How Drake Helped Put Afrobeats on the Global Map (One Dance & Beyond) Afrobeats did not become global because of one artist or one son...
How Drake Helped Put Afrobeats on the Global Map (One Dance & Beyond)
Afrobeats did not become global because of one artist or one song. Nigerian and African musicians had been building the genre internationally for years before it reached today's level of worldwide recognition. However, some collaborations created major bridges between African music and mainstream Western pop, and few were as visible as Drake's work with Wizkid.
From “Ojuelegba” to the massive “One Dance”, Drake's collaborations with African artists helped expose Afrobeats-influenced sounds to millions of listeners who might not have encountered them otherwise. His later work with artists such as Tems and Black Coffee continued that cross-cultural connection.
So, how exactly did Drake help Afrobeats reach a wider global audience? Let's look at the journey.
Before “One Dance”: Afrobeats Was Already Growing
It is important to put the story in context.
Long before Drake released “One Dance,” African musicians were already taking Nigerian and Ghanaian sounds beyond their home markets. Artists such as Fela Kuti, 2Baba, D'banj, P-Square, Femi Kuti and others helped build international awareness of African music in different eras.
By the 2010s, a new generation was pushing contemporary Afrobeats even further. Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage and other Nigerian artists were developing audiences across Africa, the United Kingdom and beyond.
GRAMMY's history of Afrobeats identifies Wizkid's “Ojuelegba” as an important turning point. The song attracted the attention of Drake and Skepta, who joined the remix, giving the Nigerian record additional international exposure.
This is where Drake's role becomes particularly interesting.
Drake and Wizkid: The “Ojuelegba” Connection
Wizkid's “Ojuelegba” was already a meaningful Nigerian record before Drake became involved.
The song told a story connected to Wizkid's Lagos upbringing and represented a very different kind of Afrobeats record from the stereotypical international party song. Its success demonstrated that African music could travel internationally because of its story, atmosphere and authenticity.
Drake and Skepta's involvement in the remix created a bridge between Lagos, London and Toronto.
For Wizkid, the collaboration provided another major connection to the international music industry. For Drake, it showed that his interest in African sounds was becoming more than a passing experiment.
That relationship would become much bigger in 2016.
“One Dance” Changed the Conversation
When Drake released “One Dance” featuring Wizkid and Kyla in 2016, the song reached an audience far beyond the traditional Afrobeats community.
Billboard Canada records “One Dance” as a 10-week No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was also described by Billboard as Afrobeats-inflected and part of Drake's growing exploration of Afrobeats and dancehall.
That achievement mattered because the song was not simply an African record becoming popular in Africa. It was a mainstream global pop hit carrying clear African musical influence, with Wizkid's contribution embedded directly into one of the biggest songs of the era.
For listeners who had never paid much attention to Nigerian music, “One Dance” became an introduction.
“One Dance” helped demonstrate that an Afrobeats-influenced record could sit comfortably at the center of mainstream global pop.
But it is important not to reduce the achievement to Drake alone. Wizkid's vocals, songwriting contribution, production collaborators and the broader Afrobeats movement were essential parts of the record's identity.
Why “One Dance” Was So Important for Afrobeats
The significance of “One Dance” goes beyond its chart position.
1. It Introduced New Listeners to African Sounds
Drake already had an enormous international audience. When he incorporated Afrobeats-influenced sounds into a major single, those sounds reached listeners across North America, Europe, Africa and other markets.
For many casual listeners, “One Dance” was an entry point into the wider world of African pop music.
2. Wizkid Became More Visible Globally
The collaboration significantly expanded Wizkid's international profile. GRAMMY describes him as one of the influential figures in the global rise of Afrobeats and specifically notes that his collaborations with artists including Drake helped elevate his profile internationally.
That visibility would later become important as Wizkid continued building his own international career.
3. Major Artists Began Taking African Collaborations More Seriously
“One Dance” was part of a larger shift in the music industry. Global stars increasingly began collaborating with African artists instead of treating African music as something completely separate from mainstream pop.
The result was a growing exchange of sounds between Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, Canada and the United States.
Drake Took the Sound Further on “More Life”
Drake's interest in African and Caribbean sounds did not stop with “One Dance.”
His 2017 project More Life continued his exploration of international sounds. Billboard notes that Drake's growing interest in Afrobeats and dancehall around the period of “One Dance” and “Controlla” helped point toward the globally influenced sound of More Life.
The project contained influences from several regions and musical cultures, showing that Drake's approach to global music was broader than a single collaboration.
