Global music sensation Divine Ikubor, also known as Rema, has urged Nigerian artists to maintain the Afrobeat culture to retain Nigeria’s dominance of African music.
Speaking in an interview with Apple Music, Rema acknowledged amapiano and its penetration into the Nigerian music industry in recent years but highlighted the importance of sustaining Afrobeats and its influence in Africa.
He said his sophomore album, ‘He Is,’ was inspired by afrobeat legends like Don Jazzy and the Mo’hits crew, 2Baba, Olamide, P-Square and Timaya.
“I had to go back [while creating my new album]. I took a lot of inspiration from Mo’hits. For the first four seconds, when a Mo’hits’ song comes in, you already know it’s a Mo’hits’ song. Don Jazzy just goes crazy on the beat,” he said.
“The times when Olamide used to drop crazy songs, he still drops crazy songs. At the time when an Olamide song comes on you still know. P-Square, 2Face or Timaya. There used to be times when the beat just…
“Amapiano is great; it is fire, but there used to be a time when Afrobeats production used to be so insane that nothing could survive it in the clubs in Africa. I’m not saying we’ve lost that, but I’m just saying that we need more of that. I don’t want us to go too far away from that. We need to sustain it.”
