– An Upclose View At AfroGospel Historical Timeline & It’s Contributors
The year was 2013, Henrisoul had dropped “Gbagoro Agbago”, Ada Ehi had dropped “Bobo Me”, “I’m Rich”, Frank Edwards’ “You Too Dey Bless Me” was still making waves and just in the following year, “Okaka” will follow. Tim Godfrey’s “Agidigba” has become quite sensational and a crop of Gospel sound that was upbeat and urban seems to be creating a perfect sub-genre to the contemporary sound which was the order of the day. The youths seems to be finding bigger expression although the coming years were going to prove quite challenging due to acceptability.
Nevertheless the Christian youths seems to be brewing a sound. Unacceptable as it was in those days, they were going to go through the hurdle, morphing with each passing year till Afro-Gospel was eventually birthed and widely accepted.
The change that was going on in the years 2013/2014 was not limited to Gospel, neither did it start with the Gospel. In the mainstream, the crop of artists that have today become the forerunner for Afrobeats were also emerging or transitioning. Afrobeats was going to go from dry horns, long instrumental solos, complex jazzy rhythms and big bands to digital sounds that retained elements of the parent sound, however urbanized.
The name Afrobeats was creeping back into showbiz and it was no longer limited to the jazzy rhythm but a genre of music that was formally tagged “commercial music” from 2004-2010, finally has a definite name. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti will continue to be credited however for the coinage and the genre.
The metamorphosis was not that smooth for the Gospel however. The initial influx of youths that pioneered the movement were still caught up on the Rap and Hip Hop Era of the last decade of the 90s and first decade of the new millenium.
While the mainstream was already experimenting with the new sound of Afrobeats and making remarkable strides, the Gospel was trying to present Rap to the church. While this met with fortified brick wall, a few did make a headway with their sound experimentations.
Predecessors such as BOUQUI, RoofTop MCs, Provabs, did hit the limelight with heavy input of Rap in their content, while Kush, Word2God, Jeremiah Gyang, Resonance, Nikki Laoye broke in with alternative sounds and R&B. Sammie Okposo, Asu Ekiye and a handful of others also experimented with Contemporary Gospel music mixing with Urban sounds but it was these crop of Christian Hip Hopers who seems to be facing the greatest challenge breaking into the Christian market that will face the greatest challenge.
“Shock Therapy” by Rooftop MCs | 2003
As History as always revealed, Challenges are the bedrock for inventions. So is also true for AfroGospel historical timeline. A genre that has become quite an household name and has spread globally.
As Frank Edwards tracks such as “Okaka”, “Something Dey Move My Head”, and more became household anthem, giving that he was already crossing over from the Gospel category into the mainstream, many audience, especially the youthful range, were drawn to his sound. He signed up a couple of the guys also experimenting with like-sound in that period including Giljoe, Soultune, Nkay and Divine Ukaogo. Rocktown Records was becoming a movement with Frank Edwards at the lead.
“Okaka” by Frank Edwards | 2014
It is worthy to note that Mike Abdul who was still solidly a member of the Midnight Crew also floated Spaghetti Records in this period and his lead single “Morire”, featuring one of the first signee on the label Monique has also crossed-over into the mainstream. He would later name his 2017 album “Cross Over” having successfully migrated his sound to become fully mainstream and acceptable.
“Morire” by Mike Abdul | 2016
Under Rocktown Records, Giljoe was releasing super amazing sounds such as “Thanksgiving,” “Superstar,” and more. It was “Christian Baller” that actually did it for most, registering Giljoe as a force to reckon with where AfroGospel will be concerned in the near future. He went on to release “Eledumare” in 2015 with a colourful video to it, just as Nkay was perfecting the video for “Your Love”, his first official video under Rocktown Records.
Soultune was the first to leave Rocktown Records. He released the amazing song “Jesus My Love.” It was a fusion of what will later be known as AfroGospel and Reggae tune. His album “The Chosen One”, which dropped in 2015 will also stay true to the sound. Divine Ukaogo will later follow, then Nkay and Giljoe in much later years.
These artists may have left Rocktown Records but Frank Edwards has inspired a sound that they cannot leave behind. In 2019, Giljoe released the E.P, “AfroGospel to the World,” alongside Nkay and there began a movement. It marked a significant milestone in AfroGospel historical timeline because it is on record that the term AfroGospel was first used officially with the 2018 announcement of the forthcoming E.P
The caption of the documentary that was released as a trailer for the album explained:
“Finally the world is about to experience the dawn of a New Sound from the pioneers of the modern Afro-Gospel genre “Gil Joe and Nkay”. Get Ready to be blown away as the first single off the project titled “With Me” is set to be released on Saturday the 24th of November, [2018].”
