Ghanaian Afrobeat VS Nigerian Afrobeat: Which do you prefer?

Ghanaian Afrobeat VS Nigerian Afrobeat: Which do you prefer?
The competition has always been between Ghanaian jollof and Nigerian jollof. The two countries have been involved in the quest for superiority in entertainment, sports and culture for a long time. While Nigerians boast of Wizkid and Davido, Ghana just can't forget Sarkodie and Stone Bwoy.

The two countries have played a big role in the progress of Afrobeat. Even though they keep fighting for dominance, taking African sounds to the global market has been the sole aim of these two countries.

Using the BET Best Internation Act (Africa) as a measuring tool, Nigeria has actually had more of their artistes claim the prestigious award five (5) times more than Ghana. For Ghana, Kojo Antwi (2010s), Sarkodie (2012) and Stone Bwoy (2015) have won the award. For Nigerians, M.I and Psquare (2010s), 2Face Idibia and Dbanj (2011), Wizkid (2012,2017), Ice Prince (2013) and Davido (2014) have all claimed the award.

Locally, the Nigerian music industry has also won more accolades than their Ghanaian counterparts. In fact, Ghana has never won the African Muzik Magazine Awards (AFRIMMA) since its inception in 2014. Wizkid (2016,2017), Davido (2018) and Burna Boy (2019) have all represented the Nigerian Afrobeat in claiming the Artiste of the year for a record four (4) times for Nigeria.

In 2013 a new movement was born. A Nigerian Oluwatosin Ajibade who is widely known as Mr Eazi pioneered a movement to infuse sound he describes as a mixture of Ghanaian highlife and Nigerian chord progressions and patterns. This was the moment the Nigerian afrobeat was married to the Ghanaian afrobeat. Mr Eazi dominated both the Nigerian and Ghanaian music industry. Mr Eazi gained an international audience following the release of the Efya -assisted single “Skin Tight” before dishing out his solphomore album “Life Is Eazi, Vol. 1 – Accra To Lagos” in 2017

Mr Eazi played a major role in not unifying the Ghanaian flavours with the Nigerian sounds but also pushed the Ghanaian afrobeats to his Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival performance in 2019.

After Wizkid's refusal to collect the BET Best International Award (Africa) award and declining their nomination in 2017, the BET launched a new award category “BET Best International Award”. The new award which is given in the awards main stage to outstanding international artistes every year has also not been won by any Ghanaian artiste since its inception in 2018. Meanwhile Davido (2018) and Burna (2019), have all won the award for Nigeria.

In summary there seem to be no argument between the Ghanaian Afrobeat and the Nigerian Afrobeats as the numbers doesn't add up.

ARTICLE BY DAT KULGEE

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