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I’m sure some of you agree with me that Nigerian Afrobeat Music is defining the African Sound.

The first things that get to you when you touch down in Lagos are the humidity, the heat and the sound of Nigerian Afrobeat Music bumping in cars and shops. While you’re caught up in traffic, you can obviously notice the billboards with Nigerian local artists on them all over the city. There’s a lot of energy like no other within this buzzing city of approximately 20 million people that not only churns out the music but attracts aspiring musicians from all over Nigeria.

When the originator of Nigerian Afrobeat, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, first came up with Afrobeats music back in late 60s Nigeria, no one would have ever foreseen or predicted the rise of West African music to its current form and state. In the past couple of years, the infant sound of Africa has managed to travel beyond borders and boundaries: not just entertaining listeners alone, but by creating a sense of pride about the continent. First there was music from the Congo, with rhumba spearheading the music scene in Africa, then came makossa from Cameroon, kwaito from South Africa, highlife from Ghana – and now, Nigerian Afrobeat Music (also known as Naija beats) from Nigeria.