Popular Nigerian singer Divine Ikubor, known as Rema, emphasized the importance of Nigerian artists preserving the culture of afrobeats to maintain the countryโs dominance in the African music scene.
There have been reports of a significant influx of the South African genre amapiano into the Nigerian music industry in recent years.
In an interview with Apple Music, the โCalm Downโ Artist acknowledged that while Amapiano is a great genre, it is crucial for Nigerian artists to continue upholding Afrobeatsโ influence on the continent.
He mentioned that his recently released sophomore album, โHeIs,โ was heavily inspired by Afrobeats veterans such as Don Jazzy and the Moโhits crew, 2Baba, Olamide, P-Square, and Timaya.
โI had to go back (while creating my new album). I took a lot of inspiration from Moโhits. For the first four seconds, when a Moโhitsโ song comes in, you already know itโs a Moโhitsโ song. Don Jazzy just goes crazy on the beat,โ.
โThe times when Olamide used to drop crazy songs, he still drops crazy songs. At the time when an Olamide song comes on you still know. P-Square, 2Face or Timaya. There used to be times when the beat justโฆ
โAmapiano is great, it is fire but there used to be a time when Afrobeats production used to be so insane that nothing can survive it in the clubs in Africa. Iโm not saying weโve lost that but Iโm just saying that we need more of that. I donโt want us to go too far away from that. We need to sustain it.โ he said.