Wizkid performs at the O2 Arena in London, England. (Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage)
- Wizkid boasts over 32 hits, over 70 music awards, four albums and sold-out concerts around the world.
- Like many, his rise to fame can be characterized as objectifying women in some of his lyrics and music videos.
- Unlike other popular Nigerian musicians, Wizkid understood the power of transnational collaboration.
The global appreciation of Afrobeats music from West Africa has grown significantly in the last decade. Afrobeats stars are touring the world, racking up record sales, winning awards and collaborating with renowned international artists.
Seven of the nine African artists nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award, one of the world’s most sought-after music awards, are from West Africa. Most of these make music that is driven by Afrobeats sounds.
Afrobeats is a broad, generic term for contemporary African popular music with rhythmic and harmonic influences from West African Afrobeat and highlife traditions and Euro-American funk and hip-hop.
For the 2022 Grammy Awards, Wizkid from Nigeria was nominated twice: Best World Music Album and Best World Performance. Wizkid won his first Grammy Award in 2021 for the video for brown skin girla track he did with American superstar Beyoncé.
The 31-year-old stands out as a leading Afrobeats artist from Nigeria whose music has already had significant influence on the charts in many countries. Wizkid boasts over 32 hits, over 70 music awards, 50 singles, four albums and sold-out concerts in Africa, Europe and America. As a result, he has a fan base of over 30 million followers combined across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
His songs encompass the rhythmic texture of Nigerian pop that connects with West African diaspora communities around the world. And when it comes to her career, she set her sights firmly on America and strategically propelled herself to global fame.
Career
Wizkid was born as Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun on July 16, 1990 in Surulere, Lagos State, Nigeria. He started singing and recording music at the age of 11 in the group Glorious Five. He joined the Empire Mates Entertainment record label in 2009.
The songwriter, singer and performer worked hard in the early days of his music career in Nigeria’s highly competitive industry. In one of his hit songs, ojuelegba, narrates his experience in the Mo’Dogg studio in Lagos, where he fought for a better life. He became famous in Nigeria in 2011 after releasing his debut album titled Superstar. The album opened up many more live performance opportunities.
As a young star who foresaw that his music would travel beyond Nigeria, Wizkid took every opportunity to make connections across the music world. For example, when American R&B star Chris Brown (also famous for allegations of sexual violence against women) performed in Lagos in 2012, Wizkid was with him on stage and subsequently collaborated with Brown on the song african bad girl.
Unlike other popular Nigerian musicians, Wizkid understood the power of transnational collaboration. So he worked hard to align his music with the structure and texture of American hip-hop and R&B. In a 2019 interview, he said that he didn’t just make music to be an African superstar.
In 2016, the transnational appreciation of his music grew after he collaborated with Drake, the Canadian singer and rapper. It is a popular opinion among Nigerian music analysts and journalists that Wizkid’s collaboration with Drake marked the genesis of his worldwide appeal.
Since then, he has collaborated with A-list American stars like Beyoncé, Akon, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Nicki Minaj.
sexism
Wizkid’s music career has not been without controversy. Like many, his rise to fame was characterized by objectifying women in some of his lyrics and music videos. I have argued elsewhere that the sexual objectification of women has been a valuable advertising strategy and serves to enhance their social status and commercial viability in the Nigerian popular music industry.
Wizkid is particularly accused of emphasizing and objectifying female bodies in songs. On my bed Y face shit. Public protest culminated in the banning of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation On my bed in 2015. Despite this, its local and international appeal continued to grow.
the promised land of pop
Wizkid have won more prestigious local and international music awards than their Afrobeats peers. He has more than 100 nominations in different music award categories. Some of his big wins include Artist of the Year at the 2021 Apple Music Awards, two BET Awards for Best International Act, three Soul Train Music Awards, an MTV Europe Award for Best African Act, and three Billboard Music Awards, and that 2021 Grammy. .
For Africa, especially for Nigeria, the United States is the promised land of popular culture. To succeed in the United States is to conquer the world of pop. And an American Grammy is the most precious music award. Following the global expansion of West African immigrants consuming and promoting Afrobeats, the music will continue to win more listeners around the world as more people yearn for new sounds from Africa. Similarly, the demographics of its global consumers on YouTube and Spotify grow as major record labels such as Sony and Universal Music sign up and promote more Afrobeats artists.
Fueled by the growing spread of Afrobeats, Wizkid has achieved worldwide fame through a strategic set of musical goals throughout his career, boosting his image by courting controversy and big-name collaborators, infusing African-flavored Western pop into the process.
