Music Afrobeats Thread
- Thread starter adexkola
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I saw him last week! Amazing performer.
Lot of great music out. Asake, Kizz Daniel, Burna, so on.
Very interested in hearing your thoughts on the current state of the genre (@Rasendori @WeePat @villain @others). This may be myopic and based on my personal experience, but I think it has definitely surpassed Caribbean music, and has a strong claim to having surpassed hip-hop (at least outside the US).
And it's doing this while continuing to innovate with new sounds. Asake's sound is so unique and fresh for example, but overall the genre sounds so different from how it was 10 years ago.
On a smaller note, Amapiano is making waves beyond South Africa too. I've seen a bunch of artists and djs play on this end and do more collaboration with Nigerian artists.
Very interested in hearing your thoughts on the current state of the genre (@Rasendori @WeePat @villain @others). This may be myopic and based on my personal experience, but I think it has definitely surpassed Caribbean music, and has a strong claim to having surpassed hip-hop (at least outside the US).
And it's doing this while continuing to innovate with new sounds. Asake's sound is so unique and fresh for example, but overall the genre sounds so different from how it was 10 years ago.
On a smaller note, Amapiano is making waves beyond South Africa too. I've seen a bunch of artists and djs play on this end and do more collaboration with Nigerian artists.
It's great to see how its developing with its own sub-genre's and variation in types of Afrobeats - gone are the days of multiple songs using the same tired beat on a loop.
I really enjoy the more low-tempo stuff, especially when they use different types of instruments like sax to create a jazzier sound.
But overall i'm really liking the growth of the genre and how it's not so niche anymore.
I dunno if it's surpassed hip-hop though, that's far & above the most popular genre worldwide - and you compare the sales of even afrobeats' biggest stars like Wiz/Burna they are probably more comparable to the sales of a C/D-list rapper. But maybe the appeal of the genre is surpassing hip-hop because it's new and can easily dominate events & nights out.
Amapiano is definitely on the rise, i've been to a few amapiano events in London over the summer and they're fantastic (especially with the aid of a party drug or 2
) - only thing is that I have no clue about what the actual songs are, they just all run into each other.The old days were fun even with the same beatIt's great to see how its developing with its own sub-genre's and variation in types of Afrobeats - gone are the days of multiple songs using the same tired beat on a loop.
I really enjoy the more low-tempo stuff, especially when they use different types of instruments like sax to create a jazzier sound.
But overall i'm really liking the growth of the genre and how it's not so niche anymore.
I dunno if it's surpassed hip-hop though, that's far & above the most popular genre worldwide - and you compare the sales of even afrobeats' biggest stars like Wiz/Burna they are probably more comparable to the sales of a C/D-list rapper. But maybe the appeal of the genre is surpassing hip-hop because it's new and can easily dominate events & nights out.
Amapiano is definitely on the rise, i've been to a few amapiano events in London over the summer and they're fantastic (especially with the aid of a party drug or 2
Great point: I think more producers with resources are utilizing live instrumentation, and the post-production seems very top notch compared to previous bangers that barely sounded mastered.
That's fair regarding hip hop, and very willing to concede this is anecdotal, but most events I go to play at least some Afrobeats, including at prime hours. Personal theory is that modern commercial hip-hop hits now is just "stand in section and nod to trap beats while crowd (including women) mean-mug"... At least with Afrobeats it's viby, you can dance, brunch, party to it...
Agreed regarding Amapiano (furthest I go is weed
)... When I hear a favorite I Shazam and save to my playlist so over time my brain associates a random Zulu/Xhosa word with a beat 
. Knowing the producers/DJs in the scene goes some ways too, they either release exclusives or Collab with local artists. Kelvin Momo, Maphorisa, Kabza the Small, Major League (I just play their Balcony Mixes while cleaning on Sundays)Shout-out to the rest of the continent, but it does seem like the music scene is dominated by those two countries.
My girl and I have been listening to a lot of Ckay during the whole summer, which I think led to this one popping up in my playlists a couple of weeks ago. Such a banger