Emmanuel Daraloye, a Nigeria based music journalist has stated that Fuji music might die soon. He made this known recently while featuring as a guest on “Cruise Lounge,” on Adamimogo 105.1 FM, Ibadan, Oyo State. The programme which lasted for about one hour, had the host Ajayi Churchill better known as Churchill Kay asking the revered writer some entertainment related questions.

When asked about the future of Fuji music, he said, “I’ve been saying this for like five years that fuji is a dying genre. How do you quantify something that’s dying? You won’t have someone to continue the legacy. In the last ten years, has Fuji as a genre produced any new artist? The problem is this, Afrobeats is hijacking the artists (Asake, Seyi Vibez, Qdot, etc) that Fuji ought to breed. That’s just it. Because now, if artists want to come out, they’d prefer coming out as an Afrobeats artist to a fuji artist. Even Destiny Kid that I thought might hold the fuji legacy, this is 2025, he’s nowhere to be found as an artist. There was a time he used to turn Afrobeats into fuji.

I might be wrong. There might be artists underground still trying to find their feet. You know fuji can be subdivided into many ways. We have local fuji, like in Oshodi, Mushin, even in Ibadan metropolis, we have fuji artists that might not have blown. Some of them might have fame in their vicinity. But that’s not what we’re talking about; I mean global or national fame. If we mention Pasuma, Obesere and Saheed Osupa, they are well-known. But do we have people who are close to their level in the genre? It will be a problem if these three pillars leave, who will take over.”

On Seyi Vibez comeback album, the Afrocritic senior music editor said “I don’t know if Seyi will come back. It’s in God’s hands. But I can tell you one thing that the street hasn’t forgotten Seyi Vibez. If you remember, for the past six months, he hadn’t released anything, not even a collaboration. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. And as a journalist, I don’t want to be believing in hearsay stories about him and Dapper. What I can tell you is that he said he’s no more with Dapper and about his coming back, that’s in his hands and God. The music industry is competitive. If a musician falls, ten artists are coming to replace you.”

On whether artists can retire from music, the former editor of MusicNolly said “ as a musician, you’ll always record. They always record. Even if they won’t release. That’s why we see some posthumous albums from some of them after their demise. And besides, there’s no law that says if you record you must release it. When we grow up, our desires change.

He tipped Bhadboy OML, Tml Vibez and Magixx as 2025 next rated artistes.

Emmanuel Daraloye has been documenting Afrobeats for more than a decade. He has over one thousand album reviews in his archive.