While appearing alongside Bloody Civilian on the B and N podcast, Fireboy stated that he doesn’t make Afrobeats and what he likes to make is music that carries elements of his culture.

“My root and my identity are always in my music,” Fireboy said on the presence of indigenous Nigerian elements in his music.

“I wouldn’t say I intentionally do it (Afrobeats). It just comes off like that,” Fireboy said “Like I said, I don’t make Afrobeats. I just like to combine different stuff when I make my music. So even when I’m making R&B or Pop, you can hear the Yoruba H-Factor in the music. So, you can always tell this is not an American person,” he added.

 

Recall that he recently made a statement on not making Afrobeats, claiming he creates Afro-Live genre that’s different from Afrobeats. He made the claim in an interview with BET where he also credited himself for bringing soul and depth into Nigerian mainstream pop music.

These claims have generated criticism on social media especially as it comes just days after his performance at Coachella where he said “Afrobeats in the house”.
These further heats up the conversations around the origin and meaning of the term “Afrobeats” with more artists taking on new tags to separate their music from Afrobeats.

Like Burna Boy who insists his music is different from Afrobeats describing it as Afro-fusion CKay has also tagged his music as Afro-Emo which he calls a blend of African elements and Emo pop music. Wizkid has also kicked against him being refered to as an afro music artist.
while these claims continue, one thing remains clear, Nigerian artists are fast taking over the music industry across borders and are also dictating the pace.