Senegalese-born American recording artiste, Akon, has mentioned that he is responsible for polishing Nigerian singer-songwriter, Wizkid, for the global audience.
Akon mentioned that he is the self-acclaimed Star Boy superstar was just a local musician before he signed him to his record label in 2008 and brushed him up.
Speaking in a recent episode of the Bagfuel Brigade podcast, Akon also claimed that Afrobeats wouldn’t have been what it is today without him developing some artists in Nigeria and opening bigger markets for them in the late 2000s to 2010s.
“In 2008, I spent my time in Nigeria developing what you see today as Afrobeats. And all of them can attest to it,” he said.
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“Wizkid was the first [Nigerian] artist we signed officially at that time. And then we went on to sign a group called P-Square, which was the first [Nigerian] group that made it internationally.
“Wizkid was just the local Nigerian star before we touched him and it opened up to a bigger market. I wouldn’t want to take credit for all of it, but I can tell you that if we didn’t do what we did, Afrobeats would still have been in the same position it was when we got there [Nigeria in 2008]. I can tell you 100 per cent.
“Further, I brought the business side of music to Afrobeats because all they [Nigerian artists at that time] knew about was the creative [side of music]. There was no business, no infrastructure, none of it attached to it.”
Wizkid gained mainstream prominence in the early 2010s following the release of his debut studio album, Superstar. He has since been regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation.
