Fuse ODG never gets his credit; he deserves a place among Afrobeats icons

Nigerian media personality Adesope Olajide has stated that Ghanaian musician Fuse ODG does not get enough recognition for his early role in making Afrobeats popular globally.

Speaking on the Imo Podcast, Adesope said that while names like Davido, Burna Boy, and Wizkid are often mentioned as pioneers of the Afrobeats wave, Fuse ODG is rarely given the same level of credit, even though he broke major barriers.

“Fuse ODG never gets his credit. Yes, we mention Davido, Burna Boy, and Wizkid. Fuse ODG deserves a place somewhere in the clouds of Afrobeatz icons. He broke boundaries, he was on the MOBO, he was performing on live television. He was at the BBC, this brother shut it down,” Adesope said.

He explained that Fuse ODG was one of the first African artistes to achieve huge success in the UK Afrobeats scene. According to him, Fuse ODG made history by becoming the first Afrobeats artiste to have an official UK tour in cities like Newcastle and Glasgow. He also collaborated with big international musicians like Ed Sheeran.

“Fuse ODG had the first official UK tour by an Afrobeats artiste in Newcastle, Glasgow. He never gets his credit because Ghanaians are usually very calm, they don’t like to blow their trumphet. But if you look at the statistics, he did an arena tour with Ed Sheeran,” he added.

Adesope also talked about why Fuse ODG’s dominance in the music industry was short-lived. He said one major reason was that Fuse and producer Killbeatz went their separate ways.

According to him, another reason was an incident in 2014 involving British musician and political activist Bob Geldof. Back in 2014, Fuse ODG was invited to join Bob Geldof’s Band Aid 30 project, which aimed to raise funds for Ebola-affected countries in West Africa through the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

However, Fuse ODG later pulled out of the project, saying the song’s message did not align with his vision for his movement, This Is New Africa (TINA), which promotes positive African representation.

“He came into the game with one of the most iconic producers, Killbeatz. They created the whole Azonto wave and then they went their separate ways… Second of all Fuse is a big Pan-Africanist, that time they didn’t want to hear somebody who’s enjoyed so much success in mainstream UK be so black power. He criticised Bob Geldof for Live Aid… that’s blacklist,” Adesope said.

Meanwhile, you can watch GhanaWeb TV’s exclusive interview with the ‘queen’ of décor, making strides since Rawlings’ era

AK/EB