The early 2000s was definitely an era for Nigerian pop culture, a memorable one, for many reasons. Goldie and Derenle served bestie goals on screen, Dagrin broke into the mainstream with his fearless Yoruba rap, and Ramond King Gbaji released a dance trend called Alanta. This era was a definitive one for many Nigerians and this was the time Afrobeats felt very enclosed in a space. You didn’t need a capitalist algorithm to reach your audience. It was music created for the people, by the people. Songs from Banky W’s EME record label is a testament to this, case in point; Banky W’s Ebutte Metta and Wizkid’s Ojuelegba. 

‎Visuals have always been an important theme in entertainment. From performance arts, to paintings and movies. Watching something unfold leaves a lasting impression on the viewer. This powerful medium coupled with a song can act as a catalyst for stirring emotions in the audience and a branding opportunity that helps the music artist shape their identity. Music with visuals did not start with music videos. A lot of movies use music- lyrics and instrumentals -to drive their point home. The importance of visuals in the Nigerian culture can be traced back to the importance of performance. Nigeria’s theatrical scene is woven into her past, from the use of songs to pass history, lull babies, mourn dead ones, and celebrate royal rulers. This history grew into the visual giant, Nollywood as we know it today. 

To truly understand what made music videos, specifically in the Afrobeats genre endearing, we have to see the parallels between Afrobeats and Nollywood. Films have been a way of communication. A major component of a film is a story. And a story, depending on where the writer is from, reflects their history or the history of their people. Early Nollywood films in the 2000s did not have the opportunity to go mainstream. In the current years, the streaming giant, Netflix has taken Nollywood into the global space but early filmmakers did not have this luxury. Films were distributed through CDs and the ‘global market’ in layman terms existed outside Nigeria to our African neighbours. This enclosed manner of distribution helped in cementing a loyal audience. It was a seller/buyer dynamic that worked because Nigerian audiences knew what aesthetic they were tuning into and they knew that early filmmakers told stories that mattered to them. This economic language helped with the rise of the revered Nigerian filmmaking company, Wale Adenuga Productions (WAP), who dominated the primetime in major TV stations. Successful shows like Super Story, Papa Ajasco and Binta worked because it mirrored the lives of everyday Nigerians. 

The aesthetic of early Nollywood can be reflected in the recent resurgence of the Y2K aesthetic in Nigerian fashion rebranded as Old Nollywood. People pull from old Nollywood films and music videos as inspiration for this aesthetic because a lot of music videos in the 2000s were shorter versions of Nollywood films. Eedris Abdulkareem’s 2003 hit, Mr Lecturer is a song detailing the sexual abuse female students in universities go through with male professors and the music video helped shape the story further. Danfo Drivers (Ragga Version), a popular early 2000s song composed by Madmelon & Mountain Black had a music video typical of that time: Zoom-ins as a go-to for transitions, dancers in uniform doing a simple choreographed bit, a neon logo that broadcasted the production company and the song credits in a readable sans type font. The video shows Madmelon and Mountain Black in a blue number with a durag singing about the ghetto and being a danfo driver. A concept easily digestible to many Nigerians. Tony Tetuila’s 2001 song, My Car also has a video with an interwoven robbery plot that complemented the lyrics of the hit. Another music video that comes to mind is 2Baba’s (formerly 2face Idibia) music video of African Queen. The video was set in a studio featuring models decked in ethnic Nigerian regalia. 2face sang to the camera and to his “African Queen” in a set that mimics a bar/restaurant. This setting, although set in a studio, pulls inspiration from a typical Nigerian scene. 

The formula of remaking a set or a scene that is relatable to Nigerians is hardly an artistic design that existed only in the 2000s and 2010s, recent music videos like the Asake and Central Cee’s music video for the song, Wave was shot on the streets and Falz’s mimicked the 2010s thematic owambe aesthetic that populated afrobeats music videos around that time in the music video of the 2025 song, No Less. A simple conclusion that can be drawn for the current gen-Z’s aesthetic choice to favour the 2000s and 2010s is nostalgia. 

