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Wizkid is seen during the Milan Fashion Week - Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 on September 22, 2023 in Milan, Italy.

Wizkid seen during the Milan Fashion Week on September 22, 2023 in Milan, Italy.

Arnold Jerocki/GC Images via Getty Images

Afrobeats has been undergoing a reckoning, especially as the nominal term used to represent the wide range of popular music from West African (and generally African) artists. This is hugely significant for the sake of cultural nuance because of how much weight is attached to names culturally and spiritually in most, if not all, African cultures.

Last weekend, Nigerian pop superstar Wizkid loudly expressed his annoyance with being regularly referred to as an Afrobeats artist. In a series of text-based posts on his Instagram stories, the man, born Ayodeji Balogun, rattled off a bunch of words related to being “labeled just afrobeats [sic].” In these pointed remarks, he declared that his next album isn’t an Afrobeats album, writing that fans of his earlier hit song, “Pakurumo,” weren’t the target for his next project.

Through the many typed words, the conceit in Wizkid’s demeanor was immediately evident and clearly fuelled by a gnawing feeling of dissatisfaction. For the Lagos-raised singer, Afrobeats has become too limiting to fully convey the scope of his ambition, and it constricts the lens through which he wants his music to be viewed.

“Listen, am I African? Yes! But I do make all sorts of music,” Wizkid wrote, stating that his now-classic 2020 album, Made in Lagos is not an Afrobeats album. “That’s a fusion of different sounds. Real Music! The word afrobeats [sic] was made up by y’all to put all we make into one box. Fela created Afrobeat!! I make all sorts of music. Fusion of sounds.”

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