In a recent interview on the B and N podcast, Fireboy reiterated that he doesn’t intentionally make Afrobeats
While appearing alongside Bloody Civilian on the podcast, Fireboy stated that he doesn’t make Afrobeats and what he likes to make is music that carries elements of his culture.
I wouldn’t say I intentionally do it (Afrobeats). It just comes off like that,” Fireboy said “Like I said, I don’t make Afrobeats. I just like to combine different stuff when I make my music. So even when I’m making R&B or Pop, you can hear the Yoruba H-Factor in the music. So you can always tell this is not an American person,” he added.
“My root and my identity are always in my music,” Fireboy said on the presence of indigenous Nigerian elements in his music
Fireboy’s statement on not making Afrobeats is a reiteration of his recent claim of creating his Afro-Live genre that’s different from Afrobeats. He made the claim in an interview with BET where he also credited himself for bringing soul and depth into Nigerian mainstream pop music.
Fireboy’s claim has generated criticism on social media especially as it comes just days after his performance at Coachella where he said “Afrobeats in the house”.
There continues to be conversations around the origin and meaning of the term “Afrobeats” with more artists coining new tags to separate their music from Afrobeats.
Burna Boy describes his music as Afro-fusion which he insists is different from Afrobeats. Similarly, CKayhas tagged his music as Afro-Emo which he calls a blend of African elements and Emo pop music.
[…] to Fireboy who recently made the news for saying he doesn’t intentionally make Afrobeats […]