How Afrobeats is Revitalising the UK Music Scene
Last year, the British-Gambian rap artist Pa Salieu was named the winner of BBC Sound of 2021. His success represents the growing popularity of the Afrobeats music genre in the UK, since the Ghanaian-British recording artist Fuse ODG introduced a fusion between diverse, West African styles and UK bass aesthetics in his hits, ‘Azonto’ and ‘Antenna,’ in the early 2010s. Since then, we have seen the rise of subsequent Afrobeats artists, such as J Hus, Tiwa Savage, Wizkid, and Burna Boy, who are revitalising the UK’s contemporary music scene.
Music has always reflected British culture. In the early 1960s it reflected the conflicting Mods and Rockers subcultures which progressed into the Punk era of the 1970s. London’s underground music scene, in particular, is constantly evolving in a dynamic exchange of music and culture. London has launched countless music acts, with one of the most notable being The Rolling Stones which debuted at the now defunct Marquee Club in 1962. In July 1976, the Ramones made their London debut at The Roundhouse and, the following night, they infamously performed at the music venue, Dingwalls, in Camden. Later that same year, the 100 Club Punk Special propelled punk rock into the mainstream by showcasing emerging bands, including the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Ska is another well-known genre that was once frequently heard across Britain. It originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, with a distinctive rhythm that eventually morphed into reggae. The arrival of the Windrush generation from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1971 influenced the revival by young British bands of the skittish rhythms of ska with a nervous punk edge. Some of these bands, including The Specials, featured integrated line-ups, making bold political statements about racial equality. While these bands—particularly Madness, of the early 1980s—were extremely popular in the UK, they failed to gain global success. Instead, they enjoyed cult classic status in the United States, inspiring bands in the mid-1990s, such as Rancid, No Doubt, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and influencing later Britpop bands like Blur.
The music evolution did not stop there. The 1980s saw the arrival of hip-hop to the British scene, bringing new technology, new sounds, and new ways of communicating with the world. As this era progressed, so did the DJs and their sound. The sheer diversity of London’s multi-cultured influences began to fully manifest in the 1980s, eventually progressing into the quicker tempos and heavily sampled tracks that set the early foundations of the Jungle dance music genre. Samples of police sirens and other urbanised sounds gave tracks a gritty character, as can still be seen today in the Grime and Drill music scenes.
The late 1990s saw the origins of dubstep, a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London and is characterised by sparse and syncopated rhythmic patterns. As we entered the early 2010s, the genre started to become more commercially successful in the UK, with music journalists noticing a prominent dubstep influence in several popular artists’ work. Around this time, producers also began to fuse elements of the original dubstep sound with other music influences, thereby creating fusion genres, including future garage and electro house.
Grime is another genre of electronic music that emerged in London at the dawn of the twenty-first century, with early significant grime musicians including Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Lethal Bizzle and Wiley. It evolved out of the UK garage scene and encompasses drum and bass, dance hall, ragga, and hip-hop influences.
Whatever the genre—be it punk, house, techno, drum and bass, or hip-hop, for example—London arguably caters to the entertainment and expressive needs of most people in a widely diverse variety of spaces, including pubs, clubs, churches, and even museums. London has historically been at the forefront of bringing people from all backgrounds together, defining our culture and heritage for future generations.
Grime has acquired mainstream acceptability for much of the past decade and the grime artist, Stormzy, has been hailed as the self-proclaimed king of this genre thanks to his melodic talent, inclusive attitude, innate relatability, and stylistic adventuring. London’s ever-evolving music scene is embracing a new generation of artists and producers, many of whom are still in their teens, working with a new sound palette.
Many of these producers have their roots in West Africa, connecting their diverse musical heritage with the influences of dancehall and hip-hop, resulting in a sound that is swiftly revolutionising the mainstream. While the Afrobeats genre has been visible in the UK since 2007, it was not until the launch of Choice FM’s pioneering Afrobeats Radio Show, presented by DJ Abrantee, in April 2011 that the genre gained traction and we saw ‘Afrobeats’ trending in popular charts for the first time in history. A prominent Afrobeats song that was played on daytime radio across the UK was D’banj’s ‘Oliver Twist,’ which was released in the summer of 2011 and featured in the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics.
Fuse ODG helped popularise Afrobeats in the UK with his successful hits, ‘Antenna’ and ‘Azonto.’ He was the first artist of this genre to top the iTunes World Chart and he received the Best African Act award at the 2013 MOBO Awards. Following the rise in subsequent artists taking inspiration from the Afrobeats genre, such as Ed Sheeran in his mega-hit ‘Shape of You’ and Pa Salieu and Mahalia’s collaboration, ‘Energy,’ it is now safe to assume that Afrobeats has penetrated the mainstream glass ceiling and it is here to stay.
After years of grime’s anger and activism, and drill’s relentless nihilism, this new sound has brought a necessary playfulness back to the UK’s urban scene and resembles a break from the increasing bleakness of everyday life. For the last decade, the Afrobeats genre has provided inspiration and a voice for many young Black Britons to express our diverse identities and cultures. In so doing, it continues to push the boundaries of the UK music industry, providing a glimpse into an excitingly revitalised future.
Article tags: | intersectionality | diversity | heritage |
Last year, the British-Gambian rap artist Pa Salieu was named the winner of BBC Sound of 2021. His success represents the growing popularity of the Afrobeats music genre in the UK, since the Ghanaian-British recording artist Fuse ODG introduced a fusion between diverse, West African styles and UK bass aesthetics in his hits, ‘Azonto’ and ‘Antenna,’ in the early 2010s. Image Source: Pa Salieu / Clear Gem Productions
Fuse ODG helped popularise Afrobeats in the UK with his successful hits, ‘Antenna’ and ‘Azonto.’ He was the first artist of this genre to top the iTunes World Chart and he received the Best African Act award at the 2013 MOBO Awards. Image Source: Getty Images
After the pioneering artistic works of Fuse ODG in the early 2010s, we have seen the rise of subsequent Afrobeats artists, such as J Hus, Tiwa Savage, Wizkid, and Burna Boy, who are revitalising the UK’s contemporary music scene. Image source: Tiwa Savage / Lakin Ogunbanwo / allure
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