24th April, 2024
By Taiwo Okanlawon
Multiple-award-winning producer and singer-songwriter, Pheelz has shared his thoughts on the situation of artists choosing to disassociate with the Afrobeats tag.
The ‘Finesse’ crooner while appearing on the Afrobeats Podcast hosted by Adesope Olajide, expresses support for the Afrobeats tag which he calls the spirit of the Nigerian people.
According to the hitmaker, Afrobeats is a movement fuelled by the spirit of Nigerian and African people. He shared that while some artists have the right to either choose to associate or disassociate with the movement, he identifies with the movement and will gladly wave its flag.
“For me, I feel like it’s a tag for how we make our music. It’s a form of identifying what we do and where we are from. To some degree, it’s a form of collective decision by we Africans or Nigerians or the culture that let us move with this. So I choose to respect that collective decision and be part of that consciousness and boldly and proudly wave this flag.”
On whether the “Afrobeats” tag is restricting, Pheelz stated that being an Afrobeats artist doesn’t preclude him from making genres.
“Now is the time to even educate the world on what we have and what light we bring because the whole attention is on us. This is the time to teach, collaborate, and come together to save this light,” Pheelz comments on the cases of artists rejecting the Afrobeats tag.
During the interview, Pheelz narrated how he got to collaborate with American RnB superstar Usher on his latest album ‘Coming Home’. Pheelz wrote, produced, and featured on ‘Ruin’ which is one of the lead singles.
According to Pheelz, it was a surreal moment getting to work with one of the artists he idolises and whose music greatly inspires him.
Pheelz, whose real name is Phillip Moses, is a multi-award-winning Nigerian producer and singer. He is known for producing hit songs that have charted in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
His journey from behind the scenes to the forefront of the music industry has been nothing short of remarkable, and his back with a groovy offering for his fans.
