‘You lack understanding of Afrobeats’ — ID Cabasa replies Buju Banton

BY VICTOR CHIJIOKE

ID Cabasa, the Nigerian music producer, has dismissed the Jamaican reggae icon Buju Banton’s deprecatory view of Afrobeats.

Last month, Banton, who is one of the well-regarded artistes in Jamaican music, described Afrobeats as a “shallow and unsubstantial music genre”.

The 51-year-old, born Mark Anthony Myrie, argued that despite its global recognition, the genre does not spotlight the struggles of Africa, unlike the politically charged and culturally rooted messages of Reggae and Dancehall.

Earlier this month, Tems, the Grammy winner, also stressed that Afrobeats is meant for “vibes and enjoyment”, adding that “the climate of Nigeria calls for it”.

In a chat with TheCable Lifestyle and Nigerian Guardian, Cabasa, 49, addressed Banton’s criticism of Afrobeats, suggesting the Jamaican “lacks understanding of the genre’s language and style”.

The music executive highlighted the genre’s depth and substance, citing the quality of music from artistes like Burna Boy, BNXN, Olamide, and Asake.

Cabasa, the founder of Coded Tunes, the record label that brought Olamide, 9ice, 2Shotz, Reminisce, Lord of Ajasa, Ajayi Brovas, 2Phat, Seriki and Banky W to the limelight, also taunted Banton, saying his disapproval might have stemmed from the fact he got carried away with the “genre’s beat”.

“Buju Banton does not understand… can he speak our language? No,” he said.

“You know, when you go online, Nigerians are the most sarcastic people in the world. So when you don’t understand our sarcasm, when you don’t understand how we tell our stories, you will think there’s no story to it.

“Now, these guys, they present truth in a very simple way now… and because your (Banton) own generation sang and you were saying so many things, you think you are deeper than them.

“For me, depth is actually your ability to understand what’s supposed to be complicated and to break it down.

“I think one Kenyan proverb said that ‘if it takes you so many words to explain something, probably you don’t understand it’.

“So, these guys, they say stuff. You listen to Burna, you listen to BNXN, that we call Buju. You listen to Olamide, you listen to Asake. Are you going to tell me that there’s no substance in what Asake is doing?

“So, a lot is coming in. That you don’t understand it doesn’t mean that you should just criticize it. I think he is falling in love so much with the beat, which was why he said what he said.

“But we know when people say there’s no substance to it, we know it’s a fallacy. There is substance to it but people need to understand what these guys are saying.”

Cabasa spoke on Thursday at the memorial lecture of Denis Joseph Slattery, the late cleric, in Lagos.

The Slattery memorial lecture was organised by the Old Boys’ Association of St. Finbarr’s College at the Civic Centre in Victoria Island. The music executive is a member of the association.

The memorial was attended by notable persons including Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River, ex-footballer Segun Odegbami, and actor Patrick Doyle.

Also speaking, Doyle, who is the president of the association said: “This event was epoch-making for us at St Finbarr’s College because it is now established that we have placed ourselves in the firmament of a great institution in Nigeria and for that, I am proud and happy”.

“We are raising funds to construct the DJ Slattery Innovation and Technical Workshop. St Finbarr’s College in 1956 was the first post-primary institution in Nigeria to have a technical education curriculum. We had subjects such as woodwork, metalwork, engineering drawing, technical drawing and others, which is why the best engineers in Nigeria were from St Finbarr’s College.

“The curriculum was discontinued when the state government took over the school and when it was returned to the mission, we believed that we must re-introduce what the school is known for. We are proud that we are on track towards achieving that and we believe that we would have gathered the funds required to build an ultra-modern innovation and technical workshop in honour of Fr Slattery.

“Our focus will not be on woodwork and metalwork because we are in a new age so, robotics will form an important part of what we are doing as well as coding. We will concentrate on graphics, information technology and others. The students can become employers of labour after secondary school.”