Music

DJ ABASS: On the Evolution of Afrobeats

 

 

 

In this epic interview, Yinka Olatunbosun engages with one of the most influential figures in the promotion of African music in diaspora- the UK-based Nigerian broadcaster, DJ and compere, Abass Abayomi Tijani, popularly known as “DJ Abass”-on Afrobeats’ global popularity.

 

Why are there just a few documentations on Afrobeats, keeping in mind that it has become our biggest cultural export?

In the last five years or thereabout, I have supported about five or six people doing different dissertations in universities across the world because when they want to write about Afrobeats. They have very few reference points. You know, they go online to search and they struggle with the definitions, the growth, development and what Afrobeats entails. Ayo Shonaya has shot a documentary on Afrobeats now on Netflix. In 2016, I had an interview with Arise TV. But when you look at Afrobeats in 2016 and now, a lot has changed. Currently, we are in the documentary stage. Obi Asika is also working on a documentary. One person cannot do it, trust me. Everyone should do his or her part. As Africans, we need to tell our own stories so that they don’t get distorted by total strangers.

Talking about Burna Boy’s showmanship and its marked departure from that culture of lip-synching, what does that say about the stage craft of Afrobeats artists?

There is something about Burna Boy. In the past four years, we have Davido, Wizkid and Burna Boy selling out some of the biggest venues across the world. The O2 Arena rightly comes to mind. When you do a critical analysis of the three performances, Burna Boy stands out in terms of stagecraft. He comes on stage and you don’t see a DJ even when he has a DJ, his role is minimal compared to Wizkid’s and Davido’s performances. The last time Nigeria had something like Burna Boy was when Fela Anikulapo Kuti who ensures everything syncs from his lightings, dancers to his back-up singers. Burna Boy comes on stage to deliver top-notch performance with a lot of finesse. We have recording artists and we have performing artists – they are different; Burna Boy is a mixture of both. He is in a class of his own.

The last Grammy won by Angelique Kidjo raises a lot of questions across a section of the media with many making a case for Wizkid. In your opinion what is Angelique Kidjo’s Unique Selling Point?

Angelique Kidjo has won five Grammy Awards; the most recent one generated a lot of furore which to me was mere noise due to ignorance of how the Grammy Awards works. Grammy doesn’t pick their winners based on charts’ success or record sales. There is a criterion for nomination and winning. If it comes down to other factors can your music stand the test of time? What are the judges looking out for? When you look at Angelique Kidjo’s album “Mother Nature” that was an album talking about a global phenomenon the climate and many people missed that. She was very intentional in putting that album together. Don’t forget also that the Grammy is an American award; it is not a global award and it was just recently that two categories were carved out for the rest of the world. Performance is also a key factor in picking winners. When Angelique Kidjo performs, you see the energy and the vibes. Afrobeats is still a developing genre. While we are successful in terms of recordings, how many of our acts can you put in that global level of performing acts? Only a handful.

What could have propelled Afrobeats’ popularity in global music? What do you think is really responsible for that?

Quite a few factors if you trace the genealogy of Afrobeats. Not until the year 2008, there was no umbrella title in the world to classify music of African origin. Those titles existed in different countries, but they were not classified under one umbrella like it is today. In Nigeria, you will hear Naija Pop, in Ghana- Highlife and Tanzania, Bongo music. Also, in South Africa they have their pop called Amapiano so it is not new.

In 2008, the term Afrobeats came out of the UK to describe music of African origin. Once you have an umbrella title, it makes classification easy. I will give you a typical example. I am a DJ and I remember a time when I finished mixing my Afrobeats and I want to upload them on these platforms like Soundcloud or Mixcloud and you go to classifications, you don’t see Afrobeats because at the time there was no title to represent music of African origin. And once you don’t have an umbrella title, then it becomes impossible for the music business world to find the bracket to fix you under. It makes it difficult to do business and even clinch awards, even at the Grammys, classification is key. So, when the term Afrobeats was coined, many people frowned at it. One of the advantages was that now we have an umbrella body to classify our music because when you lack classification you lack visibility. The classification of music of Africa origin “Afrobeats” is one key thing that that gave us the global recognition. For instance, the South Africans will tell you their genre of music is ‘Amapiano’ that it is not Afrobeats. I understand they want to push the Amapiano genre. But at the moment, it is easy to export their music under the Afrobeats umbrella because it is the globally accepted genre for music of African origin. When you look at Simi and Adekunle Gold of the “Pick Up” fame prior to their last album, many Nigerians will tell you it is not Afrobeats but when you export that to the UK, it falls under Afrobeats.

