1st January, 2024
By Taiwo Okanlawon
Nigerian rapper Panshak Henry Zamani, popularly known as Ice Prince, has claimed that his 2011 song ‘Oleku’ featuring Brymo is the first song to be categorised as “Afrobeats.”
He said he and his team decided to add an “s” to Afrobeat, which Fela Kuti created to give an identity to their new sound when they were sending ‘Oleku’ to international radio stations.
The rapper explained that Ghanaian-British disk jockey DJ Abrante is widely credited for coining Afrobeats because he was the one who playlisted ‘Oleku,’ stressing that the DJ used the tag Afrobeats on the directive of his team.
Speaking in a recent interview with Echoo Room, Ice Prince said: “‘Oleku’ was one of the first songs to be playlisted on BBC Radio.
“One of the first Afrobeats songs to be playlisted. And at that time, they [foreign DJs] didn’t know what to call our music, and they couldn’t call it Afrobeat. So, we [I and my team] told them to put an ‘s’ it to make it Afrobeats,” he said.
“Check the history, ‘Oleku’ was the first Afrobeats record. Because they have to label it on a radio station, that was why we put the ‘s.’ If not tell me who came up with the ‘s’ at the end? A lot of people said it is credited to DJ Abrante, but guess what? Abrante was the one that playlisted the song ‘Oleku.’ That’s my own claim o!”
“Oleku” featured vocals by Brymo and was released as the lead single from Ice Prince’s debut studio album “Everybody Loves Ice Prince” (2011). “Oleku” received positive reviews and became one of the most remixed Nigerian songs of all time.
