Ruggedman also argued that Afrobeats is not a genre, but a “name” talentless Nigerians hide behind.
By Kehinde Okeowo
Nigerian rapper Michael Ugochukwu Stephens, popularly known as Ruggedman, has disagreed with the categorisation of all African music under the Afrobeats genre.
He faulted the classification while appearing as a guest on the latest edition of the Day Genius podcast.
According to the 52-year-old rapper, he has always criticised the use of the term but was previously accused of being jealous of Afrobeats singers.
He went on to argue that Afrobeats is not a genre, but a “name” talentless Nigerians hide behind.
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Speaking during the interview, Ruggedman said: “I don’t like Afrobeats as an umbrella genre for every piece of music coming out of Africa. That was a mistake. I didn’t like it from the beginning, but when I complained, people accused me of being jealous or trying to gatekeep.
“Right now, if I go to the UK to perform, I would be tagged an Afrobeats artiste. It is wrong. It is the people in the UK who started this thing of tagging every African music Afrobeats. Nigerians love classicism; they just wanted to give it a name.
“For me, Afrobeats with an ‘S’ is a name talentless Nigerians hide behind. All you need to make an Afrobeats hit is just to get a good beat and a street slang and repeat it as many times as you like. Then spend a lot of money to promote it. That is the Afrobeats with an ‘S’.”
The veteran musician also claimed that only a few Afrobeats artists can sing without auto-tune, further alleging that this is why most of them shy away from freestyling and live performances with bands.
