Afrobeat

American

[af-roh-beet] / ˈæf roʊˌbit /

noun

plural

Afrobeats

a genre of music that originated in Nigeria in the 1960s and combines elements of traditional West African musical styles with funk, soul, and jazz.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The exchange of ideas between the two would later be seen as formative to the development of Afrobeat, a political cocktail blending highlife with funk, jazz and soul.

From Barron's • Feb. 9, 2026

Taylor's influence extended far beyond Ghana, with elements of his music appearing in the soul, jazz, hip-hop and Afrobeat genres that dominate the African and global charts today.

From Barron's • Feb. 9, 2026

In this sense, Afrobeat is not only Nigerian.

From BBC • Jan. 29, 2026

Reflecting his heritage, the music is full of Afrobeat rhythms, log drums, spiritual mantras and lilting guitar lines.

From BBC • Sep. 10, 2025

This includes older blended traditions such as rumba and samba, newer but well-established blended genres such as reggae and Afrobeat, and groups with unique experimental sounds borrowing from more than one tradition.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023