“Nobody Be Like Woman”: Popular Music and the Discourses of Gender Justice in Nigeria

This paper discusses Afro-feminist consciousness in Afrobeats music, an art form that advocates for gender equality in Africa. Afrobeats music has evolved into Africa’s contemporary popular music, linking nations within Africa as well as the diasporan contingent. Courting the egalitarian and socially conscious philosophy of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the contemporary Afrobeats artists entertain, protest, and challenge the enduring subjugation of women in Africa. Afrobeats divas’ expressions amplify the voices of the “voiceless” women who undergo various forms of gender-based discrimination and violence within the heteropatriarchal society. This paper engages feminist campaigns in music as artists engage themes of women’s empowerment and gender equity to negotiate patriarchal values, demonstrating the potency of Afrobeats music in shaping feminist and gender ideology and discourse in Nigeria. Through qualitative multimodal discourse analysis of musical works and artists’ social media commentary, the paper primarily examines women’s agency in the contemporary political feminist zeitgeist enabled by Afrobeats music in the age of hashtag activism.