Afrobeats
Contemporary West African pop in constant motion, centered especially in Nigeria and Ghana and amplified through the diaspora. Dancehall is one conversation inside it, alongside highlife, hiplife, hip-hop, R&B, house and many local sounds.
GO DEEPER
Afrobeats with an “s” is not Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat. It is a broad name for a changing field of contemporary popular music centered especially in Nigeria and Ghana, shaped by local traditions and by hip-hop, R&B, dancehall, house and other global currents. The category became especially useful as that music moved through London and other diaspora spaces in the 2000s and early 2010s. The name itself is part of the story. Ghanaian-British DJ Abrantee is widely credited with popularizing or coining “Afrobeats” in the early 2010s as an umbrella for music that already had its own Nigerian, Ghanaian and scene-specific names. D’banj, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Burna Boy and many others helped push different versions of that new West African pop confidence worldwide. Dancehall and Afrobeats now trade rhythms, flows and collaborators in both directions, so the honest relationship is conversation rather than parentage.
Where the history is argued
- Afrobeats can mean a recognizable pop aesthetic, a commercial umbrella, or a collection of distinct West African genres depending on who is speaking. The category should not erase hiplife, highlife, Naija pop or other local names.
- Claims that one country “invented Afrobeats” flatten a shared Ghanaian, Nigerian and diasporic history.
How they stand with the others
Talking backDancehall is a major influence and collaborator inside Afrobeats, but Afrobeats does not descend from dancehall and cannot be reduced to a Caribbean import.
Traveled with the peopleLondon and the West African diaspora helped package, name and internationalize music whose creative centers remained strongly tied to Nigeria and Ghana.
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Last checked 1 September 2026