There seems to be some controversy surrounding a recent statement made my superstar musician Davido. The ‘Timeless’ star in a recent interview made a statement on the growth of Afrobeats, crediting himself and Wizkid as some of the first Afrobeats stars to blow up the genre. He also gave credit to some of the ‘new cats’ doing great work, naming African Giant, Burna Boy, Afro rave star, REMA and others.
That statement has constituted in an online uproar between fans of these stars. Mixed reactions have poured online,
LERRY Tweeted: Burna boy dropping songs since 2012 does not make him same set with Wizkid, Davido and Olamide. Seyi Vibez has been dropping songs since 2018 but nobody calls him set with Rema, Fireboy and so on. Everybody sabi the year wey them blow.
Some have maintained that it’s disrespectful to but the Grammy award-winning African Giant, burna boy on the same list with Young stars, ‘Calm Down’ crooner Rema, ‘Peru’ singer Fireboy Dml. This Twitter account, Update boys put out a self made list based on the timeline of these stars saying
“1st set of OGs – idris abdulkareem, 2face, D’banj, Psquare & 9ice. 2nd set – Davido, Wizkid, Olamide, flavor & Tiwa savage. New set of youngins and aspiring OGs – Burna Boy, teni, zlatan, Rema and Fireboy.”
https://twitter.com/updateboyx/status/1666811824615096326?s=46&t=VpDPcfCfx6x9PFtgkVwMRw
Quick to Burna’s defense, Mbah tweeted “They nominate person for next Rated 2013 and you dey call am new cat. Make una dey defend rubbish”
https://twitter.com/mbahdeyforyou/status/1666814850390196225?s=46&t=VpDPcfCfx6x9PFtgkVwMRw
It seems it has become an online contest of who was successful first; winning the big awards and contributing on a global scale. Although they’re all global stars who have made their mark internationally, they’ve also excelled uniquely in different areas at different times.
Whether is was Wizkid becoming the first Afrobeats star to appear in the Guinness World Records for his mega hit collaboration with Canadian rapper drake on ‘One dance’. Or Davido historically taking the World Cup stage last year & Burna boy becoming the first afrobeats star to bag a Grammy award for an independent body of work. Youngsters REMA, Fireboy Dml, have also amassed notable success even among the younger generation.