From West Africa to the world, the relatively ‘new’ music genre of Afrobeats has taken nightclubs, parties and music charts by storm.

Afrobeats, not to be confused with Afrobeat, is a musical genre from West Africa, mainly Nigeria and Ghana, that has shaken up the global music industry. Growing since the early ’90s, the genre really took off on the international scene in recent years.

Generally speaking, Afrobeats is a fusion of West African pop music with western rap, bashment, dancehall, R&B and EDM. It’s the sound of Nigeria and Ghana, with a focus on creating upbeat, fun and energetic melodies designed to make you move.

There are several Afrobeats artistes who are creating mega hits, so it would be hard to list every one of them out there. But, if you’re just getting into Afrobeats, there are a few acclaimed artistes to start with, and there are plenty more out there to discover!

Artistes like Burna Boy, Davido, Wiz Kid, Rema, JoeBoy, and Tiwa Savage are just a few among the plethora of Afrobeats artistes who keep the genre buzzing. These artistes have been collaborating with international artistes, thus propelling the spread of the music across the globe.

Drake’s 2016 hit One Dance, featuring Nigerian artiste Wizkid, Tiwa Savage’s 2021 hit Somebody’s Son, featuring American songstress Brandy, and Ed Sheeran and FireBoy DML’s partnership on Peru are just of few of the major Afrobeats collaborations.

Other US artistes, including Ciara and Major Lazer, have fused Afrobeats sounds and featured African artistes in their music.

In 2019, Jamaica’s very own Popcaan collaborated with Nigerian artiste Davido to create Risky and, most recently, performed on TSA (Toni-Ann Singh) which is also a collaboration with another Nigerian Afrobeats artiste, Burna Boy.
Currently, several Afrobeats songs are creating a storm here in Jamaica within the dancehall space. Some of the most popular are Buga, Calm Down, Finesse, Peru and a host of others.

Finesse probably had the greatest impact with dancehall artiste Ding Dong sampling the track with his hit single, Happiness.