ID Cabasa, the veteran Nigerian music producer, has dismissed the Jamaican reggae icon Buju Banton’s condemnatory view of Afrobeats.
Banton had in August described Afrobeats as a “shallow and unsubstantial music genre,” arguing that it doesn’t spotlight the struggles of Africa despite its global recognition.
Speaking with journalists at the memorial lecture of the late cleric, Denis Joseph Slattery, in Lagos on Thursday, Cabasa stated that the Jamaican singer lacks understanding of Afrobeat’s language and style.
According to him: “Buju Banton does not understand the genre. Can he speak our language? No.
“When you go online, Nigerians are the most sarcastic people in the world. So when you don’t understand our sarcasm and how we tell our stories, you will think there is no story to it.
“Now, these guys present the truth in a very simple way. And because your (Banton) own generation sang and you were saying so many things, you think you are deeper than them.
“So, these guys, they say stuff. You listen to Burna, BNXN, that we call Buju. You listen to Olamide and Asake. Are you going to tell me that there’s no substance in what Asake is doing?
“That you don’t understand a lot doesn’t mean that you should just criticise it. I think he is falling so much in love with the beat, which was why he said what he said.”
