Wizkid The CEO of Star boy Records is working on a new album now. Making it a local project wouldn't hurt.
There’s a new Wizkid album in the making, and we want it to come from this side. We want sounds from the Naija side
You know what happened last year. Wizkid took his artistry to the US and
UK, where much of his work was tweaked, and his artistry adapted for a
different market. The crowds in the US and UK were the target. Wizkid
was pulled from his base in Nigeria and transferred with enough cash in
hand through New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, London, and other cities,
where he recorded and promoted an experimental album for his deal with
Sony Music.
RCA Records, a division of Sony handled it
all, distributing it worldwide. And yes, the argument against this has
always been that the project is from a Nigerian artist, and he was
making music for everyone. But when you look at it critically, he wasn’t making music for Africa.
Wizkid has never spoken about that project on African soil. During the
roll-out, no African city had a promotional stop. The press tour was
done in the US and UK. The listening parties to promote and celebrate
the project happened far away from the continent.
Everything was from, and on the other side. Nothing happened for us here.
But
fans didn’t mind. Wizkid is already a shareholder in their hearts and
holdings. If he took his music to space, collaborated with one-eyed
green Martians and called it “Sounds From The Astro Side,” you would
find Nigerians fighting over him and linking it to Fela’s legacy. You
would see tweets that read: “Wizkid becomes the first African artist
to record with a Martian. He’s the pioneer of Astro rap music, beating
Jay-Z, Beyonce and your flying Edo Aunty to it.”
That’s how loved he is.
But his sojourn in the US and UK ensured that he made a record that didn’t quite resonate deeply with the masses.
‘Come closer’ and ‘Daddy Yo’ did some good work for him, but that
wasn’t enough back home to keep him as the hottest artist. I remember
taking a bike in Lagos and engaging the rider. All through he kept
complaining.
“Make Wizzy give us better gbedu na? I no understand wetin him dey sing again,” he complained.
No matter how much I attempted to explain that SFTOS was a great album which would transition Wizkid, the man was adamant. “Who send am go there? No be music wey we dey ask for? Wetin carry am go America?”
This
might sound crude and lacking in understanding. But it carried a
message with it: Wizkid needs to make local music, a ‘gbedu’ that would
ensure that he’s leading from home and away. That’s what Davido did in
2017, dominating at home due to his local records which were started and
inspired by Africa. We carried ‘If’ and ‘Fall’ on our heads because it
connected. ‘Come closer’ was dope and had an international
promotional budget, but when you hit the streets of Somolu, they are
more likely to be moved by “30 billion for the account oh’, than “Me love my Hennessy straight with chaser…”
After
his promotion for SFTOS, Wizkid came back to Lagos and began to record
like his career depended on it. He called everyone and anyone, to make a
record with him. It was that creative tour de force that finally gave
him his saving grace, ‘Manya’. And while he sang about throwing
his money on a girl's head and waist, Nigerians actually carried the
record on their heads, and it inspired their waists to move to it. And
so he ended with a bang.
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