One notable example was “Get It Together,” involving South African producer and DJ Black Coffee and singer Jorja Smith. Pitchfork highlighted the African rhythmic character of the collaboration and Black Coffee's desire for African music to reach larger stages rather than remain confined to a “world music” category.
This helped reinforce an important idea: African sounds could be part of contemporary mainstream music rather than being treated as a separate category.
Drake and Tems: A New Generation of the Connection
Drake's connection with African music continued into the 2020s.
In 2022, Nigerian singer Tems appeared alongside Drake on Future's “Wait for U.” The song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, according to Billboard's retrospective of Drake's No. 1 singles.
The collaboration also became a major award milestone. Tems' performance on “Wait for U” contributed to the song winning Best Melodic Rap Performance at the 2023 GRAMMY Awards.
By this point, African artists were no longer simply appearing around the edges of international pop. They were becoming central contributors to major global records.
Drake Was Part of a Much Bigger Afrobeats Movement
It would be inaccurate to say Drake “made” Afrobeats global.
African artists had already spent decades developing the music, building audiences and creating international connections. The rise of Afrobeats also involved streaming platforms, African diasporas, Nigerian and Ghanaian producers, DJs, social media, international touring and a growing appetite for African music around the world.
Wizkid's later success with “Essence” featuring Tems provides a good example. GRAMMY describes Made in Lagos as a project that further accelerated the worldwide rise of Nigerian music, while “Essence” helped establish Afrobeats more firmly in mainstream U.S. music culture.
Artists such as Burna Boy, Davido, Rema, Tems, Ayra Starr and many others have also played major roles in continuing that expansion.
In other words, Drake helped open and amplify certain doors, but African artists walked through them with their own music, identity and creative direction.
From “One Dance” to a Global Afrobeats Era
The years following “One Dance” have seen an extraordinary expansion of African music internationally.
Afrobeats now reaches listeners through Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Audiomack, TikTok, radio, festivals and international tours. African artists collaborate with musicians from virtually every major music market.
That evolution is especially important for Nigerian independent artists.
The global success of Afrobeats means an artist can create music in Lagos and potentially reach listeners in London, New York, Toronto, Johannesburg or Los Angeles without first becoming famous in every local market.
For upcoming musicians, the lesson is not simply to copy “One Dance.” The bigger lesson is to understand how authentic African identity can coexist with global accessibility.
For more on Wizkid's international journey, check out our related article: How Wizkid Took Afrobeats Global – A Look at His Legacy.
You can also explore Top 10 Wizkid Songs of All Time for more about the records that helped define his career.
And if you want to understand the wider influence of African rhythms on contemporary music, read How Afrobeat Influences Modern Pop Music.
What Drake's Afrobeats Collaborations Really Represent
Looking back, the importance of Drake's African collaborations is not simply about chart numbers.
They represent a period when the boundaries between African music and mainstream global pop became increasingly difficult to define.
“Ojuelegba” connected Wizkid with a wider international audience. “One Dance” turned Afrobeats-influenced sounds into a massive global pop moment. “More Life” continued Drake's international musical exploration. And “Wait for U” demonstrated how an African artist such as Tems could become a central part of another major global hit.
The larger story, however, belongs to African musicians themselves. Drake's platform helped amplify the sound, but the creativity, culture and talent came from a musical movement that was already growing.
The Afrobeats Global Map Keeps Expanding
Today, Afrobeats is no longer simply something international audiences “discover.” It is part of the global music conversation.
The journey from Lagos clubs and local radio to international charts and stadium stages has involved countless artists, producers, DJs, songwriters and fans.
Drake's collaborations with Wizkid, Black Coffee and Tems are important chapters in that story because they helped connect African music with enormous international audiences at crucial moments.
But the story is still being written.
New Nigerian and African artists are continuing to experiment with Afrobeats, hip-hop, R&B, amapiano, dancehall and alternative sounds. The next global sound could come from an established superstar — or from an independent artist recording music in a bedroom studio today.
For a look at emerging Nigerian talent, check out Top Nigerian Artists to Watch: Rising & Underground Talents.
Final Thoughts
Drake did not single-handedly put Afrobeats on the global map. That achievement belongs to generations of African musicians and the wider African music ecosystem.
However, his collaborations gave the genre and its artists access to some of the biggest audiences in mainstream music. “One Dance”, in particular, became a defining crossover moment, while later collaborations showed that the relationship between African music and global pop was becoming increasingly permanent.
The most important part of the story may be what happened next: African artists did not simply remain features on international records. They increasingly became the stars, hitmakers and creative forces driving the conversation themselves.
What do you think? Did “One Dance” change the way the world viewed Afrobeats, or was it simply one major moment in a much bigger African music movement? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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