Afrobeat

[5][8] With a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersecting rhythms, and percussion,[9] the style was pioneered in the 1960s by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who popularised it both within and outside Nigeria.

This takes on diverse influences and is an eclectic combination of genres such as hip hop, house, jùjú, ndombolo, R&B, soca, and dancehall.

[12][13] Afrobeat evolved in Nigeria in the late 1960s by Fela Anikulapo Kuti, (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun) who, with drummer Tony Allen, experimented with different contemporary music of that time.

[18] In the late 1950s, Kuti left Lagos to study abroad at the London School of Music, where he took lessons in piano[19] and percussion[20] and was exposed to jazz.

[12] Another influential person Ray Stephen Oche [de], a Nigerian musician touring from Paris, France, with his Matumbo orchestra in the 1970s.

[22] Prevalent in his and Lagbaja's music are native Nigerian harmonies and rhythms, taking contrasting elements and combining, modernizing, and improvising upon them.

In 1994, Branford Marsalis, the American jazz saxophonist, included samples of Fela's "Beasts of No Nation" on his Buckshot LeFonque album.

[23] Both worked on Talking Heads' highly acclaimed 1980 album Remain in Light, which brought polyrhythmic Afrobeat influences to Western music.

Many celebrities were noted as attending the shows, including Denzel Washington, Madonna, Sting, Spike Lee (who saw it eight times), Kofi Annan, and Michelle Obama.

[26] Fela Kuti's music has been sampled by various hip-hop musicians such as Missy Elliott, J. Cole, and Kanye West, as well as other popular acts such as Beyoncé.