Wizkid, whose real name is Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. He also goes by the nickname Star Boy.
Wizkid started recording music at an early age of 11 as Lil Prinz and was a member of the Glorious Five, a group he formed with his friends from church. He came into limelight in the Nigerian music scene with his debut song, Holla At Your Boy, released in January 2010. He has since kept raising the bar to become one of the greatest artists from Africa, representing the Green White Green (Nigerian) flag in remarkable spots across the world.
Wizkid’s background/early life
Born on 16 July 1990 to a Muslim father, Alhaji Muniru Olatunji Balogun, and a Christian mother, Dolapo Jane Balogun, in Lagos, Nigeria. Wizkid grew up in Surulere with 12 female siblings, listening to King Sunny Ade, Fela Kuti, and Bob Marley. In addition to his mother, his father also has two other wives.
Wizkid’s educational background is quite interesting. He is said to have attended Ijebu Ode Grammar School and was also an undergraduate of Sociology at Lagos State University (LASU) before dropping out in 2009 to focus on his music ambition. He was later admitted into Lead City University in Ibadan to study International Relations but he again dropped out after two academic sessions at the school.
Some quick facts worthy of note about Wizkid:
- He is the youngest African artiste to get a Grammy nomination.
- Wizkid is the first African pop star to perform/sell-out Royal Albert Hall in London.
- He is the Nigerian artiste with the most award nominations in Nigeria.
- He is the first African to bag seven Billboard nominations.
- He is the first Nigerian artiste to win three Billboard awards.
- Wizkid is the first afro-pop artiste to appear in the Guinness Book of World Records.
- He is the first Nigerian artiste to win an award from the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
- Thanks to his collaboration on One Dance, a track he was featured on by Canadian rapper, Drake, Wizkid is the only Nigerian artiste to maintain the number one spot on iTunes US Chart for more than one week.
- 24 hours after its release, Wizkid’s Come Closer on which he featured Drake got up to a million views on YouTube. This makes Wizkid the first African artiste whose video hit the million mark within the first 24 hours of its release.
- The governor of Minnesota, Mark Brandt Dayton honoured the singer, by naming a day after him in the US.
Wizkid’s career
Wizkid’s love for music has always been there from the beginning; he formed the group Glorious Five with his friends at age 11 and the group recorded and released an album before splitting up. During those years he was known as Lil Prinz; his stage name until 2006.
He used to frequent the late OJB Jezreel’s Point Studio where he had the opportunity to watch TuBaba (2face Idibia) record the songs for his Grass 2 Grace album. He was also present while Sound Sultan’s Jagbanjantis album was being recorded.
He mentioned Naeto C as one of the people that mentored and coached him when he was 15 before he met Banky W, who later signed him to his Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) in 2009.
On 2 January 2010, Wizkid’s breakout as well as his debut single under EME, Holla At Your Boy (along with Gidi Girl and Ori Mi) was released and the song gradually kept spreading like a virus until it became an anthem across Nigerian streets. The fire from Holla At Your Boy was still burning strongly when Tease Me, another hit single from Wizkid (which was actually a studio freestyle that leaked) surfaced three months later. Tease Me was an instant success as it enjoyed massive radio airplay and club spins across the country. By the time he dropped Don’t Dull later in the year, Wizkid had already become a notable figure in the Nigerian music scene. The song was another massive hit. Therefore when his debut album, Superstar, was eventually released in June 2011, it was welcomed to massive critical acclaim. Since the release of that album, Wizkid has never ceased to release hit songs from time to time. So far, he has released more than 35 smash hit singles, 3 studio albums and has been featured on almost 100 albums by both African and international artists. Read to the end to see the full list of his hit singles, albums and the tracklist on each album.
In 2013, Wizkid had a clash with EME, his then record label. He moved out of the label’s mansion into a rented apartment in Lekki and started his own record label that he called Starboy entertainment to which he signed Maleek Berry, Legendury Beats, and L.A.X. However, he didn’t exit EME completely until after the release of his second album, Ayo (Joy) and the completion of his 5-year contract with the label in 2014.
