Veteran rapper Ruggedman has criticised the widespread use of the term “Afrobeats” as a catch-all genre for African music, arguing that it misrepresents the continent’s musical diversity.
In an interview with Day Genius, Ruggedman stated that the label is often used to categorise artists who lack talent and rely on catchy beats and repetitive lyrics.
He also claimed that many Afrobeats artists struggle with live performances and freestyling, attributing this to their reliance on autotune and manufactured hits.
“I don’t like Afrobeats as an umbrella genre from every music coming out of Africa. That was a mistake. I didn’t liked it from the beginning but when I complained people accused me of being jealous or trying to gatekeep.
“Right now, if I go to the UK to perform, I would be tagged an Afrobeats artistes. It is wrong.
“It is the people in the UK who started this thing of tagging every African music Afrobeats. Nigerians love classicism. They just wanted to give it a name.
“For me, Afrobeats with an ‘S’ is a name talentless Nigerians hide behind. All you need to make an Afrobeats hit is just to get a good beat and a street slang and repeat it as many times as you like. Then spend a lot of money to promote it. That is the Afrobeats with an ‘S’,” he said.
