POPULAR Nigerian rapper, Panshak Henry Zamani, well known by his stage name, Ice Prince, has claimed that his 2011 song ‘Oleku’ featuring Brymo is what changed Afrobeat to Afrobeats.
The rapper explained that the 2011 hit song, which featured talented vocalist Brymo, was what introduced the “S” to Afrobeat, which was created by music legend, Fela Kuti.
Ice Prince in a recent interview with Echoo Room said that it was a joint effort of him, his team, and DJ Abrante to name the music genre Afrobeats as they could not call it Afrobeat.
“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.
“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!” he said.
The 39-year-old is one of Africa's biggest and most respected rappers with multiple nominations and awards to show for it, which include the MOBO award, BET award, World Music Award, The Headies, Ghana Music award, etc.
