The newest African music craze, Afrobeats, has shot up in popularity and won over fans all over the world. The distinctive fusion of highlife, hip-hop, pop, R&B, and other traditional African rhythms in this genre has been noted to have a seductive appeal.
This lovely musical style, which originated as a political movement, has developed over time into a beloved and sought-after global music style.
When the Afrobeats genre is mentioned, notable names that come to mind include Davido, Femi Kuti, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, KiDi, Stonebwoy, King Promise, and Sarkodie. Euphoric hooks, energetic rhythms, and danceable tunes are traits of this beautiful genre.
Afrobeats music is proudly winning on the global scene and has become increasingly popular in recent years, with many Afrobeats artistes achieving global success.
As the world gets used to this genre, Hollywood has fully thrown its weight behind Afrobeats by featuring Afrobeats songs in several movies for the international scene. Here are some of the Afrobeats artistes whose songs have been featured in Hollywood movies.
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Wizkid: Award-winning Nigerian Afrobeats singer Wizkid, known in real life as Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, got his hit song Daddy Yo which was released in 2017, used in the Hollywood movie Pacific Rim Uprising which starred famous actor John Boyega. Wizkid’s song was used as the soundtrack at the beginning of the 2018 Hollywood science fiction movie.
Black Sherif: Ghanaian Afrobeats singer Black Sherif, known in real life as Mohammed Ismail Sherif, early this year had his song scored Michael B Jordan’s Creed III movie. The song titled Blood, Sweat and Tears, produced by American rapper J Cole’s Dreamville record label, has American rapper Bas and Nigerian singer, Kel-P on it. The Creed III movie was released on March 3, 2023.
Davido: Nigerian songwriter and record producer Davido, in 2021 got featured in Eddie Murphy’s Coming To America 2 movie, where in a scene, Davido performs his Assurance hit song.
Shatta Wale: Ghanaian dancehall and Afrobeats artiste, Shatta Wale, known in real life as Charles Nii Armah Mensah Jr., got two of his songs featured in an international movie titled Black Beach on Netflix. Shatta Wale’s two songs My Level and Ayoo were featured in the action and adventure movie.
The movie premiered on Netflix on January 20, 2021, and had some scenes shot in Ghana.
Bisa Kdei: In 2020, Ghanaian Highlife artiste, Ronald Kwaku Dei Appiah, popularly known as Bisa Kdei, got his 2018 hit song Asew featured in the Hollywood movie Jingle Jangle. The American Christmas family movie was written and directed by David E Talbert. A scene in the movie saw some of the characters in the movie dancing to the Asew song.
