The Long Road to ‘Afrobeats Category’ in The Grammys

Ferdinand Ekechukwu

Barely a couple of months back, Nigerians on social media had called out the Recording Academy which is responsible for the Grammy Awards (Grammys) over their description of Afrobeats. The Grammys had labeled Afrobeats as a blend of West African and Black American music that became a global pop phenomenon. A number of Nigerians were not having it as it is to them a misrepresentation, and they took to their social media page to react before the Grammys finally made amends.

According to the Recording Academy in a tweet on July 27th, 2022, “Afrobeats is a mesmeric blend of #WestAfrican and Black American music that has quickly become a global pop phenomenon.” Recall that a detailed Netflix documentary on the origin of Afrobeats titled “Afrobeats Backstory” was recently released as written and told by Africans, mostly Nigerians – Afrobeats lovers and scholars – who partook in the building and spreading of the genre, which negates the Recording Academy’s narrative.

Instructively not long after the post, it caught the attention of lovers of the genre and a number of Nigerian music aficionados who are aware that Afrobeats originated from the country and is believed a spin-off of the music genre – Afrobeat – pioneered by the legendary singer, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. A number of them took to the comment section to bash the Grammys for giving Afrobeats credit to Black Americans and other West African countries. Reacting to the backlash, the Recording Academy quickly made amends to their tweet by editing it.

They removed the part of Afrobeats being a blend by Black Americans and left the part saying it is a West African sound. “Afrobeats is a mesmeric blend of West African music that has quickly become a global pop phenomenon.” While retaining their former tweet instead of deleting it, an act that still pissed off a lot of Africans. Now does the Grammys need an Afrobeats category? The chant ‘Afrobeats has taken over the world’ has become global anthem.

The call for the recognition of the genre at the Grammy Awards, arguably the biggest platform that awards artistic excellence on a global scale, has become widespread. And Afrobeats – the contemporary African sound which encompasses Afropop, highlife, Afro RnB, Afroswing and lots is at a stage where it is becoming massively accepted by the globe, the sound is traveling across borders to the far ends of the world.

It is of note that many music lovers were left disappointed when Nigerian singer Burna Boy first failed to clinch the award. Burna Boy was nominated for Best World Music Album for his 2019 record African Giant but lost out to Beninese singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo.  Same for Wizkid at the last Grammys with his phenomenal and globally acclaimed album ‘Made in Lagos’, which lost to Beninese Angelique Kidjo in the Best Global Music Album category (formerly Best World Music Album), and the album’s hit song Essence, to Pakistani Arooj Aftab in the Best Global Music Performance category.

Not a few influential figures were pissed and disappointed by the loss. Among the lot was supermodel Naomi Campbell who took to Instagram where she criticized and urged the Grammy organisers to reflect on their view of “World Music” and called attention to the lack of recognition for the Afrobeats music genre. The ‘Best World Music Album’ which soon changed to ‘Best Global Music Album’. Now the effort to create a Grammy Award category for Afrobeats is currently in the works.

As confirmed by Harvey Mason Jr., the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Recording Academy. Harvey disclosed this in a recent chat with the media while speaking to the press at the Global Citizens concert in Ghana. Harvey Manson revealed that the academy has kicked off the first process in the long road to adding an Afrobeats category to the Grammys.

He noted that there have been consultations with the significant players of the music genre, indicating the steps to take in having a distinct category at the Grammy Awards. According to Harvey, the academy had a meeting with Afrobeats creatives that includes artists, producers, songwriters, and executives where they talked about Afrobeats and its many genres.

Fielding questions from journalists, Harvey said; “We just had a meeting literarily about six to seven days ago, with leaders of the Afrobeats community… We had listening session where we heard from Afrobeats creators, we talked about the different subgenres, what are the needs, what are the desires, and my goal is to represent all genres of music including Afrobeats at the Grammys.

“But it has to be done properly. I don’t decide categories. The categories are decided by proposals by members. Members can say ‘Harvey, I want an Afrobeat category,’ they write a proposal for the category they talked about. So that process is started now. We did a listening session last week for the step towards that path.”

He further revealed that the members of the academy will have to submit a proposal for the addition of a new category before deliberations will kick off. However, the listening session with the Afrobeats leaders is the first step. To a critic, this is what it means: the addition of an Afrobeats category to the Grammys will mean that songs that fall under the Afrobeats subgenre will be eligible for nomination.

While the Afrobeats is primarily a description of Nigerian and Ghanaian mainstream music, the West has often muddled it up with any sound coming from Saharan Africa. The implication is that South African genres such as House, Amapiano, and Kwaito might be considered Afrobeats. Similarly, Congolese sounds like the Soukous or the East African Singile might be termed Afrobeats.

It will be up to the Grammys to adequately identify the essential elements that make a song Afrobeats as doing this will be the first step in truly awarding the right songs irrespective of where it’s made.