During the summer of 2012, one of the biggest UK chart hits was Oliver Twist, the feelgood pop and Afrobeat mashup that mirrored the lascivious desires of D’Banj, the energetic Nigerian singer then on the roster of Good Music, whose frontman Kanye West had a cameo appearance in the video.

This summer, it’s another Nigerian singer, Wizkid, whose name is a fixture all over the charts.

With two songs – the groovy reggaeton hit Daddy Yo and a collaboration with the Canadian rapper Drake on Come Closer – on the Billboard and UK charts alongside Drake’s One Dance (the 2016 summer anthem), which he lends his vocals to, and Tinie Tempah’s Caribbean-influenced Mamacita, which he elevates with a well-delivered hook, it’s officially Wizkid season. All of this has culminated in a staggering seven nominations at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards tonight even as he prepares to join a star-studded cast at the UK Wireless Festival in London this summer.

Ayodeji Ibrahim – Wizkid – began singing at the age of 11 in the church choir. A few years later, he formed a boy band, SI, while running errands in the studio where musicians 2face Idibia and Jazzman Olofin recorded circa 2004.

When his debut album, 2011’s Superstar, was released three years after he secured his first record deal, it broke industry records and the launch was well attended by the cream of the music business. It reinforced what many had suspected from the singles since he was first introduced to the listening public; the innocent-faced kid had a knack for cooing catchy hooks and plastering greatness on guest features.

“From when his very first single was released, he has always had a je ne sais quoi”, says Ayodeji Rotinwa, pop culture writer for ThisDay, one of Nigeria’s most read dailies, and Forbes Africa. “I think he has been smart in branding himself early as a collaborator rather than coming to shake up things on the international scene right away.”

Aided by a solid label and management, Wizkid got into bed with top-notch producers, fellow artists and promoters across Africa and the UK, stacking up collaborations, playing at gigs and morphing into a continental sweetheart.

“Apart from being talented, he’s a charming young man, and whether you admit it or not being charming helps,” says Gbemi Olateru-Olagbeji, from Beat 99.9 FM, a Lagos radio station.

“He started his networking a long time ago. In 2012, Chris Brown came to Lagos for a performance. At some point during the show, Wizkid was on stage with him and even danced with him. A few months later, he was hanging out with Brown in Los Angeles. This was before he released Ojuelegba. He didn’t let that chance meeting end at a few words, a handshake and a selfie. It went beyond that and became a friendship. I’m not saying Brown gave him his big break but he’s definitely part of the story. He continued to meet people, make contacts and the rest is history. Talent is not enough.”

But the turning point was undoubtedly Ojuelegba – a mid tempo ode to the Lagos slum where he grew up – off his second album, Ayo, listed in Rolling Stone’s 15 great albums you didn’t hear in 2014. Nigerian-British rapper Skepta set the ball in motion – then passed it on to Drake – for the heavy-hitting remix that went viral past Africa, Europe and into many households in the US, including that of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. Neither rifts with his old label nor a thinly veiled head-to-head battle with archrival Davido, in a mirroring of the Cristiano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi phenomenon, have marred his steady rise. Instead, he is the latest bride of music giants Sony Music/RCA.

“He’s always had the drive and thoughts of global recognition,” says rapper Willybang, a childhood friend who previously went by the moniker Silly. The second half of SI, he was namechecked on Ojuelegba (Me and Silly, from Mo’Dogg’s studio, we been hustle to work ... ). “He was like Brain in Pinky and the Brain, always wanting to take over the world.

“Then it was only older musicians like Brenda Fassie and Miriam Makeba were recognised outside Africa, except for people like 2face, who was young and inspired us. Together we would patiently watch these legends record; it was after three or four years of doing this that we got a chance to record for the first time,” says Willybang.

“At one point, his parents didn’t want to see me around his house because they thought I was a bad influence on him, making him hang around studios. We had no money but we had the drive. Even later, at Mo’Dogg studio, we would have to tilt the generator sometimes to completely use the last of the petrol.”

