Understanding the Origin of Afrobeats – Genre or Culture

For decades the Western world adopted the term Afrobeats to describe Pop music with sonic roots in Ghana and Nigeria and other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

When the term Afrobeats is used, it rarely describes the music. Instead, it describes the African roots of the artist behind the music and the presence of African elements in the music.

While there’s no codification of the history of the word “Afrobeats”, especially when it was created, and by whom it was created, the term came to be in the 2000s when it was first used to describe West African pop music.

Afrobeats is said to get its name from Fela Kuti‘s Afrobeat, which according to the documentary “Afrobeats: The Back Story,” was coined in the 1970s. Fela Kuti‘s Afrobeat was an accomplished blend of Jazz, Funk, and West African Highlife music.

According to Nigerian entertainment executive Obi Asika in the “Journey of the Beats”, a desire to take Nigerian pop music into the Western mainstream led to the creation of the tag “Afrobeats”.

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The tag “Afrobeats” was derived from Fela’s Afrobeat with the “S” added to capture the multiplicity of genres. Afrobeats thus became a tag to describe Pop music coming out of Ghana and Nigeria.

There’s no record of who created the term Afrobeats. According to Obi Asika, the term just came around in the 2000s and it played a big part in helping to move Nigerian pop music from being tagged world music into the western mainstream circle.