Ruggedman criticizes “Afrobeats” label as misleading

Veteran Nigerian rapper Ruggedman has once again spoken out against the blanket use of the term “Afrobeats” for African music.

In a recent chat with Day Genius, he explained that he has always been uncomfortable with the label, even though speaking out about it previously drew criticism.

“I don’t like Afrobeats as an umbrella genre from every music coming out of Africa. That was a mistake. I didn’t liked it from the beginning but when I complained people accused me of being jealous or trying to gatekeep,” Ruggedman said.

He argued that the term is especially misleading for artists performing internationally. “Right now, if I go to the UK to perform, I would be tagged an Afrobeats artistes. It is wrong,” he added.

The rapper blamed the widespread use of the label largely on international audiences, particularly in the United Kingdom.

“It is the people in the UK who started this thing of tagging every African music Afrobeats. Nigerians love classicism. They just wanted to give it a name,” he said.

Ruggedman also criticized the genre itself, suggesting that some artists hide behind it due to a lack of originality.

“For me, Afrobeats with an ‘S’ is a name talentless Nigerians hide behind. All you need to make an Afrobeats hit is just to get a good beat and a street slang and repeat it as many times as you like.

Then spend a lot of money to promote it. That is the Afrobeats with an ‘S’,” he stated.

He went further to claim that only a handful of Afrobeats artists can perform without heavy reliance on autotune, which is why many shy away from freestyling or performing with a live band.