Nigerian singer Temilade Openiyi popularly known as Tems has reacted to Buju Banton’s criticism describing Afrobeats as being shallow.
Tems, who was a guest on The Breakfast Club shared her opinions on Buju Banton’s claim that Afrobeats doesn’t speak to the reality of its listeners.
According to her, Afrobeats, like other genres, serves a particular purpose for its originators, who are Nigerians, adding that Afrobeats is a pop music created to offer its listeners a good time like most Pop music from other parts of the world.
The Grammy award winner further emphasised that “Afrobeats is not Reggae, it’s not Rock, it’s for a certain purpose. Thinking about its origin, which is Nigeria, it’s for a certain purpose, and you can join us in its enjoyment.”
While appearing on the Drinking Champs Podcast, Buju Banton described Afrobeats as a movement whose music doesn’t share the reality of its black audience across Africa. He further argued that Nigerian stars leading Afrobeats’ global drive have failed to acknowledge Jamaican stars.
Banton’s criticism of Afrobeats generated reactions from several artists, including Jamaican Dancehall star Spice, who differed with her compatriot by pointing out that there are several Afrobeats acts like Burna Boy and Falz whose music had sociopolitical relevance.
In the interview, Tems also clarified the distasteful rumours that she was pregnant for American rapper Future with the singer tagging it as an attempt to come up with the craziest rumour possible by peddlers of false news.
Tems also shared insights on her recently released debut LP, ‘Born In The Wild’ which had guest appearances from Asake and J Cole.