Prior to the Afrobeats classification, it was difficult for music of African origin to penetrate the UK and American market. So, the Afrobeats title has an advantage, because if you don’t have an umbrella title, it is difficult to compete with the rest of the world. So, it started with the name. The next thing that happened was that the African Diaspora population were also the first to jump on it. We had our first concert with an Afrobeats Act in 2003 at the Heathrow Independence Jam where we had Tony Tetuila and Trybesmen and in 2004, we discovered Dbanj in London, Eedris Abdulkareem and Maintain as far back as then. So, it started with the classification, moved to having Diaspora Africans gracing our shows.

And then the most important factor in the global recognition of Afrobeats is the social media. Social media has done Afrobeats a lot of good. I will give you a typical example. Prior to the era of social media, if you don’t leave Nigeria, nobody will know you. Look at Goya Amenor. He released that song living in Benin and that song travelled on social media and become a global hit on TikTok and Instagram. The journey was made easier by the social media.

Let me give you another statistic. Do you know the Nigerian with the highest followership on Youtube? To the layman, it is probably Burna Boy, Wizkid or Davido due to their numbers but I will tell you it is Ckay with Nwantiti which was released in 2019. Someone jumped on it on TikTok and it started growing organically. So, the social media has been the third stage in the popularisation of Afrobeats. Now, you go to Burna Boy concerts; the audience is a mixture of races and that is down to the power of the social media. Social media has played a massive role in the globalisation of Afrobeats. The UK can be described as the headquarters of Afrobeats in the world because that was where it catalyses for the rest of the world but then it has finally arrived in America. I remember when Wizkid did the remix of ‘Ojuelegba’ that featured Drake, and that was the first big act [Drake] to jump on Afrobeats. Wizkid was signed to Sony and that was when American artists started vibing to Afrobeats. And the next act to give Afrobeats a massive leap was Davido when he released ‘If’ and ‘Fall.’ I was in New York four years ago and I can tell you ‘If’ and ‘Fall’ were on heavy rotation. And then Burna Boy came into the block.

Then Wizkid dropped ‘Made in Lagos.’ When we trace the genealogy, we can see the moment when it started gaining momentum. Between the three of them, the 02 Arena has been sold out seven times, Wizkid four times, Davido twice and Burna Boy once. Burna Boy has sold out the Accor Arena in France once and so has Wizkid. Burna is doing more of European shows. Wizkid had a fantastic tour with his ‘Made in Lagos’ Album, his third Grammy nomination and he’s been on the Billboard for over one-year, breaking Fela’s record of forty-five weeks on the Billboard for a Nigerian artist. So, it’s been an interesting story and we can trace the genealogy from when the umbrella title started to where it is right now. And if you look at the last six months, the names that are popping right now are the next level artistes like Ckay, Rema and Fireboy DML these are the next level artistes. So, it’s so competitive at the moment. And when you talk about social media of course you are talking about platforms such as iTunes, Spotify and all other platforms across the world. That makes penetration of Afrobeats pretty easy.

Do you think that Afrobeats at some point will get its own nomination at the Grammys?

No! Afrobeats will not get its own category any time soon. Like I said, originally the Grammy is an American Awards. So, if they have to give Afrobeats …they have not even given bigger genres that are even bigger like Salsa. They only have something for Latino which covers Salsa and a whole lot of others because they are indigenous to America. The Grammy is an American award we must not forget that. They only created a global category just to carry along the rest of the world. Even in Africa you can count how many awards have the Afrobeat category. That is because Afrobeats is still confined to West Africa which comprises Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and maybe Liberia. And globally, Afrobeats is still a developing genre.

Some of the American artists are experimenting with Afrobeats like Beyonce, Doja Cat. Don’t you think someday a category will be made available for Afrobeat?

