Afrobeat singer Seun Kuti, son of the late music legend Fela Kuti, has sparked debate in the Nigerian music scene with his recent comments on Beat 99.9FM.
Speaking during the interview, Seun argued that Afrobeat should not be viewed as a rigid musical genre but rather as a broader label that identifies sounds originating from Africa.
“Afrobeat is more of a title than it’s a genre,” he said, stressing that the versatility of Nigerian artists makes it clear the tag serves as an umbrella term.
He noted that today’s musicians easily switch between styles — from amapiano to dancehall, blues, or Nigerian pop — showing that Afrobeat functions more as a unifying identity than a fixed category.
“Even the gatekeepers, the big names don’t deal with it like a genre. Their artists are eclectic… they could do a dancehall track today, do a blues track tomorrow, do a Nigerian pop song and jump on amapiano,” Seun explained.
He concluded that the fluid creativity of African musicians proves Afrobeat is best understood as a cultural identity that connects African sounds, rather than a single genre.