to be the next set that will push the sound to higher heights, and boy they didn’t disappoint. Davido’s deal with Sony Music marked a new era, whiles Wizkid’s cameo on Drake’s 2016 summer anthem “One Dance”, catapulted him into the main stage of it all, a similar mechanism that would eventually introduce Tems to the world by Wizkid’s “Essence” single. On a consumer and demographic basis, things were shaping perfectly for Afrobeats, the genre’s fanbase was growing beyond, and between 2003 and 2014, the African-immigrant population in the States alone had doubled up, exceeding two million people. Nigeria led the charts with the most immigrants living in the states. This produced children that dabbled between two cultures, growing up to admire their roots and home. With most of the African immigrants situated in big cities, their efforts to keep their culture’s ball rolling helped, expanding the sound to “outsiders”, this didn’t just elevate the music, but the other aspects of our creative system, and with some born outside, they intertwined both cultures and implemented them to fit their records, an example is British-Ghanaian singer, Fuse ODG, whose efforts to push “Azonto” as a sub-genre introduced new listeners and inspired prospects, and Ivorian-British Dj, Afro B.
All these elements pushed Afrobeats into a new dimension, the genre can now boast of a female Grammy Award winner Tems, whose performance at the NBA All-Star weekend added to a list of milestones she has reached in a very short while, she is the latest proof that Afrobeats is here to stay, and she has her mates coming with her. Ckay’s “Love Nwantiti” is the first ever African song to surpass a billion streams on Spotify, Fireboy’s “Champion” was used as Bayern Munich’s celebratory anthem for their UEFA Super Cup win, Asake’s debut album is the highest charting Afrobeats debut album, debuting at number 66 on the billboard 200, whilst Ghana’s Amaarae featured Khali Uchis on her “Sad Gurlz Luv Money” remix, a song that went viral and made SZA a fan of her music. Fast forward, things are different now, Harvey Mason, who is the Grammy Awards CEO, disclosed a possible “African Music” category for the Grammys, and with the diaspora connecting back to their roots and an ever-growing listening base with a touch of Black Excellence, Afrobeats is just getting started. If you thought 2021/2022 was Afrobeats’s biggest year, wait for what the future hold, that’s as exciting as it gets for the genre and African Music.
