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Nigerian singer Divine Ikubor, popularly called Rema, has claimed that the recent addition of an Afrobeats category to some international awards was a result of the success of his hit song ‘Calm Down.’
Appearing on ‘The Breakfast Club’, Rema reiterated that he is on the same level with Afrobeats giants Wizkid, Davido and Burna Boy.
“I don’t want to feel like an Afrobeats Messiah. Sometimes I can’t wait for the OGs to say it but since no one is saying it, I might have to say it myself,” he said.
“Respect to the OGs but yeah, I am one of the Big 4… Something as little as a major award shows creating an Afrobeats category because the success of my song has already opened gates.”
MTV Video Music Awards created the Best Afrobeats Song category last year with Rema’s ‘Calm Down Remix’ with Selena Gomez winning the maiden award.
“Africa in the house!” Rema started his acceptance speech. “Shout out to Fela (Kuti) who started Afrobeats in the first place…and I want to give a big shout out to the next generation of Afrobeats.”
Rema’s speech elicited wide applause at the venue as he also recognised fellow Afrobeats stars such as Davido, Wizkid, Timaya and even producer Don Jazzy, who he called Daddy.
According to American Music Stats Company, Chart Data, ‘Calm Down’ becomes the first Afrobeats song in history to earn over 1 billion on-demand streams in the US,” Chart Data tweeted.
In August last year, ‘Calm Down remix’ with Selena Gomez became the first African song to hit the billion mark in Spotify’s history.
