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Social Media users drag Grammys over Afrobeat Post.
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Africans Disregard Recording Academy (Grammys) Over Afrobeats Post.
The Recording Academy (Grammys) is facing backlash from furious Africans and social media users following a misleading tweet on what Afrobeats symbolizes.
Africans are taking turns calling out the global outfit over their recent article on Afrobeats.
The academy, which is responsible for the Grammy Awards, arguably the most important forum for recognizing artistic talent on a global scale, is currently under criticism for releasing an article on Afrobeats.
Recall, A detailed Netflix documentary on the origin of Afrobeats titled “Afrobeats Backstory” was recently released, written and told by Africans who partook in the building and spreading of the genre, which negates the Recording Academy’s article.
On July 27th, 2022, the Recording Academy releases an article referring to Afrobeats as a “blend of West African and Black American music,” a post that sparked outrage among many music fans (particularly Africans) due to misinformation.
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Following criticism from Afrobeats fans and scholars, the academy decided to change its headline by eliminating the phrase “blend of Black American music”.
However, they retained their former tweet instead of deleting it, an act that still pissed off a lot of Africans.
#Afrobeats is a mesmeric blend of West African musics that has quickly become a global pop phenomenon. Here are 5️⃣ subgenres that will instantly grab your ear.
📝: This article was updated today at 6:50 p.m. ET to reflect the specifically African origins of these genres. https://t.co/Ucgfqq73gw
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) July 27, 2022
Additionally, the aforementioned article incorrectly labelled Amapiano as an Afrobeats subgenre, which upset many Africans, particularly South Africans since that country is where the genre originated.
See reaction below:
When I said globalisation also has its potential pitfalls and we should be circumspect and protect our craft, I was called a mad man. pic.twitter.com/Gw8PpFPgY4
— Joey Akan (@JoeyAkan) July 28, 2022
https://twitter.com/TheAjibolaGrey/status/1552536455506952193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1552536455506952193%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnotjustok.com%2Fnews%2Fafricans-drag-grammys-over-afrobeats%2F
Amapiano is not a sub-genre of Afrobeats. It’s a genre of music from SOUTH AFRICA. Which pulls from SA House and Kwaito. So this article is STILL misinformed!!
Respect musical genres that aren’t from the US. 😒 https://t.co/EE3C5DbXdd
— Nomaswazi (@Nomaswazi_11) July 28, 2022
love the energy Nigerians did in making them correct the article/tweet tho.
I don't fuck with Afrobeats but just like @DavidHundeyin said the other day, if we don't document our achievements, others will take the glory for it. Better to start control the narrative at inception 👍 https://t.co/H29X3eU7hv— Aduramimo (@dreywandowski) July 28, 2022
If you aren’t going to accurately speak on the history then don’t speak at all. Calling Ampiano a “sub-genre” of afrobeats is just lazy. Scrap the whole article. @netflix already has a fantastic documentary on the history of Afro-beats by actual west African historians. https://t.co/iZ5OcKkJaG
— Jenn E. Penny (@JennE_Penny) July 28, 2022
The article still needs some work! Altè is a sub-genre of afrobeats but Soukous, Ndombolo and Amapiano are not!
The author seems to be conflating African Music with Afrobeats music.
Afrobeats is a strictly west African genre native to Nigeria & Ghana to be precise. https://t.co/yEQ6FBjHJ6
— Erú Iluvatar (@OtunbaBrickz) July 28, 2022
still fuck off. delete the old article and start all over again, you lazy people. no one even asked for your stupid article. next time, you’d actually do your research properly https://t.co/v5qwYJvVYi
— anisah⁷ (@biawurbi) July 28, 2022
They updated the tweet & article but failed to delete the initial tweet.. the message have been stylishly passed already. They’re coming for Afrobeat and will make it their own… it all started with that “Billboard US Afrobeat chart”. Not their fault, Na we dey find validation https://t.co/l6lHctXiVv
— Man Of Steel™ (@HarleshJr) July 28, 2022
Like Afrobeat, soukous are peculiar to Congolese & Central Africa, I grew up listening to @KoffiOlomide_MM and I can tell you it has no links to Afrobeat. Same with Amapiano it's peculiar to the south Africans & a totally different Genre. FIX UP. https://t.co/MXAiyYyhMW
— Alaga (@omo_idan) July 28, 2022