“You don’t dictate art,” Queen Fumi’s emphatic clarification to an internet user
Beninese singer Queen Fumi replied on Sunday, November 16, 2025, to a follower’s comment asking her to stick to certain musical styles to “succeed” more easily. In a long tirade, the artist denounced a mentality she considers stifling for creativity in Benin and asserted her artistic freedom.
SUMMARY
The exchange happened under an ordinary post, but Queen Fumi’s reply was anything but ordinary. Faced with a netizen claiming that in Benin “even a number‑1 rap video has never reached a million views” and advising her to “be the Aya Nakamura of Benin”, the artist Queen Fumi did not mince her words. Calm but firm, the rapper denounced a mentality she considers toxic to the creation and development of local artists.
“That’s the kind of thinking that kills benco music and stifles your artists’ inspirations,” she wrote. For her, reducing an artist to a single style is equivalent to limiting their growth. Through this message, Queen Fumi wanted to remind everyone that she can navigate multiple musical worlds, even if some would like to see her “settle for just one thing”.
More than a simple rant, her statement exposes a recurring problem in the Beninese music industry: the pressure of numbers, views, comparisons and conformity.
“You don’t dictate art”
Queen Fumi went on to remind that art obeys no command. “You don’t dictate ART, you let the ARTist express themselves… But YOU DON’T DICTATE ART,” she insists. For the young rapper, the obsession with views should never take precedence over passion, authenticity and hard work.
She recalls that the legends of world music went through phases, experimented, evolved, sometimes over several years, before reaching the peak of their art. That’s why she refuses to become “either Aya or Tupac” to please others, and instead aims to become “the best possible version of Queen Fumi“.
The artist also says her musical universe ranges widely from Afropop to rap, drawing on varied inspirations. She even points to tracks similar to “Aya” in her catalog, proof that she has never been confined to a single mold.
A response that reflects a confident vision
In the rest of her message, Queen Fumi turns the criticism back on its author: “Have you even once had the chance to be a ‘advisor’ on continuing? Have you boosted?” She highlights a common phenomenon in Beninese society that is growing on social networks: unsolicited, sometimes discouraging advice from people who don’t actually support artists.
She nevertheless reassures her follower and reminds him that singing remains her first passion, “but if rap takes over à nan yi do mon we (You’ll take it like that),” she concludes with humor.
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