Global recognition
Though Wizkid’s success had spread beyond Nigeria since the release of his Superstar album that led to Akon jumping on the remix for one of the tracks (Don’t Dull), what really catapulted Wizkid into worldwide fame is his collaborative effort with Drake on One Dance in 2016. A smash international hit that did not just top the charts in about 15 countries but also got nominated for almost all the top international music awards including Grammy, Soul Train and American Music Awards. The massive exposure from One Dance got the Starboy discovered by umpteen potential fans from different parts of the world.
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It all started in 2015 when Drake and Skepta jumped on one of Wizkid’s songs Ojuelegba and did a remix. It was rumoured that Skepta played the song for Drake during the latter’s visit to the UK for the Wireless Festival and he decided to lay a verse on it. That remix ushered in the Wizkid/Drake relationship that gave birth to their collaborative efforts on One Dance and Come Closer.
Also, just last week, Wizkid was among the top 10 African’s biggest musicians, according to a list released by CNN. Also on the list are the likes of Burna Boy, Angelique Kidjo, Diamond Platumz among others. Click on the play button of the video to find out the rest of the artists who made the cut.
Wizkid collaborations
In terms of collaboration, Wizkid has collaborated with numerous artists both on the international level and local level He has been featured on almost 100 albums both by international artistes including famous African music stars. Some of the artists he has collaborated with include Drake, Beyonce, Chris Brown, Akon, Wale, Major Lazer, Zara Larsson, Krept and Johan, and many others. One of his biggest collaborative efforts in 2019 is Brown Skin Girl with Beyonce on her Lion King album. Read to the end to see the list of Wizkid’s collaborations.
Made In Lagos album
On 30th October 2020, Wizkid dropped one of the most anticipated albums of the year -Made In Lagos. It featured two singles, Smile and No Stress.
On Smile, Wizkid featured American R&B singer H.E.R. In the first week of its launch, the song debuted at number 3 on the UK Afrobeats Singles chart. It also featured on Barack Obama’s 2020 summer playlist. Smile peaked at number 5 on the Billboard’s World Digital Songs chart.
After he dropped No Stress in September 2020, Wizkid announced that his album, Made In Lagos, would launch on 15th October 2020. However, he postponed the album’s launch date due to the EndSARS protests. The album eventually dropped on 30th October 2020.
Recommended: #EndSARS Protest 2020: Nigerian youths rise against police brutality
Made In Lagos was released by a collaboration among Starboy Entertainment, RCA and Sony. It surprisingly did not include the singer’s hit single Joro. Instead, it featured 14 songs of which 12 were new ones. Wizkid featured Burna Boy, Skepta, Darmian Marley, H.E.R, Ella Mai, Tay Iwar, Projexx, Tems and Terri.
Producers who received credit for Made In Lagos include P2J, Kel P, Blaqjerzee, London, Sarz, Juls and Mut4y. Unlike some recent albums, Wizkid was able to connect one theme all through the album to all the tracks. Its ‘completeness’ and ‘cohesion’ has been widely praised by music critics.
However, there were many negative reactions to the album upon launch as many felt it did not meet the message that its title, Made In Lagos, projected.
Made In Lagos did quite well on charts. It was the first African album to debut on the Spotify Global Album chart and made it to the top ten. It also surpassed 100 million streams across five platforms nine days after release.
Besides, Made In Lagos debuted at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and number 80 on the US Billboard 200. It also entered music charts in Belgium, France, Ireland and Switzerland. The album peaked at number 1 on the Billboard World Albums chart.
Made in Lagos: Deluxe Edition
Wizkid has delivered his much-awaited “Made in Lagos: Deluxe Edition” on 27 August 2021. The album arrived with 18 tracks listings – 14 tracks from the original album, one new single (“Essence Remix” featuring Justin Bieber and Tems), and three brand new tracks.
