Nigerian singer, Adedamola Adefolahan, aka Fireboy DML, has claimed that the Afrobeats scene before his emergence was just “vibes” and lacked “pure soul and lyricism.”

Speaking in a recent interview with BET, Fireboy explained that he created his own sub-genre of Afrobeats because he knew his sound was “different.”

He argued that his genre, unlike mainstream Afrobeats, has “some depth.”

He said, “The Afrobeats scene before I came in. It was built on vibes. But I realized that there was something lacking, and that was pure soul and lyricism in our music. That was what I brought into the game. That’s why I call it Afro-Life — it’s Afrobeats that has some depth to it.”

Fireboy said listening to artists like Elton John, James Blunt, Celine Dion, Wande Coal and 2Baba while growing up inspired the kind of music he makes.