I brought Afrobeats to America – Rotimi

Nigerian born American musician and actor, Rotimi has claimed to be the first artiste who introduced Afrobeats to music lovers in the United States.

The Hollywood star gave himself credit for popularizing Afrobeats-style music in the US before the ‘Afrobeats to the World’ movement gained momentum through international collaboration.

Rotimi spoke during a recent chat on the 85 South Show Podcast, as he recalled bringing his single ‘Love Riddim’ to the radio stations in America back in 2018 and it was not well received because they did not understand.

He said; “I remember bringing ‘Love Riddim’ to the radio stations in 2018 and the program director was like ‘This is not good’. They didn’t even understand it and this was before Wiz (Wizkid) got the record with Drake. I can comfortably say I brought Afrobeats to America.”

In related news…

Popular Hip Hop artiste, Emeka Akumefule, otherwise called Blaqbonez, has stated that Wizkid is the person who showcased Afrobeats to the rest of the world.

The ‘Best Rapper in Africa’ rapper said Afrobeats skyrocketed in popularity after Wizkid released the hit song, ‘Essence’ featuring Tems in 2020.

When he granted an interview to American outlet KTLA, Blaqbonez said what the song did was to tell the world that the African music genre is something to watch out for.

He said: “Afrobeats took a massive leap when Wizkid dropped Essence and it went craazy. It just told the world Afrobeats is something you really have to watch. Craazy things are happening right now for Afrobeats. More talented artistes are coming up.”

Meanwhile, CorrectNG recalls that Ayodeji Balogun, the singer professionally known as Wizkid recently said he is not an Afrobeats artiste.