Banky W, Ali Baba, Anthony Joshua, Femi Kuti, and others speak on Wizkid’s evolution since his successful debut. Nigerian music superstar Wizkid on Saturday, June 12, 2021, celebrated the 10th anniversary of his debut album ‘Superstar’.
Released in June 2011, ‘Superstar’ attained star status with the ‘Superstar’ a commercially successful and critically acclaimed body of work.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Wizkid released a docuseries titled A Superstar Made in Lagos on his Youtube page.
He features in the interview series alongside industry giants like his mentor Banky W, comedy legend Ali Baba, Afrobeat veteran Femi Kuti and his mentee Terri.
Speaking in the series, Wizkid reflects on his childhood, recalling his early days in Surulere.
Born in Alaba and raised in Surulere, the singer speaks on being the last child of his parents.
In what he describes as a ‘spiritual home’ Wizkid reveals he followed his Muslim dad to the mosque and his Christian mum to the church.
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Wizkid started his career under the tutelage of Banky W’s Empire Mates Entertainment.
“Getting signed to Banky was one of the amazing things that happened to me. It was just an amazing moment for me. It changed my life,” Wizkid says.
He expresses appreciation for Banky W and the EME team for their impact on his life and career.
On his part, Banky W praises Wizkid’s work ethics and talent level.
“Wiz for a long time in life wasn’t fortunate for him to afford to pay for studio time, he was a studio rat but he would just go the studio where they would let him hang and he would hang out all day and just wait and hope and pray for the end of the day for engineers and producers to take pity on him and say ‘come and record for 15 minutes,” the former label boss says.
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- He also points out that Wizkid’s level of genius was how his name came about.
Ojuelegba to the world
Already a superstar, Wizkid’s popularity soared worldwide with the success of his 2014 record ‘Ojuelegba’ off his self-titled sophomore released in the same year.
It was the record that introduced Wizkid to the world and people like superstar boxer Anthony Joshua.
“For me, he was already big by the time I knew him, the main song for me is the ‘Ojuelegba’ song,” Joshua says in the docuseries.
In ‘Ojuelegba’ Wizkid croons about the neighborhood he grew up and Nigerian comedy great Ali Baba says the singer was never taken away from his realities and his roots.
“He owned it; it’s not like he started growing and said let me belong to VI or any other place. He never disconnected from his roots and he showed in his song,” the veteran comedian says.
Kuti describes Wizkid as ‘family’ while his sister Yeni Kuti praises the singer’s humility.
Others who spoke in the docuseries include famous comedian Basketmouth, media mogul Chris Obosi and Wizkid’s mentee Terri.
