“Buju Banton Doesn’t Understand Afrobeats” – ID Cabasa reveals

• Banton criticized Afrobeats as a “shallow and unsubstantial music genre,” stating it fails to highlight Africa’s struggles despite its global recognition.

• At the late cleric Denis Joseph Slattery’s memorial lecture in Lagos, Jamaican singer Cabasa claimed that he lacks understanding of Afrobeat’s language and style.

ID Cabasa, a veteran Nigerian music producer, has disputed Jamaican reggae icon Buju Banton’s criticism of Afrobeats.

In August, Banton labelled Afrobeats as a “shallow and unsubstantial music genre,” claiming that despite its global popularity, it fails to highlight Africa’s challenges.

Cabasa told media during the late preacher Denis Joseph Slattery’s funeral lecture in Lagos on Thursday that the Jamaican singer does not comprehend the vocabulary or style of Afrobeat.

According to him: “Buju Banton does not understand the genre. Can he speak our language? No.

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

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

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

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