‎Nostalgia marketing is a profitable venture in this time and age where political unrest and economic hardships leaves youth yearning for a better time, their childhood perhaps where things were simpler and the media was tacky. Remember the music video for Tiwa Savage’s Kele Kele Love, an explosion of neon and gradients. Simi and Falz’s Soldier, Yemi Alade’s Johnny and Kizz Daniel’s Woju. They were simple with linear storylines that replicated what helped their predecessors succeed in the past. For years, we have seen directors like DJ Tee, Unlimited LA, Clarence Peters, TJ Omori, and Meji Alabi shape trends and storylines in music videos. A move that kept Afrobeats fresh and visually interesting. Why do Afrobeats music videos like Ayra Starr’s recent visual for Hot Body, Tiwa Savage’s You4Me, Olamide, Wizkid, and Darkoo’s Billionaire’s Club, Davido’s Offa Me with Victoria Mónet, feel different, too-clean almost…perfect? Well, it’s easy to blame the favourite villain in the creative industry, modernity. 

2020 remains in the Hall of Afrobeats Fame for many reasons. 2020 took Afrobeats to a global stage and ushered in an international audience that only grew with time. Some of the notable musical moments of this era featured CKay’s Love Nwatiti, Fireboy’s Peru, Wizkid and Tems’ Essence, Wizkid’s Made in Lagos album, and Burna Boy’s African Giant album, to mention a few. This is not the first time Afrobeats has caught the eye of a global audience. Chris Brown, Drake, and Beyoncé helped introduce the West African genre to the American audience. Afrobeats offered fresh sounds and the recurring themes in the lyrics featured high/soft life, love, and hope. These themes helped brand the genre as one that produced songs for the masses. 

The global audience has always played a role in Afrobeats music videos before having a direct feature in the genre. Old music videos like Olu Maintain’s Yahooze and Psquare’s Bizzy Body glamorized a luxurious lifestyle that can also be found in the hip-hop genre. This lifestyle portrayed in these music videos helped the average Nigerian dream of being an ‘Uncle Ben’ from London or the United States. It’s no different than the Billionaire’s Club music video by Olamide, Wizkid, and Darkoo and yet these old videos feel more original. A good reason for this is the ever growing income gap between the upper class and the lower class. A luxury for an average Nigerian is not a life of affluence but a life of content and these lifestyles when glamorized in videos create a sense of bridge between the artist and the viewer. In this case, the seller/buyer dynamic doesn’t work. 

Because Afrobeats is far from Faze, May D, 9ice, Wande Coal, Fela Kuti, himself and many more creators who helped cement the genre, the disconnect between the genre and many Nigerians is even wider. Every artist that comes from Afrobeats is finding new ways to be more inventive with the genre. While creative invention offers an exciting promise for the audience, it also divides the market into two. One part is interested in the alternative ventures of these artists, and the other is interested in what made Afrobeats the genre we all love today. A lot of the time this divide is fostered by an age gap that continues to grow.

The success of Afrobeats is admirable. Afrobeats stars taking the global stage include Tiwa Savage, Asake, Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy, Ayra Starr, and Tems. These singers act as an inspiration to new Afrobeats singers. It is arguable that mainstream success is an okay reward for astounding talent but in most cases, achieving mainstream success means stripping down what made the Afrobeats genre to suit the international appetite. The standards for success as a Nigerian music artist is higher and artists are faced with trying to balance both the local and international audience. And depending on a fated coin toss, the pendulum swings one way or the other. 

The aesthetic of music videos are always going to change and evolve. That’s the nature of humanity. The growing stakes in technology helps push the creative possibilities further. It begs the question; was true art created when we had more creative boundaries or more creative possibilities? We would always yearn for the simpler times and romanticize the past. Perhaps, this is a major contention in humanity- the need to see in others what we want to see in ourselves. In this fast-paced digital age where faceless blobs on the internet acts as a replacement to our imperfections and a reflection of our insecurities, of course we all look at old media and yearn for times when everything was more simple and mistakes or imperfections didn’t seem like the end of the world. Maybe old Afrobeats videos aren’t tacky. Maybe the creators just found joy in creating art. And maybe we, as viewers, should embrace originality and the brunt of being tacky and cringe in a world that favours algorithms and streaming sites to CD players and televisions.