Afrobeats: Low Effort/High Reward? Or The Beautiful Sound of Hard Work & Success?

The Afrobeats scene is one of the fastest-growing globally, with new artists and songs popping up every day of the week. With complete songs being churned out in single studio sessions, pre-mixed beats, quick videos created on mobile phone apps, and random lyrics, a question has arisen: is Afrobeats a low effort/high reward venture?

There’s certainly an argument to this effect. You could line up any Afrobeats club playlist and ask yourself: where did talent go? Many of the beats and tunes are similar, and a lot of the lyrics seem lazy and undecipherable, even to ears attuned to street slang.

ZaZoo Zehh, the controversial hit song by Portable and Poco Lee featuring Olamide, is a recent example that seems to be helping to drive that narrative even further. Some listeners struggle to see the talent behind the release.

But if Afrobeats is such a low-threshold arena, how do we make sense of the genre’s global domination? How do we marry these criticisms with the successes of Afrobeats giants such as Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy and Yemi Alade? Afrobeats artists are selling out concerts and venues around the world, reigning supreme in dance schools as far-flung as South Korea. CKay’s Love Nwantiti became the first Afrobeats/Nigerian song to debut on the US Billboard Hot 100 without first appearing on the Primary Bubbling Under 100 chart and accumulated a total of 15 billion video views on TikTok. The song has already hit the top spot on YouTube’s Global Music Video Chart in November 2020. Surely, consistent excellence across the board cannot be written off as a series of flukes?

These are no flukes, only the tale of any musical genre. Like all genres, Afrobeats has pioneers, successes, failures, one-hit wonders, and the legends of the craft.

Sometimes, listeners hold musicians to rigid, puritanical styles and mistake effortless flow for lack of effort. Sometimes, however, true talent is seen in its ability to look simple and effortless in its complexity. This is particularly true of urban styles of music that have always found their gritty stars in those who effortlessly produce it without training or formal education. If you’re looking for arpeggios or syntax, these young men and women may not have it but may run circles around the most advanced musicians – often without knowing why.

So, innate talent is one thing. The defining factors after a diamond in the rough emerges are what differentiates a one-hit-wonder from a legend.

Successful artists need a few things to be considered strong players in their genre: talent, street credibility and looks, discipline, management and longevity. You can survive with any number of these, but without discipline or good management (strategy), even the most talented musicians fail.

Poco Lee and Portable look like the streets they are trying to portray. They sound like the inner-city streets of Lagos, and what many consider vague ramblings are exactly what the street sounds are made of slangs you want to decipher, an inner language that is the privilege of the hardened few.

The second is discipline. This is paramount for success. Olamide may be the voice of the streets, but you will go far to find a more disciplined and focused artist. He is centred on his craft and business dealings, consistent with content, releases, and social media engagement. Staying clean and alert, staying out of trouble with the law, turning up for rehearsals, showing up for contracted concerts, making friends with the industry giants, and staying committed to the grind will take you farther than the initial rush of success.

Management is just as crucial to the success of an artist. Management will devise the publicity, marketing, ticket sales, and public relations strategy. They minimise publicity crises (and create them when required!) and maximise positive visibility. They organise dance rehearsals, voice coaches, studio sessions, fitness experts, and save artists from their own worst weaknesses.

Finally, longevity remains convincing evidence of talent. A one-hit fluke may bring temporary fame but will not lead listeners to believe in your skill. Doing it once is a fluke; putting out great content repeatedly over several years is the stuff legends are made of.

Afrobeats is not a low-effort genre. It is a complicated compilation of beats and lyrics that only sound easy when arranged correctly. Doubters of the complexity of Nigeria’s gift to the world might want to book a studio session and try it themselves.

Afrobeats: Low Effort/High Reward? Or The Beautiful Sound of Hard Work & Success?

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