I should begin by giving a huge shoutout to Nigerian artistes for putting Afrobeats out there. The level of creativity is wild. Just when you think nothing can top a project, your hat gets blown off by something even better.
The global success is undeniable and it makes me genuinely proud to be associated with art like that. There was a time in my life when I didn’t listen to Nigerian music and I lowkey thought it was a flex. My go-to source was the Billboard Hot 100, and I thought Nigerian songs were noisy. But ironically, I was fucking with Fela heavy.
I’ve come a long way. Let’s backtrack a bit:
What exactly is Afrobeats?
Afrobeats as a genre is a sort of fusion of pop, Afropop, hip-hop, dancehall, etc. We see how mainstream artists like Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Rema have sort of refined it for global consumption. It is smoother, more “export ready”.
I think it wears western influences with pride but it doesn’t lose all of its identity. Are you with me?
And I love it.
But I also love another category of music—often grouped under Street-Hop, Afro-Adura, or what some like to call Trenches music.
As someone open to music in all forms (except K-pop, sorry, we are allowed to hate K-pop), I find it so weird when people draw lines between what’s socially acceptable and what’s not. Especially in the same genre ecosystem.
It’s confusing, this sharp contrast between Afrobeats acceptance and the general stigma around street music.
Sure, there’s a growing fan base for Street-Hop. But we can’t deny the existence of a stereotype. I have been called names for my taste in music. The most common one being “trenches babe”. I saw a tweet one time of a guy who blocked his girlfriend because she listens to Seyi Vibez.
Me? I just get a little tipsy and turn on TML Vibes’s ‘Maria’ or ‘Where I’m from’ so I can enjoy my job while singing in Yoruba that I barely understand.
As a Quasi-Igbo babe who grew up in Lagos, my Yoruba isn’t even fluent enough but I can’t deny myself good music because of something as common as language barrier. I can sing “Despacito” word for word and I don’t have any idea
what it means, I can sing “Te Amo” by Umberto Tozzi and I am not Italian.
So, what makes Yoruba in Street-Hop suddenly “too local” or “unserious” or “indigestible”?
Here’s my take. A lot of Nigerians have somehow internalized classism and elitist views by celebrating polished, western-facing music while mocking or rejecting sounds that are seen as “raw”, “razz” or “agbero”— in fact most street artists often need to “clean up” or rebrand to be more widely accepted.
Music is a universal language in itself. What is understood doesn’t need to be explained.
I share whatever I listen to on my social media stories because I want people to share the experience with me. How do I explain what “Alade Ade” by Bhadboi OML makes me feel, to someone who believes they’re too bougie for music like that?
My question for you today is: do you genuinely think Street-Hop is bad music or have you gotten so used to the westernization of everything, even your own taste in music?
Before you dismiss a song as “trenches”, ask yourself: What is classism? And how much of it is in your playlist?
