Nigerian musician Joshua Iniyezo, widely known as Solidstar, has criticised the dominance of Afrobeats in the country's music scene, saying it has restricted artistic versatility. He made the comments in a series of posts on X, where he expressed concern that the genre's popularity has pushed artists to focus on trends rather than musical quality. According to Solidstar, the rise of Afrobeats has led Nigerian musicians to confine themselves to a single genre, limiting creative exploration. He noted that when he emerged fully in 2009 or 2010, the music landscape was more diverse, with genres like Fuji thriving alongside others. "Nigerian musicians aren't versatile. Stocked on one genre (AFROBEATS). Nothing like AFROBEATS when I came out fully in 2009/2010, Fuji was even huge! Make dem stop overrating nonsense and start selling good music," he wrote. Solidstar did not name specific artists but implied a broader industry shift away from genre experimentation. His remarks reignite ongoing debates about creativity, originality, and commercial pressure in contemporary Nigerian music. The singer, known for his work with the defunct group Stargate, positioned his critique as a call for higher artistic standards. He emphasized that music should prioritise quality over trend-chasing. The post drew mixed reactions from fans and followers on social media. Some supported his view, recalling earlier eras of Nigerian music with varied influences. Others defended Afrobeats as a legitimate and successful evolution of local sound.
Solidstar claims Afrobeats has made Nigerian musicians unversatile while promoting his own past era as superior, creating a contradiction between critique and self-positioning. He dismisses current artists for chasing trends yet frames his 2009–2010 emergence as a golden period without offering comparable output now. His call for better music relies on subjective nostalgia rather than measurable decline in quality. The argument centres personal perspective over verifiable industry shifts.
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