This brings us back to what I was saying. Beyonce released an entire album which basically was an Afrobeats album but she never called it Afrobeats. That’s where you need to understand the politics of the game as well. She did an entire album with African artists, but she never labelled or titled that album Afrobeats. It comes back to what I’m saying. The Grammy is American, and her primary audience is America though for the rest of the world. People had issue with the fact that how can you release an Afrobeats album and refuse to tag it Afrobeats. That is the political side of the game right now.

It was clearly a business move just to come in literally and that is why we have to keep our eyes open so that they don’t take these things from us.

As much as we are excited, we also need to be cautious they are doing their thing at their own pace and doing well. And long may it remain, Afrobeats is Afrobeats – Pop music of African Origin.

Assuming you make beats, what consideration would you put in place when making an Afrobeats track?

I understand beat to an extent. People will ask you what makes a song an Afrobeats song –is it the language, beat, lyrics or the vibe? That is one thing a lot of people still struggle with. Even in Nigeria, the Afrobeats of the Eastern part is different from that of the West. The one of the West is different from that of the South South.

If you live in the West of Nigeria and you go to the Club in the South and you stay for an hour, maybe only just recognise only about 20 songs out of maybe 50 because they have their own vibe going on and vice versa. If I was a DJ from the East and I decided to cut a beat maybe the language will be the factor for me in putting the beat together.

If you’ve gone to Lagos, you know, many will say Yoruba is the official language of Afrobeats. Look at the likes of P Square, they didn’t grow up in Lagos, they grew up in Jos. They came to Lagos in 2002- great dancers. And when they started recording, they would incorporate Yoruba into their songs because you have to warm your way into the heart of the local fans. It was a strategic move. If you are going to the East, you will have to do that too.

And that was why Dbanj if you remember did ‘Igwe’ around 2008 in recording that song. Dbanj was trying to win his eastern fans over. A lot of the big acts juggle the languages. Back to the question of what makes an Afrobeats song: Is it the lyrics, the language, beat or the vibe? Goya Amenor ‘Amenor’ or Niniola’s Odun are Amapiano songs. In Africa, if you cast your mind back a bit there was a time Ghana was in the peak of it-artists such as VIP, Tic Tac and a lot of the major producers started sampling the Ghanaian beats just like it is currently with Amapiano. So, I want to make a beat. How do I select what will be called Afrobeats? The Afrobeats pond is getting even muddier now because I will probably have Amapiano beat with Afrobeats lyrics which shows that Afrobeats as a genre is dynamic.

If you listen to Diamond Platinum who is like the king of East Africa in Tanzania, the Bongo music is distinctive but when you listen to him, you hear a lot of his songs that are clearly Afrobeats with Swahili lyrics.

And that has earned him a lot of criticism from East Africa because they felt why are you doing this, forgetting that he knew exactly where he was going integrating other cultures. And that can also be responsible for where he is today.

Afrobeats is influencing sounds across Africa while other sounds across Africa are also influencing Afrobeats.

When you go through the comment section on social media platforms, people don’t just want to dance to Afrobeats. People want to understand and access the language. We tell them that the artists make use of different languages. They use slangs, pidgin English, a bit of Yoruba and then with someone like, Burna Boy, patois. Can Afrobeats culture actually be used to drive the economy?

It’s happening already. If you look at all the elements of our culture – food, fashion, dance and film, all of them carry Afrobeats. If you go on social media, caterers, food vendors they put their work out on the back of Afrobeats. People in the fashion you know, they put their stuff out on the back of Afrobeats. All the elements of culture have embraced Afrobeats including everyone.

And talking about the ecosystem, it is much bigger than the music itself and they are all feeding off each other. It’s ironic now, you go on Tik Tok, you see European brands in fashion even motorsport putting out their stuffs using Afrobeats.

The ecosystem is there already to see, you know, is it fully developed yet? No. If you look at Nigeria right now, it’s ironic that the home and source of the music is not getting the full benefit it deserves. How much do radio stations pay? That’s another conversation.