These days, Wizkid is the poster boy for a new school of artists fashioning their own sounds from the continent inside out and embarking on a journey into genre obfuscation including Tiwa Savage (signed to Roc Nation) Sony Music’s Davido, Mr Eazi, Maleek Berry, Tekno and Burna Boy; Ghana’s R2Bees and Sarkodie; Kenyan boy band Sauti Sol; Cassper Nyovest, Nasty C, AKA – all from South Africa – and the DRC’s Fally Ipupa. Christened Afrobeats (and disliked by musicheads because of its divergence from Fela Kuti’s socially conscious Afrobeat) by the UK-based Ghanaian DJ Abrantee, it is an umbrella for contemporary African sounds that has welcomed influences from house, dancehall, jazz, pop, R&B and highlife.

“I think Wizkid gives other African artists visibility just by being present. He has the world as his audience now,” says Rotinwa.

D’Banj’s arrival on the global scene led to his split with his longtime collaborator and business partner, the revered producer Don Jazzy, and an eventual flop, which explains why Nigerians are waiting with bated breath for the unfolding trajectory of their next homegrown superstar. Wizkid has only two albums to his credit and no single mixtape – and his new music has been seen on the home front as more Caribbean than Nigerian.

Mr Eazi, one of the artists Wizkid has signed up to his Starboy Entertainment imprint and the continent’s breakout star in 2016, is optimistic. “Wizkid is one of the most talented artists ever out of Africa, he is blessed with the melodies, but most of all he works hard. His work rate even pushes me to go harder.

“I believe Sony is taking his project as priority and Wizzy is not leaving his destiny in the hands of others. His ability to blend into whatever genre yet still keep his signature feel might be his strongest suit.

“With someone like Wiz representing Africa, it will invariably lead people to check out other African music – and that’s a positive for new acts,” adds Eazi.

“Who knows? We might be the next [viral genre] like reggae, especially with a lot of pop stars sampling different elements in our music.”

Olagbegi agrees: “The international record labels are paying more attention to African artistes now. They’ve been sending representatives to Lagos, having meetings and signing deals.”

THE WIZKID CV
Born 16 July 1990

Family Grew up with 12 sisters. Born to a Pentecostal Christian and a practising Muslim father.

Hometown Lagos, Nigeria.

Started singing and recording at age 11 with church friends.

Gained attention as a solo artist following the release of his single, Holla At Your Boy, which appeared on his debut studio album, Superstar (2011). Released his second album, Ayo, in 2014.

Achieved global prominence in 2016 when he collaborated with Drake on One Dance, which reached number one in 15 countries. His latest single, Come Closer, features Drake.

Fan base “Nigeria’s Justin Bieber”, he was the first Nigerian musician to have over a million followers on Twitter.

toyclicks:
Pls does anyone have a rough estimate of how much to be made from taxify business monthly. ( Both net and gross please).

How do I go through, and expedite the registration process for taxify?

I am not a Lagos resident and may not really know road PO. What do you advise? I am thinking of getting someone as an "assistant driver/pilot" to work with me for a month or so to show me road. But I don't know how riders would feel


Opinions please...

Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has handily beaten rival Marine Le Pen in the vote for France’s next president, according to early exit-polling estimates.

Going by projections from those polls — taken with about 50% of final-round ballots tallied — then 39-year-old Macron will have won with 65.5%, compared with 34.5% for right-wing euroskeptic Le Pen.

After the first round of France’s presidential election last month, stock markets around the world rallied as investors breathed a sigh of relief over how the vote turned out.

Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron — to give him his full name — claimed the most votes on April 23, topping euroskeptic candidates who could bring about a so-called Frexit.

Polls before the second and final round suggested Macron would top Le Pen in by a comfortable margin. Conservative Les Républicains candidate François Fillon — who failed to make the runoff as he finished third in last month’s election with 19.9% of the vote — said he would vote for Macron because he has “no other choice than vote against the extreme right.”

