EP81: Is Afrobeats regressing? Old skuul Afrobeats VS New Skuul. DBanj VS Burna Boy and 2Face VS Davido - a podcast by Nana Kwame

Over the past 10 years, the wings of Afrobeat has spread beyond the shores of Africa and the rooms of Nigerians and Ghanaians.

The Nigerians dominate the Afrobeat scene and seem to produce new artist on a yearly basis. 2 Face Idibia, P Square, Flavour and Wande Coal were all home name artists before the likes of Tekno, Teni, Yemi Alade, Davido, Burna Boy and Mr Eazi came on the scene. Many of these artists have had huge songs which continue to get mayor air play in most homes and parties. P Square’s song “no one like you” was a wedding song for several years and with many African kids getting conceived to 2face’s African Queen. Dbanj’s “Oliver Twist” was played on international platforms, with mega stores like Selfridges in London playing the song in their store. Davido’s “if” song has had over 100M views on YouTube and Tekno’s “Pana” getting 121M views as well.

Ghanaian Afrobeat artist on the other hand leaves more to be desired. The past 10 years have not produced many artists which could progress the Afrobeat scene in Ghana.

Sarkodie, Castro, Ruff and Smooth and R2Bees flew the flag for Ghana with Sarkodie the only one still relevant today. Ebony Reign’s was one artist who was ready to carry the burden but unfortunately left the game prematurely. Kwame Eugene, Kidi and King Promise are trying their best, but these artists are not on the level of their Nigerian counterparts.

Fuse ODG is one of the few artists if not the only one who has made Ghana Afrobeats international. The artist has had some huge tracks which broke grounds for the genre. Sarkodie continue to release songs and recently had a song with movie actor Idris Elba but the international appeal of Fuse ODG dwarfs that of Sark.

Maybe one of these days an artist will rise in Ghana like Burna Boy did in Nigeria, who will promote and make Ghana Afrobeat relevant again.

#Afrobeat #WahaalaBoysPodcast #BurnaBoy #2Face #Davido #Sarkodie

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