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    ID Cabasa Refutes Akon’s Claim of Creating Afrobeats

    Emma TeeBy No Comments2 Mins Read

    • ID Cabasa tackles Akon for claiming he helped to create Afrobeats genre

    ID Cabasa Refutes Akon's Claim of Creating Afrobeats
    ID Cabasa Refutes Akon’s Claim of Creating Afrobeats

    Veteran Nigerian music producer and industry executive Olumide Ogunade, widely known as ID Cabasa, has publicly challenged Akon’s recent assertion that he played a foundational role in creating Afrobeats.

    Akon, the Senegalese-American singer and music mogul, made headlines after an interview on The Sherri Shepherd Show where he claimed to be instrumental in pushing Afrobeats to the global stage during the late 2000s.

    According to him, his early partnerships with Nigerian artists and executives catalysed the genre’s international breakout.

    He specifically mentioned signing Wizkid as the first Nigerian act under his label and collaborating with Banky W, suggesting that these moves were pivotal to the evolution of Afrobeats as we know it today.

    However, in a recent conversation on Wazobia FM, ID Cabasa pushed back, questioning Akon’s narrative. He acknowledged that Akon did collaborate with Nigerian talents during the genre’s formative years but argued that this involvement doesn’t entitle him to claim authorship of the movement.

    Cabasa emphasized that before Akon’s entry into the Nigerian music scene, homegrown stars like 2Face Idibia, 9ice, and Timaya were already making waves and laying the groundwork for what would become the Afrobeats explosion.

    He also took issue with Akon’s remarks about Wizkid, countering the claim that Akon “groomed” the young artist. Cabasa clarified that it was Banky W who discovered Wizkid and signed him to Empire Mates Entertainment (EME), which later entered a collaborative partnership with Akon’s label—contrary to Akon’s claim of being the sole catalyst.

    Speaking candidly in Pidgin English, ID Cabasa said, “If Akon wan talk say na him discover Afrobeats, e for still talk say na him find 2Face, Timaya, 9ice and all. Na people wey he meet for here tell am say dem big pass. So he just dey feel say na him pioneer Afrobeats business and branding.”

    He concluded by stressing that Afrobeats wasn’t the product of any one individual. “Afrobeats no be one person work. E no be invention; na culture,” he said.

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