- Ruggedman has criticised the use of “Afrobeats” as a blanket label for African music, describing it as misleading and arguing that some artists rely on it to mask lack of originality.
Veteran Nigerian rapper, Ruggedman, has criticised the tendency to group all African music under the single label “Afrobeats.”
Speaking in a recent interview with Day Genius, the rapper said he has long opposed the term, noting that his stance previously drew accusations of jealousy from some quarters.
“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,” he said.
Ruggedman argued that the classification is misleading, especially 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.
He attributed the widespread use of the label to 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.
The rapper further expressed strong criticism of the genre, describing it as a cover for lack of originality among some artists.
“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 also claimed that only a few Afrobeats artists can perform without heavy reliance on autotune, suggesting that this is why many avoid freestyling or live band performances.
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