Nigerian Music Critic Joey Akan Fearful Afrobeats Will ‘Decline Like Dancehall’: “We Are The Shiny New Thing, As They Once Were”
“When Jamaicans see Afrobeats at the NBA All star halftime and say, ‘Afrobeats have replaced dancehall’, we all see a competition for Western gaze. I see people watching us repeat their mistakes. We are the shiny new thing, as they once were, before it was stripped away.”
Those were the words of Nigerian journalist and music critic, Joey Akan, last week Tuesday, in one of several Twitter posts which triggered a raging debate among many of his compatriots, about whether the Afrobeats genre is now well on its way to being expropriated by foreigners, “similar to Dancehall and Reggae”, which originated in Jamaica.
Akan’s series of tweets, in which he expressed concern that foreign acts would soon dominate Afrobeats and quickly displace Nigerians as the main acts, had come following an initial post where he strongly objected to Italian-American rapper Russ boasting about recording a solo Afrobeats song.
On Tuesday, Akan shared a clip of Russ previewing his new Afrobeats track titled Gimme Love, and expressed strong disapproval of the rapper whom he described as “the US artist who has listened and interacted with our art and creatives enough to feel comfortable to make a record without a collaboration from anyone at home.”
After one follower described Russ’ song as “a miss” and added that “so long as we keep innovating, we’ll be fine,” Joey Akjan replied: “The Jamaicans once said the same about Dancehall.”
The reference to Dancehall evoked a lengthy discussion by some of his followers, who rued the decline of the genre and its Reggae predecessor, even as some pointed out that Nigerians too, had expropriated the two Jamaican genres.
“Dancehall was the innovation after reggae was ripped. A few type-beats were in the top 40 and what? The gentrifier songs r barely remembered, loads of artists blow and tour the world, there’s a thriving music industry now. Afro got stole yrs ago by JB and it’s healthier still,” one man wrote.
As the debate raged, iKillCuriousity pointed out that foreigners recording Afrobeats could not be stopped as it was now a global genre.
“So what’s your suggestion? Maybe Nigeria should go to WIPO and patent Afrobeats and stop other countries from making Afrobeats music for at least a decade? Dude, it’s a good thing that it’s going global; “we” just need to position to benefit from this explosion,” he noted.
However, he was counteracted by another follower, who said that Nigerians could ill-afford to subject Afrobeats to the same exploitation meted out to Dancehall, to the detriment of authentic artistes from the genre.
“You are just too blind to SEE how this America’s looted and changed the message of reggae. This is the fall of afrobeat. All Babylon does is steal and they have come to steal afrobeat like they did with Africans and their resources since day 1,” the commenter replied.
The post was supported by Lawrence, who noted: “That’s true. Well, hopefully we’ll have a decent run like they did before the Americans take over.”
In his subsequent tweets, Akan lamented that he thought it was going to take “at least 5 more years” before Afrobeats got to the point of being copied by non-Africans, but that “social media has sped it up, giving us access, but also offering them access to our culture.”
He had also lamented that the future looked grim, since, “if Russ puts enough marketing behind that record and it blows as a western Afrobeats record, expect a rapid assimilation of everything else”, as when Afrobeats can exist in the US without Nigerian singers, it would be “back to square one” for the African nation.
“While trying to fly, build at home. You’re an acquired taste, being studied and prodded with cash for the novelty and break you bring to the global pop core. Asians now make Afrobeats. American producers are all over Tiktok churning out versions of it. Now Western artists…,” he stated.
Like Akan, another follower, Tosin, predicted that Afrobeats would “fall” at the feet of foreigners and then be totally taken away from Nigerians.
“It’s going to happen. Collateral damage for Afrobeats going “global”. e.g. SOJA won a Grammy for best reggae album,” he noted.
Other compatriots joined in the wailing, lamenting that the loss of Afrobeats, like Dancehall, was imminent.
“If it happened to reggae, dancehall, country and many more genres it’ll happen to afrobeats,” Jay Tee said, while Boyreymusic added: “If we don’t gate keep this afrobeats shit watch it disappear like reggae lol.”
Others said Russ voicing an Afrobeats song was akin to the Reggae Grammy going to SOJA in 2022.
“Reminds me of SOJA, a bunch of white dudes taking home the Grammy for best Reggae album,” Uzezi Simon said while Noahmuse added: “Exactly what happened at 2022 Grammys when SOJA, a reggae outfit made up mostly of white guys from Virginia, USA won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album by beating five Jamaican nominees: Sean Paul, Spice, Gramps Morgan, Etana, and Jesse Royal”.
“This is disgusting they did the same with reggae this white peps should know there territory,” one commented added.
Others on the opposing end, argued that Akan’s concerns were much ado about nothing, as the appropriation of music was not new and happens to all genres.
“But this is normal. You can’t make good music, see it get to the global stage and expect others not to jump on it. Reggae, dancehall and other genres come from other places, and everyone jumps on it. No one can hoard Afrobeats…it’s bound to explode,” UmehWrites argued.
Others accused Akan and his supporters of being hypocritical, as Nigerians have been copying genres such as Hip Hop, Pop, Reggae and Dancehall for decades.
“Nigerians used to make Dancehall and raggaeton sha. You have a point tho but you can’t stop them at this point,” Deekay Rotimi said while Mr Redd added: “By your logic, Africans shouldn’t do hihop… Reggae, dancehall etc You can’t gatekeep a sound”.
Asana_faith was direct in her utterances:
“Relax, Africans do “Hip Hop”, “dancehall” etc, yll be weird on here with the fake outrage,” she rebuked.
Akan’s comments had also stirred up an article published in Pulse Nigeria, by author Adeayo Adebiyi titled What Afrobeats can learn from the international decline of Dancehall.
The author noted that “with Afrobeats gaining international recognition, Nigerians are rightfully concerned with gatekeeping the genre” and the “consequences of the foreign creative exploitation”.
“This argument is not far-fetched, as foreign acts who are signed to major labels have access to unlimited resources and a bigger audience that will propel their music to the top. This will mean that foreign acts will begin dominating the Afrobeats chart and winning Afrobeats awards,” the author stated, noting that “glimpses of this can be seen from the recent revisionism in the western media that referred to Beyoncé as the Queen of Afrobeats”.
Referring again to “the international decline of Dancehall”, the author said that even though foreign creative exploitations appear impossible, Nigerians can learn from the mis-steps of “Dancehall, which once enjoyed international fame before nosediving for several reasons”.
In discussing what he said was the “evolution of Dancehall, its breakthrough into the international market and eventual decline”, Adebiyi, among other things said that Nigerians ought to ensure that even as Afrobeats reaches a “wider international audience and foreign acts are beginning to get in on it, the key elements and the place from which it originates are highlighted”.
He noted, however, that while Afrobeats cannot be gatekept, it can be “built on a solid foundation such that foreign creative exploitation won’t lead to its untimely international diminution”.