Grammy-nominated Afrobeat singer, Seun Kuti, has stirred conversations once again with his take on the global rise of Afrobeats. According to him, the wave dominating the world is not exactly a genre but rather a “title” used to generalize music from Africa.
Speaking in a recent interview with The Beat 99.9 FM, Lagos, the son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti argued that unlike well-defined music genres, Afrobeats does not follow a structured identity. Instead, he described it as a flexible tag under which different styles and sounds are grouped.
“I think Afrobeats is more of a title than a genre. You can see Amapiano is the new Afrobeats. It’s the new title, it’s the new thing in Afrobeats. So, Afrobeats is just a generalisation; it’s just a title to identify something from a particular place [Africa],” Kuti explained.
He further criticized the way artists and industry gatekeepers approach the sound, noting that many Afrobeats stars do not treat it as a genre.
“I don’t think it’s a genre. Even the gatekeepers, the big names don’t deal with it like a genre, they don’t work it like a genre. They are [Afrobeats] artists that are eclectic in a way that they could do a dancehall track today, do a blue track tomorrow, do a Nigerian pop sound, jump on Amapiano, and whatever that is trending. So, I think it’s actually a title,” he stated.
Kuti’s comments add fuel to the ongoing debate about how Afrobeats should be classified, especially as it continues to dominate international charts and award platforms.
