How Afrobeats is Making the World Listen

In 2006, a crew of young musicians from Nigeria set up the Hottest Coalition of Nigerian DJs. The group comprised artists living in the country as well as in the growing diaspora around the world. Their mission was to promote the kind of music that was popular in West Africa at the time, by acts like P-Square, 2Baba, and D’banj. These were tunes with elements of electronic and dance music set to African percussion, as well as including hints of highlife, dancehall, hip-hop, and R&B — origins traceable across the spectrum of Black…