Artists are making their money from established societies or established environment that makes sure that everybody gets paid for their work. Intellectual property laws need to develop in Nigeria. Right now, the average artist only makes money via their performances or endorsements.

Are there indigenously owned streaming sites for Nigerian music artists?

In Nigeria, we don’t have any indigenous streaming site. There is no way they will make money off streaming sites. The Nigeria music industry is not really industry in itself, because they’re not ticking the right boxes.

But in South Africa, the system is well structured and that’s the difference right now. One hit in South Africa can make you for life because they have the right structures. We don’t have that in Nigeria yet. The bulk of their income in Nigeria comes from performances mainly and for those who get endorsement.

But then you’ve crossed over to the side. They’re making money from streaming platform. You’re making money through the collection society every time they play your song on Radio, a percentage comes to you. Our ecosystem is still developing in Africa. And Africa will have to lean on the developed world to get those incomes coming in from streaming platforms.

How has technology helped to democratise music distribution?

We have a population of 200 million people but the Tanzanian singer, Diamond Platnumz has more following on YouTube than any Nigerian artist. Look at South Africans, they are heavy on Tik-Tok unlike Nigerians due to the high cost of data in Nigeria which is prohibitive.

You have more content coming out of South Africa because internet is cheap. If it was the case in Nigeria where the internet is readily available and affordable, no African artists in Africa should have more viewership on Youtube in Africa than Nigerians just on the basis of population alone. Yes, technology affects the growth of Afrobeats. How easy is it for the average, young Nigerian? To have access to social media? Yeah, you can download the app, but do you have the data to stream. An average South African spends more time on Instagram and Tik-Tok than the average Nigerian because the internet is readily available and readily affordable to them compared to us. The day the cost of internet becomes cheap trust me, we will start to get billion-dollar artists in Nigeria.

Diaspora Nigerians have done so much in terms of balancing that gap for Nigeria in terms of online social media connectivity. If you are a content provider on YouTube in Nigeria, someone in the UK producing same content makes six times the amount you make for the same number of eyeballs that the person in Nigeria is getting.

I have this online thing I do on Zoom for five hours every Friday night when I’m available. To do these zoom presentations, we get about 10% from Nigeria. If the internet situation was better and energy was better, I will be getting as many people in Nigeria as much as I get in the UK. All these things are basic in the UK but in Nigeria, they are luxury.

So, the home country needs to develop so that they get better compared properly as well. The ecosystem is still developing so you see that we are still far away from having the Afrobeats genre in a Grammy situation no, not yet. We are far from it.

And talking about awards right now, what are the indigenous Music Awards that our artists respect? You have the Headies and AFRIMA. Headies originally used to be called the Hip Hop World Award. But the Headies doesn’t celebrate Fuji music and Highlife. We must also remember that Afrobeats is not our music industry; it is just a genre.

With the popularity of Afrobeats at the moment, what would that mean for other people or other musicians that are caught up in the bandwagon effect?

The fact is Americans are looking at Afrobeats. R&B has struggled for a while because even in America, at some point what they now classify as urban music came out and you see the likes of Usher that came out as an R&B artist and started doing some dance version of their music, you know because they realise their audience out there cut across different genre. How can we appeal to them? It is not different from what Asa is doing right now. Essentially, she’s still the Queen of Afro Soul. Afrobeats is hot right now. Beyonce recorded an entire Afrobeats album but didn’t call it Afrobeats. Everybody is following the money.

Burna Boy is sometimes perceived to be arrogant because he is boastful. Is that not what most self-aware greats do?

Across the world artists have different personalities and character. There is no template for the perfect artists. What you call arrogance may be his personality and maybe that’s what made him who he is today and once you take that out, you may not get that flavour any longer. When you look at the big three Davido carries everyone along easily accessible, Mr Nice Guy.

Wizkid is quiet, doesn’t say much, reserved. Burna Boy, braggadocio but the common trend among them all is that they are making good music and their personality is a major factor in what defines their music as well. I don’t think that is what will bring him down.

Right now, Burna Boy is getting more massive, bigger concerts than anyone else. The braggadocio and the swag is part of his selling point that’s what that’s what works for him, that’s what his fans love.

2 Comments

  1. Fantastic

    1. Thanks!

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