Nigerian rapper and humanitarian, Ruggedman, believes that the Afrobeats tag given to a genre of music in the country might end soon.

“I just have a feeling that this whole Afrobeats thing, the tag might end soon.”

The rapper whose real name is Michael Ugochukwu Stephens said this while he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Rubbin’ Mind programme on Sunday.

He expressed happiness that “Nigerian music is in the forefront and I’m happy it is Nigerian music,” and has changed, but that the change he doesn’t fancy is the quality of the music.

“The only change that I don’t fancy much is the quality of the music, and not too many of them are giving me what I really respect,” he said.

Even though their names, Afrobeat and Afrobeats sound almost the same, some people are of the opinion that they are not the same — Afrobeat is Fela Kuti’s revolutionary, instrumental genre while Afrobeats is today’s diverse, commercial African pop sound.

Asked his opinion about rap, he said, “Unfortunately, rap has kind of taken a backseat, because people want to do something that gives them money quickly.”

Ruggedman shared that “not too many people are doing rap, and it costs more to push and promote rap than Afrobeats.”

While speaking during the interview, he expressed concerns about the Nigerian distribution companies, wondering why the industry depends on outsiders and always seeks validation.

Ruggedman questioned why anyone would want to categorise artists like Fela Anikulapokuti, King Sunny Ade, Kwam1, and the others into the Afrobeats music category.

“I wish they had just left it at Nigerian music,” he said.

Ruggedman recently dropped acoustic versions of five of his songs: ‘Ruggedy Baba’, ‘Baraje’, ‘Change’, ‘Won’t Battle’, and ‘One Man’ with the help and support of the great guitarist, Fiokee.

He said, “This is the first time, no Nigerian rapper has done this acoustics, just guitar and rap.”

“So this gives you an opportunity to hear the lyrics and feel the soul, the heart behind all the words I use, and nobody has done this before,” he added.

Next year, 2026, Ruggedman already has new songs with Odumodu Black, with Jeric, with Magnito, Tubaba, and a couple of other people. (Channels)