Afrobeats’ Next Chapter Must Look Towards Home – Zikoko!

A performer in dark clothing and sunglasses sings and dances to Afrobeats on stage with purple lights and a drummer in the background, capturing the energy of Afrobeats Next Chapter.

By: The Jídé Taiwo

For full disclosure, I am a reluctant user of the term “Afrobeats”. My reticence is not born out of any hateration, but as our music began to attract major international attention about ten years ago, I was convinced that the name would be used to box all of Nigeria’s music into a compact, yet loose potpourri of different things.

I feared that Afrobeats would come to suffer the same fate that has befallen the Hollywood stereotypical African accent; they just make the characters…