How I Felt About Nigerians Being Angry With Peru Remix – Fireboy Dml

Fireboy DML is currently making waves around the world. Prior to Peru, Fireboy had already been steadily on the incline, but after the release of his song Peru, things took a whole new turn for the 26 year old singer. Since the release of the song, Fireboy has gotten a remix of the song Peru with international superstar Ed Sheeran. He has also worked with American artiste Madonna on the remix to her song Frozen.

Some people have been very critical of external cultures entering into the Afrobeats space. Some people worry that bringing artistes who are not African into the space, that it could ‘gentrify’ the sound, water it down, or worse. When Peru Remix was announced, and even after the song came out, a number of people did not like the remix because of this reason. During a new interview with NME, Fireboy was asked about his take on the matter, and how he felt about people’s reaction to Peru Remix. Here’s what he said.

Speaking about people criticizing the idea of non-Afrobeats stars collaborating on Afrobeats remixes, Fireboy DML said:

I understand the importance of collaboration, especially for this ‘Afrobeats to the world’ movement. There’s only one sure way to take a sound global and make it bigger than what it is, and that’s collaboration. It’s a powerful tool: it merges cultures and builds bridges. That’s how I see it, I don’t see it any other way. I definitely do not have a problem with other artists being a part of the Afrobeats movement, because it’s our sound: no one can take it from us [Africans]. I don’t understand the fear of gatekeeping. I feel like historical, deeply-rooted genres like hip-hop, Afrobeats, reggae, amapiano, they cannot be taken away. It’s not possible. So it’s only right that we collaborate, merge cultures and build bridges for the future. I think that’s what’s most important.

Speaking about people’s reaction to Peru Remix and what it was like working with Ed Sheeran, Fireboy DML said:

People will always talk. When I announced the Ed Sheeran feature, many went, ‘Blah, blah, blah, [I’m] upset by it’. But it’s not like Ed Sheeran is a stranger to the culture: he’s been a part of Afrobeats in some way over the past few years, so he’s a familiar face. Someone like Ed Sheeran isn’t doing the song for the sake of it, he’s doing the song because he loves it. He genuinely cares about the song and the culture. We can see that from how successful our collaboration was. He’s a very down-to-earth person, very humble. For such a successful artist, he’s so kind and calm. You can understand why his music has such positive energy. It wasn’t awkward like some American artists and Afrobeats artists coming together. It was like two brothers who came together and made a collaboration.”

Did you like the Peru Remix? How do you feel about the entrance of non-Afrobeats artistes into the Afrobeats space?