Senegalese-American singer legend, Akon has disclosed how he played a key role in bringing the career success of Nigerian international Afrobeats star Wizkid to limelight. According to Akon, the Starboy crooner was just a local street musician before he signed him to his record label in 2008 and brushed him up to be what he has become today.
Speaking in a recent episode of the Bagfuel Brigade podcast, Akon also claimed that Afrobeats become a banger that has received recognition globally today because of how he struggled to develop some artists in Nigeria as well as opening bigger markets for the African genre in the late 2000s to 2010s.
Speaking, Akon said, “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.”