Why Does Afrobeats So Often Reduce Women to Bodies, Money and Rewards?

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Afrobeats is one of Nigeria’s biggest cultural exports, but many popular songs still portray women through objectification, money and transactional stereotypes. A catchy beat can make listeners overlook lyrics that reduce women to bodies, temptations or rewards. Songs such as Wizkid’s “Soco”, Kizz Daniel’s “Pak n Go” and Shallipopi’s “Cast” have fuelled debate over how women are represented. These portrayals do not create misogyny on their own, but repeated messages in music and social media can normalise harmful assumptions about women and relationships. Afrobeats can tell richer stories. Artists including Tems, Simi and Bloody Civilian, as well as Johnny Drille, Adekunle Gold and Ric Hassani, show that romance and desire can be explored with vulnerability, partnership and emotional depth. Critiquing harmful lyrics is not an attack on Afrobeats; it is a call for women to be represented as full human beings, not just bodies or prizes.

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