Styl Plus’ Tunde Speaks on Being Excluded From Afrobeats Talks: “Shocks Me When They Skip Our Name”

• Nigerian singer and former Styl Plus member, Tunde, has shared his thoughts on the never-ending Afrobeats conversations
• In a chat with Adesope Shopsydoo, the music star expressed displeasure at Styl Plus being excluded from such conversations
• Tunde’s claims about the type of music they made and their impact on the industry started an online debate

Nigerian singer Tunde Akinsanmi, a former member of the Styl Plus crew, recently aired his feelings about the group not being given their flowers in Afrobeats conversations.

Tunde was recently a guest on the Afrobeats Podcast with UK-based Nigerian media personality Adesola ‘Shopsydoo’ Olajide, and he shared his feelings about Styl Plus being ignored.

According to Tunde, it always shocks him when people talk about Afrobeats and Styl Plus’ name is always skipped. He went on to say that they had people like Plantashun Boiz who sang RnB but Styl Plus’ hit song, Olufunmi, was an Afrobeats track.

Tunde Styl Plus explained that people had to look at the beat and sound of the music to know it was Afrobeats and not RnB.

In his words:

“Before I even talk about where Styl Plus is going, it quite shocks me when they talk about Afrobeats and they skip our name because before then, we had people…Plantashun Boiz wasn’t Afrobeats, it was more of RnB, and then we came with Olufunmi which is not RnB, that’s Afrobeats! Check the beat itself, it’s not RnB, it’s Afrobeats. And then they start talking about pioneers of Afrobeats, yeah people actually paved the way for us as well just like we paved for others.”

Speaking further, Styl Plus’ Tunde added that they were the first music crew to have an independent record label and to also start giving credits to producers in their songs. He added that he was thankful they made music that stood the test of time.

He said:

“We were the first independent record label that broke into the market in Nigeria because everyone was under someone’s pay. Is it Dove Records?, Premier?Ebony? Ivory Music? Kennis Music? all of them, but we came as independent artists. We were the first crew that even had the ‘crew’ idea before Mo Hitz came. We were the first crew that started giving credits to our producers. Did you hear anybody mentioning their producers in the songs before us? So these things have to be said, so if you don’t know where you’re coming from, you don’t know where you’re going and you don’t know where we are. I’m thankful that we did songs that can stand test of time because the truth is a lot of people want us away but the songs will never go away. So when you want us away, the songs will remind you that we’re still here and we’re going to be here. Nobody knows tomorrow, I believe if we all come back together to do something, it’s going to resonate with the hardcore fans out there.”

See the video below:

Reactions as Styl Plus’ Tunde speaks on Afrobeats

Legit.ng gathered some reactions from Nigerians who had things to say about Styl Plus and if they had truly been excluded from Afrobeats conversations. Read their comments below:

obaksolo:

“What a coincidence 😂😂Tunde you are talking to one of the dudes that Skip your Names.”

Kingnebo5:

“Olunfunmi is a top 10 in afrobeats songs of all time.”

sylviateyei:

“Grab your flowers yourself sir, nobody gives anybody nowadays.”

Darkest_level:

“Respect bro but I’m this country you have to take ur flowers no body Dey give o.”

demi_semi_god’:

“Sope’s reaction when he said olufunmi wasn’t rnb just says it all. You know dam well that’s an rnb song.”

nomanlykjojo:

“Dem fit mention everybody name? Una too like worship.”

Oyepompin:

“Tunde lied about the part where artiste didn’t mentioned producers name till they came on board . Plantashun boiz used to mention nelson brown on there songs before you even dreamt of being in a group . So get that facts right, even the first all out famous group without being under any label and also doing independently ,setting up lots of group is Trybes men and Trybes record.”

Mrharribest:

“Olufunmi is totally R and B..Nothing afrobeats about it. Boyz to men could have done that song!”

dandybanny:

“Na Afro Rnb una do Tunde not AfroBeats.”

Hdemil:

“I have to disagree with him here. I enjoy stylplus’s music, but Afrobeats was already well-established before they came on the scene. By then, DJs, TV channels, and radio stations had already shifted to supporting homegrown sounds over foreign music.Stylplus definitely benefited from the groundwork laid by the true pioneers. If we’re calling Stylplus pioneers, where do we draw the line? We might as well call Asake a pioneer at this point.”

tfabmac:

“You people didn’t associate with Afrobeats at all, you were western music wannabes, however the music was enjoyable.”

spectafular:

“You were doing RnB not Afrobeat. Don’t you know your Genre? That you had a few african sounding tracks don’t mean you are an Afrobeat artist. Michael Jackson sang rock and RnB don’t change the fact that he is a Pop artist.”

ID Cabasa shares plan to remix Styl Plus’ Olufunmi

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that ace music producer, Olumide Ogunnade, professionally known as ID Cabasa, excited music lovers with a plan he shared while granting an interview.

He said he was working on remixing ‘Olufunmi’ by Styl-Plus, a sensational love song in the mid 2000s. He also announced plans to feature four top Nigerian artists in the project.

In the recording, the producer noted that Odumodublvck, Fire Boy DML, Joeboy, and BOJ are the artistes fans should expect in the project.

Proofreading by Nkem Ikeke, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.