Even before the arrival of MTV and the internet, music traveled far and wide to be soaked up by different cultures. The hybrid genres that manifested at the chaotic wake of colonial history when cultures collided to find extraordinary expression in music has left behind a winding trail of music-staff that’ll make the head of even the most rounded music critic spin. The thin line that divides Afropop and Caribbean sounds will always be among the most debated issues because of their seemingly distinct sounds despite their similar influences and history. But perhaps the resolution lies in the recent broadening of both genres to meet across the Atlantic and form a global sound to rival other international genres.

Because both are third world genres, Afropop and Caribbean sounds never got a defined narrative in international music scenes and their preference for dancehall rhythm didn’t help either. However, the Caribbean sounds came as a result of Africa’s trans-Atlantic slave trade era when despite being in a strange land, the culture found a way to live on through the people. Refashioning African spoken word commentary into calypso and fashioning new percussion from makeshift instruments, their resilience and creativity gave us the Soca and steel drum sounds.

While the annual carnival helped boast the popularity of Caribbean sounds in international music scene, Afropop took a little while to catch up. Artists like Juan Luis Guerra have been charting on Billboards since the 90’s plus Kevin Lyttle and Rupee’s “Turn Me On” and “Tempted To Touch” respectively were global hits. Afropop only just began to pick up following Wizkid’s #1 feature on Billboards through his guest verse on Drake’s “One Dance”.

But lately, intricate sounds from both genres seem to weave in and out of each other as we’ve seen on Patoranking’s Chart topping album, God Over Everything and more recently, Wizkid’s Sounds From The Other Side album. The boom of dance music heralded by EDM in the global soundscape has allowed for a meeting point where both sounds can meld to rival other genres.

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