Harnessing the spirit of Afrobeat, Afrobeats, Senegal, and the UK Underground

In the early 2010s, the UK underground scene began reworking the African pop of Fela Kuti for younger fans reared on grime, hip hop, and funky house. It was around this time that London DJ Abrantee coined the term “Afrobeats,” distinct from the Afrobeat and Afropop stylings of Tony Allen, Fela Kuti, Ebo Taylor, Antibalas, and their peers.

According to The Guardian in 2012, “Abrantee's neologism describes a new sound – a 21st-century melting pot of western rap influences, and contemporary Ghanaian and Nigerian pop music – but it didn't drop out of a clear blue sky. ‘I've been playing this music to three or four thousand people at African events in the UK for years,’ he explained.”

Abrantee continued in the article, “For years we've had amazing hiplife, highlife, Nigerbeats, juju music, and I thought: you know what, let's put it all back together as one thing again, and call it Afrobeats, as an umbrella term. Afrobeat, the 60s music, was more instrumental – this Afrobeats sound is different, it's intertwined with things like hip-hop and funky house, and there's more of a young feel to it."

This Afro House release embraces a similar spirit as Afrobeats but with an electronic dance twist. You’ll find the iconic repetitive four-on-the-floor beat f house music intertwined with classic Senegalese rhythms to generate an energy that pays homage to the past while pulling these sounds far into the future.