UK coined Afrobeats for African music – Davido

Nigerian singer, Davido has claimed that the origin of the name of the popular West African genre, Afrobeats came from the United Kingdom.

Davido claimed that the British media coined the name as a catch-all term for all music from West Africa.

He stated that the word was formed after D’banj’s 2012 hit ‘Oliver Twist’ became the biggest song in the UK.

The singer made the claim while explaining the difference between Afrobeats and Afrobeat in a recent interview with Apple Music’s Ebro Darden.

He said, “The word ‘Afrobeats’ the Uk gave us that name when D’Banj had ‘Oliver Twist,’ that was like the biggest song in the country at that time, so they had to put a name on the genre. But Afrobeat is really Fela’s genre.”