Afrobeats (not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing), or Afro-pop or Afro-fusion (or Afropop or Afrofusion), is an umbrella phrase that was first formed in Nigeria, Ghana, and the UK in the 2000s and 2010s. It is used to characterise popular music from West Africa and the diaspora. Afrobeats is a term that is used to describe a combination of sounds that originate in Ghana and Nigeria rather than a specific musical style in and of itself. A number of musical styles, including hiplife, jùj music, highlife, and naija beats, as well as others, have been rolled under the umbrella term known as "Afrobeats."
The cities of Lagos, Accra, and London are the primary centres for the production of afrobeats. Paul Gilroy, a music historian and cultural critic, talks on how London's music culture has evolved as a direct effect of the city's shifting demographics.
The transition away from Caribbean dominance has to be understood in the context of this transformation, as we are heading toward an African majority that is varied not just in its cultural practises but also in its connection to colonial and postcolonial government. The majority of people involved with grime are African youngsters who are either themselves migrants or are the offspring of migrants. It is not quite obvious what the continent of Africa may symbolise to them.
In his previous work, "The Black Atlantic," Gilroy debunks the idea that black culture and music can be confined to a single location by arguing that they have spread across the Atlantic (Gilroy 16[9]). This syncretism is best shown by the transnational musical style known as afrobeats, which is now receiving attention on a global scale. When discussing popular Nigerian music, David Drake makes the following observation: "Picking up on patterns from the United States, Jamaica, and Trinidad, they recreate diasporic inspirations and—more often than not—completely remake them." Drake focuses his writing on popular Nigerian music (Drake).
Late in the 2010s, afrobeats started to get extensive popular recognition all over the world, and musicians began to achieve success in several regions, including Africa, Europe, and North America.