Why I believe every artiste has substance

Budding singer, Joseph Akinfenwa Donus, also known as Joeboy, has disagreed with his colleague, Burna Boy’s comment that 90 percent of Afrobeats artistes release songs that have no lyrical substance.

Burna Boy had riled up social media when he said in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, that the genre is “literally nothing”.

However, Joeboy faulted the statement in the latest episode of the Zero Conditions podcast, as he noted that every artiste has substance based on relativity.

The host asked: “For you as an afrobeats artiste, how much balance do you do with living life because following the conversation of Burna Boy saying [afrobeats] artists don’t have substance, how much experience do you try to garner as an artiste?”

Joeboy responded: “I feel everybody has substance. It’s just based on what people relate to. Sometimes when you made a high tempo song that is danceable, people feel like you are just vibing. Or if you don’t sing in English.

“I used to see some comments [on social media] because somebody is singing in plain English, they [fans] would be like, ‘Ah pinging!’ What’s pinging? Because he sang in English?

“Every artiste out there, if you want people to feel like you are an amazing songwriter, just write in plain English. I promise you, they [fans] will be like, ‘Oh! This guys is the best songwriter ever.’ And when someone sings in Pidgin, they [fans] would be like, ‘Ah! This one dey do lamba.’

“It’s not lamba. It’s actually still connecting. I understand that you can’t connect to every form of music that you come across. But I promise you, anybody that has the ability to create something out of thin air, it is substance.”

Meanwhile, in Burna Boy’s interview he said; “Because of where I am from. The sh*t I have to go through to maneuver and just stay with my crown on my head. (It is harder for people that know you best to love you the most). Because they do not know you best. You just think they do.

“When you start going around the world and you start seeing that there are actually motherf**kers that know me a lot than the people that share the same (not experience)… because 90 per cent of them [Nigerian musicians] have no real life experiences which is why most of Nigerian music or African music or afrobeats as people call it, is mostly about nothing, literally nothing.

“It is why you hear most of Nigerian music or Afrobeats as people call it, is mostly about nothing. Literally nothing. There is no substance to it. Like nobody is talking about anything. It is just a great time. It is an amazing time. But at the end of the day, life is not an amazing time.

“No matter how nice of a time you are having now or you are had at some point or you plan to have, you are still going to face life. Me speaking for myself, the artiste is the person who has good days, bad days, great days, and worst days.

“So, for me, I feel like music should be the essence of the artiste. The artiste is a person who has good day, bad day, his great days and worst days. So, I’m dropping a project that should be a window for the fans to see those experiences.”