Akon, the Senegalese-American singer, has disclosed that he played a significant part in catapulting Nigerian international Afrobeats sensation Wizkid to fame.
Akon asserted that Wizkid was merely a local artist until he signed him to his record label in 2008 and helped refine his talent.
In a recent installment of the Bagfuel Brigade podcast, Akon further stated that without his efforts in nurturing artists in Nigeria and expanding their reach in the late 2000s to 2010s, Afrobeats would not have reached its current level of success.
“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.
“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]. That I can tell you 100 per cent.
“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.”
