ID Cabasa Warns Afrobeats Risks Losing Identity to R&B Influences

 Veteran Nigerian music producer Olumide Ogunade, known as ID Cabasa, raised concerns on May 30, 2025, during a Lagos music conference that Afrobeats is increasingly resembling R&B, threatening its cultural identity.

Speaking at the Sound of Nigeria summit, Cabasa, renowned for producing hits like 9ice’s Gongo Aso and Olamide’s Eni Duro, argued that younger artists are adopting smoother, melody-driven sounds inspired by American R&B, diluting Afrobeats’ percussive, Yoruba-influenced roots. He cited recent tracks by artists like Fireboy DML and Asake, which blend Afrobeats’ log drums with R&B’s vocal runs, as examples of this shift.

Cabasa, 48, emphasized that Afrobeats’ global rise, with 2 billion streams in 2024, stems from its authentic Nigerian rhythms, as seen in Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat and Wizkid’s Ojuelegba. He warned that mimicking R&B risks alienating fans seeking cultural distinctiveness, pointing to declining local airplay for Afrobeats (down 15% in 2024). He urged artists to preserve elements like pidgin lyrics and traditional instruments, citing Burna Boy’s Ye as a model.

The conference, attended by 500 industry stakeholders, sparked debate, with producer Pheelz defending the fusion as evolution, while fans on social media echoed Cabasa’s call for authenticity. Cabasa announced a mentorship program to train 100 producers in traditional Afrobeats techniques, aiming to safeguard the genre’s heritage amid its global dominance, projected to hit $1 billion in revenue by 2027.