It would take its own form of conversation and crossover in popularity with UK Afrobeats star Fuse ODG’s song of the same name, released in 2012 with renowned Ghanaian producer KillBeatz at the helm.īillboard Teams Up With Afro Nation to Launch New U.S. Gyan introduced a new dance to the world in the Azonto, a communicative, full-body dance workout involving hip and knee movements along with hands, shoulders and arms open for improvising this would be one of the first viral dance crazes which spoke to this immediate idea of transnationalism in real time between West Africa and the West. A corner of a green pitch transformed into the dancefloor where players such as Asamoah Gyan – former striker for Ghana, as known under the moniker of Afrobeats artist Baby Jet – cajoled his teammates to support him after scoring against Australia. It further highlighted the unsung thread where sport and music intersect openly through a goal scored and dance as a form of celebration. A global audience watching the most popular sport in the world presented a rare opportunity for African footballers on their home continent. Let’s start by taking it back to the summer of 2010 when the world’s biggest football (soccer) tournament, the World Cup, was held on the African continent for the first time, in South Africa. It’s an unapologetic, and therapeutic, attitude which has propelled Afrobeats forward over the last decade, from soundtracking local West African hallparties to Grammys ceremonies on the global stage.Īfter chronicling the gradual rise of Afrobeats from the 1950s to the early 2010s, in this piece, we’ll reflect on influential Afrobeats anthems and pivotal moments across West Africa and the wider diaspora – from the riddims which speak to the sense of double consciousness providing a home from home, to the powerful impact of social media and the regularity of artists crossing over to mainstream festival lineups. The track also represented a pertinent rallying call for a new generation to shift that alchemy of struggle into a positive reality.

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