Billy Que Credits UK Promoters for Afrobeats Success

Billy Que highlights how UK promoters including DJ Abass and Ayo Shonaiya helped bring Afrobeats music into the UK mainstream

Music promoter Biliamin Olabanji, widely known in the entertainment circuit as Billy Que, has detailed how he and other UK-based showbiz promoters, including SMADE, Ayo Shonaiya, DJ Abass, and Tim Westwood, propelled Afrobeats into the UK mainstream music scene. The revelation was made during a recent interview on Monday, November 24, 2025.

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Billy Que explained that before Afrobeats gained traction in the UK, genres such as Garage, Grime, Afroswing, and Caribbean Dancehall dominated the music landscape.

By organising concerts and promotional events featuring Nigerian artistes, especially emerging stars, the genre steadily gained acceptance among British audiences.

“Through our efforts by inviting talented and popular Nigerian artistes to the UK for shows, the genre gradually started gaining acceptance and popularity. It even caught the attention of the guys at BBC 1 Xtra, and many DJs started spotlighting the genre,” Billy Que said, noting the fusion of West African sounds with British urban music.

He credited early pioneers like JJC, producer for the Black British Hip-Hop group Big Brovaz, for incorporating African influences into British music, and acknowledged the role of Ayo Shonaiya and DJ Abass in carving out media and live-event spaces for African and Black diasporic music.

Billy Que also highlighted the Notting Hill Carnival as a crucial platform for Afrobeats performances in the UK, and mentioned BEN TV, under Alistair Soyode, as a pioneering African music entertainment outlet that featured Nigerian stars including Tony Tetuila, Jazzman Olofin, The Trybesmen, Ruggedman, and even Jamaica’s Chaka Demus & Pliers.

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The promoter’s reflections underscore the collaborative effort of UK-based organisers in elevating Afrobeats from niche appeal to mainstream recognition, cementing its influence in British music culture.