History Made At The 2024 GRAMMYs By These African Artists

Burna Boy Performing At The 66th Grammy Awards – Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty

This year’s Grammys marked the beginning of a new chapter for Afrobeats, Amapiano and all genres of music from the continent of Africa! With the addition of the new category “Best African Music Performance” and the first ever Afrobeats performance on the main stage at the Grammys, history was made Sunday night!

See More Music From The 54 Countries Of Africa

Two of the top music genres in African music are Afrobeats and Amapiano. Both coming from 2 different countries in Africa and both with 2 very different feels. Afrobeats is a music genre that originated in West Africa in the 90s (debate between starting in Nigeria or Ghana) This genre is a combination of sounds influenced by house music, hip hop, jùjú, ndombolo, R&B, soca, and dancehall. Afrobeats is an evolution of Afrobeat which is a Nigerian music genre that involves the combination of traditional Yoruba and Igbo music and highlife with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. You can find music dating back to the 60s in this genre.

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Amapiano means “the pianos” or “piano people” in Zulu, one of South Africa‘s 11 official languages. Amapiano is a South African subgenre of house music that emerged in the mid-2010s. Amapiano DJs like Major League DJz and Uncle Waffles as well as artists like Tyla have helped to bring this genre throughout the world.

First Afrobeats Performance At The Grammys

The African Giant himself Burna Boy will forever be the first Afrobeats artist to grace the Grammys stage! He was joined by Brandy and 21 Savage as the trio performed a few of Burna’s Grammy nominated hits, “On Form,” “City Boys” and “Sitting On Top of the World.” Burna Boy was awarded his first Grammy in 2021 for Best Global Music which was previously the only category available for African genres of music. See his acceptance speech in the video below.

Burna Boy is from Port Harcourt, Nigeria and released his first album in 2013. (click here to see more about Nigeria’s entertainment, food and more)

First Winner for “Best African Music Performance”

Tyla After Receiving Her Grammy Award – Source: Emma McIntyre / Getty

Tyla‘s music has been breaking bourdaries for a few years now, debuting her first single “Getting Late” in 2019. Tyla’s fame has continued to rise and her top charting hit “Water” took over the world as many attempted the viral “water challenge“. After the announcement of new Grammy categories, many were anticipating who will be the first to win “Best African Music Performance.” Tyla will now go down in history as the first winner of this award! Checkout her acceptance speech in the video below.

Tyla is from Johannesburg, South Africa and released her first album in 2023. (click here to see more about South Africa’s entertainment, food and more)

“Giving African music its own category would highlight and celebrate the diversity and richness of Africa,” Shawn Thwaites the project manager at the Recording Academy shared, “This is a great step forward!” Continue scrolling to see music from each of the artist nominated in this category. Also See:

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