A hack of Macron’s campaign had threatened to dent the centrist candidate’s chances, giving Le Pen a shot at a big enough tally to give her more political influence. But the young challenger won out.

Below are five things to know about Macron, as French stocks FR:PX1+1.12% climb to a nine-year high.

1. Worked for four years with an investment bank. Macron was an investment banker at Rothschild from 2008 to 2012.

That gig hands his critics a talking point. Le Pen has portrayed him as the “candidate of finance,” though Macron has countered that he “learnt a job; every political leader should have one,” as a Financial Times report noted.

Before his banking stint, he worked in France’s economy ministry. After his Rothschild gig, he returned to government work, including serving in current French President François Hollande’s cabinet, before leaving to start “En Marche,” an independent political party.

2. Would be France’s youngest president.
Born in December 1977, Macron is 39 years old and would be the French Republic’s youngest-ever president.

To be sure, France was led by even younger individuals in prior eras. Louis XIII, for example, became king while still a child, and Napoleon crowned himself emperor at age 35.

3. Operates outside the political machine, and that’s a challenge. While Macron appeals to voters in part because he is a fresh face, it’s also not easy being the new kid.

For now, Macron and Le Pen have triumphed over France’s mainstream political forces. For more than four decades, France’s conservative and socialist parties have traded the country’s presidency back and forth, a Wall Street Journal story noted.

But Macron “won’t be able to deliver anything like what he promised in his manifesto, given he doesn’t have any party machinery or political support in the French parliament, and probably won’t get it either,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, in a note last month.

“For all his market- and EU-friendly rhetoric, Emmanuel Macron will face the same problems previous French presidents have faced, which means he will have to reach out across the political divide,” Hewson added. “This lack of support is likely to make him a lame duck president, only able to affect minor tweaks or changes.”

4. Hasn’t previously held elected office. While Le Pen is seen as the candidate more like Donald Trump, Macron also has some things in common with the U.S. president, including not having a long career in government before going for the top job.

Macron had never run for elected office before the presidential campaign.

The notion that a non-politician running independently — with no party and no electoral experience — could be a serious contender for the presidency would have been unthinkable a few years ago, a Guardian report said earlier during the campaign.

5. Macron’s wife was his teacher when he was 15 Brigitte Macron — the candidate’s wife — is 24 years older than him, and she has been his guide and coach since he was 15, a Bloomberg report has pointed out.

The age gap is the same as between Trump and his wife, Melania, except in the other direction, the report added.

Donald Trump's not going to "like" this.

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to his social network on Friday to call out the president's recent executive orders, focusing on Trump's anti-immigration policies.

In Trump's first week in the White House, he's signed executive orders to push forward his plans for a wall along the US border with Mexico, withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities and block refugees from nations like Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria.

Zuckerberg, who is totally not running for president, criticized Trump's actions by saying the US is a "nation of immigrants." He shared that his great-grandparents came to the US from Germany, Austria and Poland, while wife Priscilla Chan's parents were refugees from China and Vietnam.

"Like many of you, I'm concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Friday. "We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat."

He urged Trump to keep the US' doors open to refugees. "Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla's family wouldn't be here today."

Zuckerberg said he taught a class at a middle school a few years ago and that some of his best students were "undocumented." "They are our future too," he said. The Facebook CEO also appreciated that Trump announced he'd find a solution for 750,000 immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program under the DREAM Act.

Trump and Facebook's top execs haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye. Despite the olive branch Trump offered during his tech summit, Facebook's bosses are still keeping their distance from the commander in chief.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who was at that summit in December, sharply criticized Trump on Thursday, after his executive order to cut funding for international health groups that perform abortions or provide any information about the procedure.

The Trump administration did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump, who prefers to share his thoughts on Twitter, has yet to comment on Zuckerberg or Sandberg's remarks.