How Amapiano is gradually taking over Afrobeat in Nigeria

Amapiano is undoubtedly the biggest music genre in South Africa since 2018. The drum heavy sound which shifted Gqom to the side has since become a mayhem across Africa.

It is worthy to note that no genre is higher than the other, however, the amount of success achieved with a genre can catapult it to its’ peak, making it more celebrated by listeners.

Afrobeat has been making huge waves for over a decade and it is highly embraced at the international level, as we’ve seen some of these big international stars collaborate with African artists on the genre.

Amapiano genre has been in existence for years in South Africa, thanks to Papers 707, MFR Souls and DJ Stokie who started out producing it first.

The pioneering style of afrobeat is identified with the Nigerian artist Fela Kuti, who was renowned for his eccentric character, musical talent and involvement in post-colonial African politics.

In Nigeria, Afrobeat has been the foundation for all songs, and most hits to come out of Naija were basically afrobeat, thanks to Wizkid and Davido, who also put their effort in making the genre global.

Stepping into the year 2020, which is ironically a fantastic year for the music industry in general, there was a massive drift from Afrobeat to Amapiano, especially in Nigeria.

Nigerians who flagged Afrobeat for years changed to owning the South African sound.

Amapinao hits like, Ke Star, Sponono, John Vuli Gate, Bella Ciao cover, Ke Single and many other songs did well in the Nigerian market; clubs, parties and shows.

From playing these songs to having some of SA music producers like Major League DJz remix Nigerian songs into an Amapiano sound.

How is Amapiano taking over Afrobeat?

Nigerian music artists are fond of always following the crowd, especially when an influential artists is in the crowd. For those who are current and observant with weekly released songs, there was a particular week in early December 2020, whereby over 70% of songs released by Nigerian artists were Amapiano.

Afrobeat which had all the shine and has been in the spotlight, gradually stopped existing in the hearts of her producers, and some of these well-known Nigerian producers made sure they have at least an amapiano produced song in their catalogue.

Davido, who is one of Nigerian biggest artist dropped his 5th studio album, A Good Time in November and it had a minimum of 3 Amapiano songs which made big waves in clubs and parties.

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