“#AfroGospelToTheWorld” by Gil Joe | 2019
Giljoe would go on to tour Canada in 2019/2020, carrying the new christened sound AfroGospel, along as he goes. He would tour Canada again with Limoblaze in 2022. In 2020, Rapzilla asked Giljoe about being the pioneer of AfroGospel, he said:
“To be very honest I would say that the term pioneer doesn’t always revolve around one person, (pioneers: like a person among so many others that started something), so I wouldn’t say like I started the Afro-Gospel as a sound, I would say I met it in the industry. There were many amazing God gifted artists that have been playing that sound and reaching out. A few of them are: Henrisoul, Frank Edward, and Rooftop MCs. I grew up listening to Rooftop MCs. They did an amazing job with the urban Gospel, just a fusion of the Afrobeats because obviously we are Africans. I would say that those people contributed massively to the growth of the sound generally.”
Like Giljoe, many Christian Hip Hop artists began switching there styles from major Rap emphasis to AfroGospel sounds. Artists like ObaReengy, Limoblaze, Angeloh, Marizu, Benjiszzy, Greatman Takit and more were speedily leaving their Rap emphasis to major more on this sound that has become quite accepted – or showing tendencies of acceptability.
In 2020, couple of releases by Limoblaze began hitting the limelight. Singles such as “Your Love” featuring DJ Horphuray, “Blow My Mind” and “Okay” featuring Ada Ehi became quite viral with amazing videos complementing them. These singles will project the vocal dexterity of Limoblaze, diversification towards Urban Afrocentric tune, slangs and wordplay.
Alex Amos (SelahAfrik) reached out to ask about his motive of championing the budding development of AfroGospel in July 2020, Just before his album with Da’ Truth and first collaboration with Reach Records, headed by Lecrae, dropped. It was obvious that his switch from Christian Hip Hop and Rap to Afrobeat was deliberate and targeted.
“It isn’t like I don’t still rap,” he said. “but I am pushing for something [Acceptance of AfroGospel] so I may not put out as much rap songs at the moment […] The experimentation is a thing of growth in my journey and that’s where I am right now.”
He would get signed to Reach Records [headed by Lecrae and based in the USA] and break into US Billboard Afrobeat songs chart with “Jireh” [a reworking of “Jireh” by Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music], featuring Lecrae and Happi, in 2022.
The AfroGospel single attracted listeners from Nigeria and all around the world. A marker for the success of the song was the statistics of reaching over 2.1m views on YouTube, 70K Reels on Instagram, and over 20,000 creates on TikTok in 3 months of its release. “Jireh” also appeared on Billboard’s Afrobeat US Song Chart for 3 weeks, and sat for 2 consecutive weeks on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Song chart. Sitting at #36 and#20 respectively.
“Jireh (My Provider)” by Limoblaze Featuring Lecrae x Happi | 2022
Limoblaze shattered the barriers that kept AfroGospel indigenous, making it a globally accepted sound like its Afrobeats counterpart. In 2023, he was nominated in 2 categories at the GMA Dove Awards for Rap/Hip Hop Song of the year for “Jireh” (My Provider) Featuring Happi and Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year for “Sunday in Lagos.” He also presented an award alongside American singer Jenn Johnson.
When a genre of Gospel music begins to receive demand from the church, then you know that the genre has really broken barriers. For many years, the struggle of Christian Hip Hop practitioners and lovers in Nigeria was acceptability, unlike the Contemporary counterpart that has always enjoyed receptiveness in the Christian community. A handful of CHH artist did breakthrough but it seems the uneven pattern by which that was achived could not be replicated successfully due to obvious reasons — until now. In 2023, The Covenant Nation opened its door to the first edition of the AfroGospel concert headline by Limoblaze, with an impressive lineup that includes; Angeloh, DJ Horphoray, Gaisebaba, IBQuake, Greatman Takit.
“Limoblaze Live in Concert” at Covenant Nation | 2023
The 2nd edition held on the 11th of August, 2024 with artists such as Gaisebaba, Greatman Takit, Prinx Emmanuel and more. It was a victorious moment in the AfroGospel historical timeline as the tradition of a fest was being held for a second year by a church for AfroGospel!
“AfroGospel Rave” at Covenant Nation (Lagos Island) | 2024
An Upclose View At AfroGospel Historical Timeline & It’s Contributors
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