The problems with the rise of 'Afrobeats to the world': Is nothing sacred?

A little background

Afrobeats is a music genre that originated primarily in Nigeria in the 1960's with a creative blend of West African music, American funk, jazz and soul. With artists like Davido, Tiwa Savage, and Burna Boy (just to name a few) becoming more mainstream, the genre has taken over the world one groovy anthem at a time. Unless you're living under a rock, you've probably heard songs like 'If' or 'Fall' by Davido, and it's okay to admit that those songs had us in a collective chokehold summer 2015. I'm sure when you heard the beats, you couldn't help but groove along to the glorious melodies and wondered where else you could get more.

So what's the problem?

If the music is as great as it is, what's the problem you ask? Well, I don't mind the world recognizing the contributions African artists as a whole have made to the music because if I'm being honest, as an African girl myself (Congolese) I feel a sense of pride, when I see others enjoy a genre that's dear to my heart. However, I feel like we should have rules and guidelines in place before the genre is colonized just like anything good that comes from Africa. Like Chad, you can dance to the music, but 'watch yourself, before you get beside yourself' because next thing you'll know, Ed Sheeran will be named the king of Afrobeats.

We also have to recognize the language barrier that most western consumers face while enjoying the music. For example, the song 'Last Last' by Burna Boy was used all over social media as the audio recapping vacations, weddings, and soft girl summer; meanwhile, the man was going through a break-up and drowning himself in liquor. The amount of accounts on Instagram (particularly white content creators) that misused that song shows me that most people in media are blindly consuming the music without doing basic research on its origin and meaning. In contrast, most Nigerian content creators used the audio in a way that made sense with the lyrics because that's their culture, language, and there's an appreciation for it that most western consumers lack. And while we're here, those of you that bought all the Wizkid concert tickets because you heard the songs 'brown skin girl' or 'Essence' and liked it, what exactly were you doing when 'Ojuelegba' came on? Becky that's like a lot of money for two songs. Just go ahead and jump aimlessly while swaying your hips and hair to Harry Styles.

Is it me? Am I the drama?

No it is not me. I am not the drama and if you think so, go argue with your ancestors. Don't get me wrong, I love that this exposure and the rise of Afrobeats in the mainstream media has opened many doors (brand deals, collaborations, higher concert ticket sales etc,) for some of my favorite artists, but I want those that do not belong in the diaspora to treat it with the respect it deserves. There's often a tendency within western culture to exploit, appropriate, and disrespect African culture as a whole. It wasn't cute when our lands were literally extorted, our mothers raped , and an entire generation of our people enslaved for your capitalistic greed, it's not cute now.

For those of you arguing that it's not only white people misusing the music, black people do

it too. To that I say, first of all, stay outta black folk business (out of *for the spelling police*) and second of all, had they not been stolen, this would be their music as well. With that said, if you are a Black American that bullied your African peers in school and called them anything along the lines of stupid, african booty scratcher, or simply made fun of their accent; I'm going to need you calm down a bit. If you are now going to claim to be from "the motherland", you'll need to recognize your ignorant ways and realize that those division tactics were designed to maintain white supremacy.

In conclusion

I am not trying to be the Afrobeats police but I can be, if I see any white artist dropping an Afrobeat song without featuring African Artists appropriately. All I ask is that the genre be consumed with respect and regard to its origin. We all have things that we can enjoy that are not ours by origin and I recognize that. So listen, dance, vibe out but always remember "It's for Black people anyway.

Weigh in your thoughts

What's the balance? How should artists navigate stepping out of their genres when other cultures and languages are involved?