How the Grammys came to celebrate African music

The explosion of Afrobeats has been one of the biggest stories in the music industry over the past five years, with acts such as Burna Boy, Davido, Asake and Tems becoming global superstars. As Africa's musical footprint around the world continues to grow in importance, its artists now have a Grammy category all to themselves: Best African Music Performance.

“It makes sense, given that reggae or spoken word have their own categories,” says Gracey Mae, a UK-based PR and marketing consultant and member of the Recording Academy who wrote the award proposal. “I felt it was the right time to celebrate African music.”

Afrobeats have been represented at the Grammys recently — with Burna Boy winning Best World Music album 2021 and nominations for both him and Wizkid in the Best World Music Performance category since that award was introduced two Grammys ago. But the genre has seen major growth as a commercial force not only overseas but in the U.S. In June, Rema's remix of “Calm Down” featuring Selena Gomez reached number three in the Advertising sign Hot 100.

“African music is now on a global stage where we are mainstream,” says Mae. “Afrobeats provided that extra flair and boldness that everyone needed. This reached TikTok, Instagram, the Advertising sign charts and music festivals'. In 2023, Burna Boy performed at Coachella for the second time – much higher than in 2019 – and headlined the first day of Miami's Afro Nation festival.

A category specifically for African music gives the Grammys an opportunity to recognize these achievements while (potentially) making room for Best World Music Performance and other international acts to receive recognition.

“I don't think anyone can deny the fact that music has exploded. It blew up first in the UK and then it went to the States and we're seeing artists selling out arenas,” said Shawn Thwaites, genre director at the Recording Academy, of the separation of African music from the wider World Music Scene. category. “Afrobeats – and other genres too – have become pop, in a sense.”

Moving on to the 66th Grammys, the opening slate of nominations is Asake and Olamide's 'Amapiano', Burna Boy's 'City Boys', Davido's 'Unavailable' featuring Musa Keys, Ayra Starr's 'Rush' and 'Water » by Tyla. The category gives African artists solid representation at what remains music's most prestigious awards ceremony, but some are concerned that this new Grammy category may not fully recognize Africa. Afrobeats have taken off commercially in the mainstream music industry, which is increasingly focused on global stars, be they from Nigeria or South Korea. As such, Afrobeats may feature the artists most recognizable to Grammy voters in the US, but it is one genre among many on the African continent—one genre among many only in Nigeria and Ghana, where Afrobeats has its roots.

“There are people in East Africa who are killing it, people in French Africa who are invading France and other parts of Europe, but they are not playing French African music on the radio in Nigeria,” says Aibee Abidoye, executive vice president. on the Nigerian record label Chocolate City Music Group. “Think about other parts of Africa like Ghana – they have great Afrobeats, but it's not fully in English, so they might be at a disadvantage.”

Indeed, every nomination in the category was an English-language track and was mostly Afrobeats or amapiano, the South African House genre that has become increasingly popular in recent years.

A key step in better representing the African diaspora, says Abidoye, is expanding the membership of the Recording Academy. “They get more members than other parts of Africa, that's for sure,” he says. “But I don't think we have enough Africans represented on the board to make very informed decisions about music from Africa.”

But as Abidoye says, “I'm more on the optimistic side, mostly because there's something about representation that makes us all realize that we can do it.”

Thwaites acknowledged that Afrobeats is the most popular genre coming out of the continent at the moment, also mentioning the amapiano, but said the award was also focused on recognizing the diversity of African music.

“We talked to African leaders in the academy about all these nuances and naming the category,” he said. “It couldn't just be called Afrobeats because there are 54 countries in Africa, so we have to pay tribute to all of them. We just have to respect what comes from the continent,” he says.

Mae, who is also on the academy's recruitment team for Africa, agrees that the academy wants more representation from across the continent and calls the award a first step in what she hopes will be a wider range of genres.

“This should be the start of something new,” says Mae. “We've seen with other categories, it starts with one and expands to something bigger.” It marks the emergence of the Latin Grammys 23 years ago, when Latin music first began to make its mainstream commercial breakthrough. “I hope African music will follow suit. There are over 60 species on the continent. If we could get to a place where there is Best African Male, Best African Female, Best African Rap, Best East, South Africa, I believe that will help translate music beyond the borders of the continent and will shine more accurately. amazing artists doing amazing work.”

Still, with 94 Grammy categories for the upcoming awards — the most since the Recording Academy shrank to 78 from a bloated 109 more than a decade ago — the Academy makes sure to add categories when needed, and it's unclear if more will be around.

“I think we have to take it one step at a time,” says Thwaites. “I think we'll have to see how it all plays out, exactly how this happened. Adding different categories is not taken lightly. We already have 94, so we have to see how it goes and move accordingly.”