The album features returning producers P2J and Legendary Beatz and introduces P-prime. “Mood” is rumoured to be produced by Jae5 and features rave of the moment, Buju.
Justin Bieber, Tems and Essence
Several months after Wizkid’s “Made In Lagos” album began enjoying success, his track “Essence”, featuring Nigerian singer Tems, suddenly started attracting attention. For many critics, the song was the best from the project and Wizkid jumped on its popularity by making its music video.
But he was not done with making the project into a commercial monster. Four months after releasing the song’s video, the singer teamed up with America’s sweetheart, Justin Bieber, to make “Essence remix”. It made its way into Billboard Hot 100, the Top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart, and eventually pushed “Made In Lagos” to the top spot on the Billboard World album chart.
YouTube Originals
Wizkid was featured on YouTube Originals for their A Day In The Live (Wizkid). According to the organisers’ description, this is a special three-hour live stream from the #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund, a $100 million investment with the purpose to amplify, elevate and champion Black voices and perspectives on YouTube.
Talking about the Live session, StarBoy TV wrote: “This one’s for everyone who’s ever wondered what their favourite musicians gets up to in a day!” Wizkid performed several songs including Blessed and Ginger. He brought Skepta on the show to perform Bad Energy and Longtime with him.
In general, the show was much talked about and had Wizkid trending at number one on Nigeria’s Twitter space on 19th November 2020.
Joro YouTube resurgence
In November 2020, Wizkid’s 2019 smash hit Joro surpassed 70 million streams on YouTube. Joro had only gotten 1.5 million views on its first day but suddenly returned to social media trends in November 2020.
Style/music genres
Although Wizkid has always been reluctant to define his music, he admits that he works with rhythms from Afrobeat, reggae, hip-hop, dancehall, and others and that what is important for him is for music to be real, authentic, raw and timeless so that he won’t have to be boxed into any particular genre.
Here is a quote that was attributed to him in a press release that was sent out to the media after signing his worldwide deal with Sony: “Since I work with rhythms from Afro-Beat, reggae, hip-hop, dance hall and others. What’s important to me is for music to be real, authentic, raw and timeless. I don’t wanna be boxed into any one genre.”
That explains how he never ceases to cough out unique, sweet-sounding brand new music that stays evergreen from time to time. Apart from the unique instrumentations, what really makes his sound distinct from other Afrobeat artists are his unique voice texture and his style of delivery.
So many hits, yet every single song sounds completely different from one another and you will always need no introduction to know who the artist is. Joro, Ghetto Love, Come Closer, Daddy Yo, Fever, Ojuelegba, Sisi Nene, Azonto, Juru, Back to the matter, Sweet Potato, Dance for me, On top your matter, Pakurumo, Love my baby, Tease Me, Caro, Jaiye Jaiye are some of his better-known songs.
Wizkid’s endorsements
In 2012, Wizkid became a Pepsi ambassador after signing a one-year endorsement deal that earned him $350,000. A deal that was later extended for 2 more years.
In 2013, he signed an endorsement deal with Guinness and also became an MTN ambassador.
He ditched MTN for Globacom’s N128 million to become a Glo Ambassador, a deal that took him across different parts of the world.
In 2018, the Starboy signed some deals with two fashion industry heavyweights – Nike and Dolce & Gabbana – as a celebrity model. Also in that same year, he signed a major deal with the American vodka brand, Ciroc.
In July 2019, Wizkid signed a deal with UBA that he described on his Instagram page as The biggest deal for Africa.
Reunion!!!
Chairman, @TonyOElumelu x Ambassador, @wizkidayo
?#TheShutdown #REDTVRave ? pic.twitter.com/qhaQ9SeN47— UBA Group (@UBAGroup) December 1, 2019
Is Wizkid married?
The Starboy is not married, though he has three children with three different women, namely: Oluwanisola Ogudu, Binta Diallo and Jada Pollock.
