Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun aka Wizkid is currently one of Nigeria’s biggest Afrobeat stars. His name echoes not just in Nigeria or Africa, but in the world at large. From a humble beginning at EME, to owning his own record label “Starboy Entertainment”, and now a record deal with RCA Records. Wizkid has managed to cement his name in the Nigerian and African music seen.
Born on July 16th 1990, Wizkid has crafted many songs and won many awards. In this post, we shall be looking at some defining moments in the history Ojuelegba crooner.
List Of Songs That Helped Define Wizkid’s Career
Holla at Your Boy:
This is the first song that introduced the youngster called Wizkid to Nigerians. It was released on January 2nd 2010 and began an instant hit. The video of the song was a work of art and loved by many. The song was produced by DJ Klem and Vebee and it serves as the lead single from his debut studio album, titled “Superstar” that was released back in 2011. The track was nominated and also won the Next Rated awards at the Headies 2011.
Ojuelegba:
This is one of Wizkids biggest songs with over 55 million streams on Spotify alone. Released back in 2014, the song became an instant hit and loved by many. It was revealed that the “Ojuelegba” was inspired by the hardships and difficultist faced by Wizkid as an upcoming artist at the Ojuelegba area of Lagos, Nigeria. The song was nominated and also won the Song of the Year award at the 2015 Headies. There was also a remix of the song that featured Drake and Skepta.
One Dance by Drake ft Wizkid:
This song introduced Wizkid to the world not just as an artist, but as an Afrobeat superstar. It was co-produced by Nineteen85 and Noah “40” Shebib, with help from from the current king of Afrobeat himself, Wizkid. This made Wizkid the first Nigerian artist to top the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. One Dance was so popular that it became a chart topper in 15 countries including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom.
Brown Skin Girl by Beyonce Ft Wizkid:
In mid-2019, American superstar Beyoncé teamed up with Wizkid on the track, “Brown Skin Girl”. Produced by P2J, the song also gave Wizkid the oppotunity to work with artist such as Blue Ivy Carter (Beyoncé’s her daughter) and Guyanese-American rapper Saint Jhn. It won many awards some of which include, Grammy Award for Best Music Video of the Year, the Soul Train Music Award for Video of the Year and the MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography.
Essence ft Tems:
Essence was released on 30 October 2020 as part of his Made in Lagos album. The song was produced by P2J and Legendury Beatz. This became the first Nigerian song in history to be listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as the Billboard Global 200 chart. It is one former US president’s Barack Obama’s favourite songs. It was nominated at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Global Music Performance. Essence win many awards some of which is BET Awards for Best Collaboration, All Africa Music Awards for Song of the Year in Africa and Best African Collaboration as well as NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding International Song and Outstanding Music Video/Visual Album. In 2021, the song got a remix that featured Canadian singer Justin Bieber.
