On April 11, 2023, Nigerian musician David Adeleke, nicknamed Davido, released the visuals for his smash song ‘Unavailable’ starring South African artist Musa Keys.
While Dammy Twitch, the filmmaker of the Zulu-themed video, was praised for his artistic prowess, the video was highly condemned for establishing Davido as “the King of Afrobeat.”
“Greetings,” a female voice could be heard saying (in a combination of isiZulu and English) in the video’s opening moments. You are tuned in to Timeless FM. Where has he gone after all this time? And what is he up to? I’m here to tell you that the King of Afrobeat has returned!
“I’m referring to Davido.” He’s back with a new record. I’m talking about hit after hit. Thank you very much, Davido. Thank you very much.”
Afrobeat as opposed to Afrobeats
The names “afrobeat” and “afrobeats” have long been used interchangeably. While they may appear to be the same in writing and pronunciation, they are not.
Afrobeat (no “s”) is a West African music genre that combines indigenous musical traditions such as fuji, folk, highlife, and American funk, jazz, and soul influences, with a concentration on chanted vocals, complex intersecting rhythms, and percussion.
Afrobeats, on the other hand, is more of an umbrella name for popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that incorporates numerous influences and is an eclectic mix of genres such as hip hop, house, jùj, afrobeat, R&B, highlife, and soca.
Davido is an Afrobeat or Afrobeats musician.
Davido, like most of his contemporaries who began their musical careers in the 2010s, performs “Afro-fusion” music, which combines hip-hop, juju, fuji, highlife, mokoss, R&B, pop, reggae, dancehall, makossa, soul, hip-life, ndombolo, and recently Amapiano.
According to the foregoing, Davido is more of an Afrobeats artist than an Afrobeats artist, as the latter is more of a descriptor of popular music from West Africa than a genre.
Afrobeat is a genre that was pioneered in the 1960s by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti. It combines elements of West African music, jazz, and funk rhythms with instrumentation that emphasizes African percussion and vocal styles.
Femi Kuti, Suen Kuti, Made Kuti, Newen Afrobeat, and Antibalas are contemporary afrobeat performers.
Davido is not an afrobeat performer. As a result, the claim that he is the “King of Afrobeat” is DECEPTIVE!
