Why I’m The First Artist To Bring Afrobeats To America – Rotimi [Video]

American-Nigerian Actor and singer, Olurotimi Akinosho, popularly known as Rotimi, claims he is the first artist to introduce Afrobeats to the United States.

During an appearance on the 85 South Show Podcast, Rotimi emphasized his contribution to popularizing Afrobeats in America before the widespread recognition of the genre through international collaborations.

He said that in 2012, he decided to start leaning more towards R&B despite seeing the Afrobeats wave and that it took him five years to find himself after remembering his chat with Wizkid.

The actor said he then decided to just be himself and accept that he could be the bridge between RnB and Afrobeats, and that was when he started having hit songs.

Reflecting on the reception of his single ‘Love Riddim’ in 2018, Rotimi revealed encountering initial resistance from radio stations due to its Afrobeats influences.

The singer bragged that he could proudly say he brought Afrobeats to America. He, however, acknowledged Drake’s role in making “One Dance” with Wizkid.

He said, ”I saw the wave in 2012, then after that I just started falling back into doing RnB. It took me five years to really find out who Rotimi was and remembering the conversation I had with Wizkid in 2012 and in 2017, that’s when it hit me like ‘bro just be you, you are the definition of African American so be the bridge of RnB and Afrobeats all in one’ and that’s when the hit records started happening.”

“I remember bringing ‘Love Riddim’ to the radio stations in 2018 and the program director was like ‘This is not good’. They didn’t even understand it and this was before Wiz (Wizkid) got the record with Drake.

“I can comfortably say I brought Afrobeats to America, then One Dance with Drake and Wiz came out. I’m not saying it was because of me, no, but the timing, the sound.

“I can proudly say that I did that but it started with that conversation in the hotel room like bro let’s just be true to who we are. Like it’s okay to be African because growing up, the joke was like all of y’all are dirty” 

Watch the video below:

KanyiDaily recalls that last year, Rotimi revealed that he is related to Afrobeats superstar, Tiwa Savage, who he claimed is his cousin.