Artifacts in rhythm: Afrobeats path from West Africa to global pop

Back in 2023, I wrote about reggaetón and the diasporic forces that powered its rise and cemented its staying power in the U.S. Around that same time, another movement was reshaping pop from across the Atlantic called Afrobeats. 

To understand how Afrobeats came to dominate today’s global playlists, we need to see it as an artifact unearthed in stages: born in West African dancehalls, carried across oceans through diaspora communities, and refined by the machinery of modern pop. 

We’re going to follow that path, from its roots in West Africa to its global explosion, and show how Afrobeats grew from local music into one of the driving sounds of today’s pop culture.

Echoes from West Africa in the UK

One of the earliest artifacts of today’s Afrobeats lies in Ghana’s Highlife, a style born in the late 19th century during British colonial rule. Highlife carried African rhythms onto Western instruments. By the 60s and 70s, Nigerian artists like bandleader Fela Kuti (known as the “African James Brown”) and drummer Tony Allen fused traditional percussion with jazz improvisation and American funk, giving rise to Afrobeat. Expansive and politically charged, this style sharpened Highlife into a global force of resistance.

Meanwhile, after World War II, waves of West Africans migrated to the UK, settling in cities like London, Birmingham, and Manchester. They brought with them the soundtracks of home: Highlife, Lagos pop, and Afrobeat. This collided with the UK’s soundscape of reggae, dancehall, bhangra beats, and the emerging electronic pulses of jungle, garage, and grime.

This laid the groundwork for what we now call Afrobeats: a sound pulling from Highlife, Afrobeat’s political and percussive energy, and UK club culture.

A sound defined in time

Just as Afrobeat seeped into Western jazz and funk circles in the 1970s, Afrobeats is carrying that same West African heartbeat into a new era. Crossing into hip-hop, R&B, dancehall, and EDM, it’s continuing the tradition of African innovation on the world stage.

​​At its core, Afrobeats is built on the foundation of West African polyrhythms. Unlike the rigid four-on-the-floor pulse of EDM, Afrobeats thrives on syncopation and rolling grooves that emphasize the off-beat, making it feel alive and danceable. Producers often layer digital percussion with Afrocentric textures like talking drums, congas, shakers, and now even amapiano log drums. 

Where Afrobeats really distinguishes itself is in its vocal style. Artists move seamlessly between singing and rapping with R&B smoothness, hip-hop cadences, and dancehall call-and-response hooks. Lyrics often weave together English, Nigerian Pidgin, Yoruba, Igbo, Twi, and occasionally French.

These hook-driven tracks generally hover around three to four minutes—perfect for radio and TikTok virality. It thrives on the contrast between highlife, Afrobeat’s layered percussion, hip-hop swagger, R&B’s singability, dancehall, and EDM. Together, these influences create a sound that is unmistakably African and global. It’s a sonic bridge between continents, evolving in real time.

Migration’s influence on Afrobeats

Migration became one of Afrobeats' most powerful influences. By the late 1990s and 2000s, the children of migrants became cultural archaeologists, digging into their parents' record crates while completely remixing them. Adding the sharp edges of UK rap and the urgency of drum & bass, community spaces became living laboratories where this musical style evolved.

This new sound needed a name, and by 2010, promoters and DJs began using the plural "Afrobeats" to distinguish it from its “Afrobeat” predecessor. In 2011, DJ Abrantee launched Capital Xtra's first dedicated Afrobeats radio show, giving the genre an official home on mainstream UK airwaves. This was transformative—it gave young people something to rally around and created a brand that could be marketed and exported globally.

Global breakthroughs 

Simultaneously, Afrobeats was starting to take its own shape in Nigeria’s bustling music scene. 2Baba (then 2Face Idibia) put the country on the global radar with their anthem, “African Queen.” P-Square, twin brothers with a knack for hooks, fused hip-hop with R&B, showing how Nigerian pop could be as sleek as anything on MTV.

The real turning point arrived in 2012, when D’banj’s “Oliver Twist” cracked the UK Top 10. For the first time, Afrobeats wasn’t just a local sound—it was charting alongside global pop heavyweights. Behind it all, producers like Don Jazzy were weaving the DNA of a genre that carried African pride while inviting the entire world to dance.

By the mid-2010s, its global breakthrough was undeniable. Wizkid’s “Ojuelegb” captured everyday Lagos life before his collaboration with Drake on “One Dance” reshaped pop history. Davido followed with back-to-back anthems like “Dami Duro” and “Fall,” while Tiwa Savage, dubbed the “Queen of Afrobeats,” signed with Roc Nation and Universal. Burna Boy fused reggae and dancehall into his Afro-fusion sound, winning a Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance. 

Afrobeats now

Today, Afrobeats is operating on an unprecedented scale. Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Davido sell out arenas across North America and Europe. Tems has become one of the most recognizable voices in the world, thanks to her hit “Essence” and collaborations with Drake, Future, and Beyoncé. A younger wave is pushing the sound forward: Rema’s “Calm Down” remix with Selena Gomez broke streaming records, CKay’s “Love Nwantiti” became a TikTok phenomenon, and rising stars like Tyla, Ayra Starr, Asake, Fireboy DML, and Omah Lay are redefining the genre. 

Just as reggaetón went from barrio block parties to the Billboard Hot 100, Afrobeats took the same trajectory. What began as a community sound had become unavoidable, pulsing through festivals, radio stations, and gyms.

Afrobeat and Afrobeats. What's the difference? 

Afrobeat is the vintage, politically charged, jazz-funk sound pioneered by Fela Kuti, while Afrobeats is the modern, pop-leaning, genre-blending wave dominating today’s charts and global fitness playlists.

Juan Hernandez-Cruz is a senior curator at Feed Media Group and creative professional with over a decade of experience working in music. Juan is also a touring musician and has been playing guitar for most of his life.

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