As some quarters of the music industry debate whether Afrobeats has taken over from dancehall, it seems the relatively new genre is bound to take up more space in mainstream America with Burna Boy, Wizkid, Rema, Davido and Tems making multi-platinum songs every week.
Speaking with WMV exclusively from the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston Jamaica, one third of the legendary hip hip group Naughty By Nature Vin Rock (which also has Treach and DJ Kay Gee) says Hip Hop music should be on notice for its one dimensional content.
“I don’t think hip hop is threatened by Afrobeats but hip hop should be on notice that some of the audience is getting tired of some of the messaging in hip hop. A lot of the messaging is redundant and although women are emerging and rising in the game, their messaging is getting redundant. Inviting you to the lady parts and all of this stuff,” the OPP rapper says.
Vin, 52 celebrated the 30th anniversary of his group’s Billboard top 10 hit Hip Hop Hooray last December but added that; “The World Music, Afrobeats, even some of the Reggaeton is bringing good vibes, better vibes, less violent vibes so people are like ok this is a good alternative. So I would warn hip hop that if you are not careful you can get eclipse by a different vibe of music.”
Burna Boy called on Naughty By Nature to be on his Grammy winning Twice As Tall album {2020} for the track Naughty By Nature.
“Our guy Burna Boy he is massive, one day we get a call from his label, Atlantic Records who says Burna Boy wants to do. song with you guys. I was like why but then we heard in his interviews that when he was three years old his first song I learned was Hip Hop Hooray,” Vin explains about the collaboration.
His assertions about Afrobeats eclipsing Hip Hop are not far off as there are early indicators on America’s appetite for Afrobeats. Nigerian singer/songwriter Tems won the NAACP Image award for Outstanding International Song with her rendition of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” in February this year.
At the 2023 NBA All Star Weekend Tems, Rema and Burna Boy were the halftime show performance headliners. Additionally, for Google’s Year in Search 2022, Last Last by Burna Boy was the 10th ‘most searched song globally.
The song was released in May of last year as the lead single for Burna’s 6th solo album “Love Damini” on Atlantic Records/Spaceship label. Since selling out two nights in Madison Square Garden, the African Giant has opened up himself to new audiences in America and across the world which has increased a global demand for his tour.
Incidentally, the breakup anthem Last Last, exploded after he first performed it at the Billboard Music Awards in May 2022, and samples American singer Tony Braxton’s Darkchild produced R&B bop “Wasn’t Man Enough.”
Elsewhere Calm Down by Rema which was certified 2x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) last Friday (May 5, 2023) is making strong indications to be a No. 1 single on the pop charts in the coming weeks. The song, aided by a remix with Selena Gomez has spent 34 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 where it has climbed to No. 5 this week.
Although the consumption of Afro-music has gone up, it is still not among the top ten genres in the world according yo a report last year an IFPI. The report showed that Reggae is music was the tenth most listened genre, while Hip Hop was the third most listened genre worldwide. Latin music which includes Reggaeton was found to be the fifth most listened genre globally.
Ghanaian singer Stonebwoy recently said he is on a mission to bridge the gaps between the Western music and African music with Afrobeats. In January during Breakfast Club interview on New York’s Power 105 FM, Charlamagne Tha God said there are many people in the U.S. who are thinking Afrobeats (and even dancehall) is going to be the biggest back genre across the world even surpassing Hip Hop.
Stonebwoy responded, “I would love it because it’s still black…if Afrobeats does get the forefront like it’s getting interestingly it has all the other genres embedded inside of it. When you break down any typical Afrobeats song you can put every other music of black origin on there. If you strip any Afrobeats song as a producer you can find dancehall in there, that’s how come everybody is gravitating to it, I believe so because everybody can find themselves in there knowingly or unknowingly. It has several branches and big tree.”
