Define Afrobeats.
Also known as Afro-pop, Afro-fusion (also in the style of Afropop and Afrofusion), is an umbrella term for popular music from West Africa and the diaspora. describe which initially developed in Nigeria, Ghana, and the UK in the 2000s and 2010.
Afrobeats is less of a style in its own right, and more of a descriptor for the amalgamation of sounds flowing from Ghana and Nigeria. Genres such as hiplife, Juju music, highlife, and Naija beats, among others, were lumped together under the umbrella of 'afrobeat'.
Afrobeats is mainly produced in Lagos, Accra, and London. Historian and cultural critic Paul Gilroy reflects on London's changing music scene as a result of changing demographics:
We are moving towards an African majority that is diverse, both in its cultural habits and in its relationship to colonial and post-colonial governance, so the shift in Caribbean dominance must be placed in that context. Most of the dirty people are African children, either the children of migrants or migrants themselves.
In his earlier book, The Black Atlantic, Gilroy rejects the idea that black culture and music can be tied to one geographic region. Afrobeats is a clear example of this syncretism as a transnational genre that is now receiving international attention. Writing in particular about popular Nigerian music, David Drake notes that it is: “They pick up trends from the US, Jamaica, and Trinidad, rethink diasporic influences and – more often than not – completely reinvent them”. Part of what made this music so new and fresh is the complex rhythms that Drake says give the music its energy and cultivate a "nuanced dance experience".