Nigerian disc jockey Nonso Temisan Ajufo, popularly known as DJ Big N, has asserted that both artists and music executives should be held accountable for the current state of Afrobeats.
DJ Big N, in a recent interview with Echo Room, expressed concern about the sharp decline in the performance of the Afrobeats genre on the global stage.
He claimed that the genre is currently at its lowest in the last two decades.
According to DJ Big N, artists and labels diluted the Afrobeat genre in a bid to appeal to a broader international audience, but they got the opposite result, stressing that the quality of Afrobeats songs dropped and became less original.
DJ Big N emphasised that Afrobeats artists are overcharging, especially in their home countries, which is an unsustainable practice.
He urged Afrobeats artists to reevaluate their approach to save the genre from stunting.
He said, “Afrobeats right now is at its worst position in the last 20 years. And everyone from musicians to music executives have a part to be blamed. The quality of music dropped. You have to understand that the quality of the product is important in every way.
“Also, the originality of the music dropped. Always understand that whatever you want to export has to be original, first and foremost. If you tried to export something else, it’s only a matter of time before you stopped getting demands. You can’t sell foreign genres to foreign audiences. We have to embrace our originality.”
