Nigerian Afrobeat Gem, Wizkid has been on the toll of greatest since his debut and this has quite boosted the Afrobeat genre.
Over the years, he has been able to elevate the Afrobeat genre with his qualities.
While portraying his incredible run, he was able to create memorable moments that changed Afrobeat forever.
This we have marshaled to detail in this article in five points.
Deterred the African Artists from receiving their BET Awards backstage
Around 2011, Wizkid was already dominating African music with his hit songs having attained prominence with his incredible music catalogue.
He has also been recognized globally following how his musical craft crossed borders. This also attracted both local and global awards for his status.
However, one of these global musical award organizations identified as BET ran through his nerves.
Around 2012, the BET Awards recognized African music stars but we’re not valued and respected so they were disrespected at all cost.
While other musicians from other continents were being cherished and adored publicly for their crafts, African musicians handled their plaques backstage.
This didn’t sit well with Wizkid who without hesitation started boycotting BET Awards.
He called them out severally until the span ended in 2018 when Davido emerged as one of the African music stars to be presented with a BET Awards plaque publicly and not backstage.
To date, the Afrobeat Giant is adored for his contribution to elevating the Afrobeat Genre worldwide.
One Dance Influence
While the Afrobeat genre was growing vast, Wizkid linked up with Canadian American-based Rapper, Drake which turned out to be iconic.
They collaborated on the song, ‘One Dance’ in 2016 which served as one of the hit tracks of Drake’s fourth studio album ‘Views’.
The song also featured a British singer identified as Kyla who spiced it up adding to Wizkid’s sensation.
As of the year of its release, the song has already started gaining numbers globally and this incredible boosted the status of the young promising Wizkid amid how he bodied his part in the song.
Being tagged an Afrobeat star, People started to explore him and the genre generating a convincing number of inspired stars from Africa and the Afrobeat genre.
The song continued to chart via all the major charting platforms until it debuted on Billboard Hot 100 and topped it.
This made Wizkid the first Afrobeat artist to chart at number one on Billboard Hot 100.
The song also clinched Billboard Song of the Summer after charting incredibly in 2016 behind Rihanna’s ‘Work’.
To date, the song serves as one of the vital projects that paved the way for the Afrobeat genre in the global phase.
Made In Lagos
Made in Lagos served as Wizkid’s fourth Studio album which was released on 30th October 2020 by Starboy Entertainment and RCA Records.
The album featured several stars who boosted it along with Wizkid’s Incredible talent.
As of the time of its release, Wizkid was already a heated star but the album being tagged an Afrobeat Album; soared the craft to another level.
This is because, it featured several global stars including Bob Marley’s son, Damian Marley who featured him on the track ‘Blessed’.
It soared globally and charted in the top 5 for a year bagging another record to his grand. To date, it’s charting in the top 20 making Afrobeat a recognisable genre.
It was also nominated at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Global Music Album.
Grammy Award
After Burna Boy had paved the way by clinching yet another Grammy Plaque for the record of the Afrobeat genre, Wizkid verged on to prove that there were still incredible stars who were fit to attain the plaque.
This transpired after he collaborated with the American singer, Beyonce, which yielded total dominance.
Wizkid was featured as a co-signer on the hit song ‘Brown Skin Girl’ which conformed as the second track of Beyonce’s album ‘The Lion King: The Gift’.
He was featured alongside Blue Ivy Carter, Guyanese-American, and rapper, Saint Jhn who he bodied and earned a vital space in the song.
After the song charted on several streaming platforms, it earned a Grammy nomination and clinched the plaque for Best Music Video at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Representing Afrobeat, he joined the League of Burna and paved the way for the younger generations like Tyla, Ayra Starr, Fireboy, Asake and Musa Keys to be embraced by the Grammy Recording Academy.
International Collaboration
Since Wizkid attained prominence, he has been on the toll of great adventures that have soared the Afrobeat genre.
As of 2017, his influence and talent have reformed into an image many crave to attain, attracting the likes of Beyonce, Drake, and many more global stars.
After Wizkid released his hit song ‘Ojuwelegba’, Drake opted to jump on it. This was influenced by the wonders ‘One Dance’ had breached at the time of its release.
Drake linked up with the Nigerian UK-based sensation, Skepta and deployed a dominant verse that infused Wizkid’s international recognition.
The ‘Ojuwelegba’ remix breached several streaming numbers and attracted other incredible International statuses to Wizkid.
Via his reputation, the likes of Beyonce featured him on the song ‘Brown Skin Girl’ which earned him a Grammy plaque.
He also went on to feature Bob Marley’s son, Damian Marley on the song ‘Blessed’ scraped off his fourth Studio album ‘Made In Lagos. His relationship with Skepta grew even bigger as they ended up collaborating on different songs that emerged to be hit songs.
This also attracted Chris Brown who featured him on his album ‘Breezy’ where he graced the track ‘Nobody Has to Know’.
Since he attained this magnitude, The younger generation of the Afrobeat genre has been able to bag international collaboration where most of them have even soared to the point of attaining international nominations and plaques.
The likes of Fireboy with the influence, collaborated with the UK sensation, Ed Sheeran and dished out ‘Peru’ which has attained a convincing record to date.
This also stretched to the Grand of Rema who collaborated with Selena Gomez on the song ‘Calm Down’ which soared to become an evergreen song.
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