The VMA awards are approaching, and this time there’s more tension than excitement, particularly in one category.
The inclusion of Usher in the Best Afrobeats Artist category raises significant questions about cultural representation and authenticity within the genre.
As the awards ceremony approaches, the debate surrounding Usher’s nomination continues to spark discussions about cultural appropriation, representation, and the future of Afrobeats on the international stage.
Many fans and artists alike are rallying behind the idea that the genre should remain a platform for African talent, ensuring that its rich heritage is honored and celebrated.
Music journalist Joey Akan voiced his concerns about a Non-African being nominated in an Afrobeats category.
In a detailed yet clear post, Joey Akan shared his worries, stating that…
”The VMAs, a global award body, just nominated Usher in the ‘Best Afrobeats’ category. And so the erosion of Nigeria from Afrobeats hits a crucial plot point.
I’ve been screaming this for a while. A decade of no gate-keeping, and local talents selling it all off and kowtowing to the big music corporations will only move in one way; the loss of cultural ownership by Nigerians.
First, they come with money and opportunities, displacing your art and the spirit by moving you out of your home.
I see the stidity of Nigerians who are inadvertently complicit in this by parroting the blasphemy; “London is the home of Afrobeats.” Not Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu or any other part of this great country. London, UK.
A strange land. All because foreigners gave you money and relocated your business and music away from home.
These companies and the cond*ms they use to fk the system, spent nearly a decade throwing our artists in rooms with foreign producers, who have spliced our records, seeking to learn the source. That has succeeded.
White Afrobeats producers with no connection to Nigeria are now producing Afrobeats records. And what’s peculiar Nigerian artists have begun to work with them.
Look at the credits on our mainstream albums this year. Blond, blue-eyed, producers flooding the scene. Already, your culture has become too inaccessible to the masses and even most creators.
On the back end, only those with major-label dollars can compete. The front-end has us unable to afford our shows, and gauging Nigerian artists’ success by what they can do for foreigners.
Now, American artists have started making Afrobeats – with our token assistance, of course -and replacing you at their award shows, where we have fought for our music to be recognized.
Give it another decade, and the replacement becomes normalised. Yeah, you can argue that Pheelz is on that song, for now.
But tomorrow, when they become more brazen, and the cultural transfer is completed.
Then they won’t need a Nigerian to validate their moves. They’ll kick us to the curb. But our sound will remain in those markets. Divorced from Nigerians.
Ask the Jamaicans, and other Caribbean cultures that dined before us. This is Deja vu. Big Brother adding to their cultural pie. Slowly at first, and then all at once. The VMAs is just the first salvo in that b*ttle.”
