Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun better known by his stage name Wizkid is a Nigerian singer and songwriter born 16 July 1990.
He started recording music at age 11 and managed to release a
collaborative album with the Glorious Five, a group he and a couple of
his church friends formed. In 2009, he signed a record deal with Banky
W.’s record label Empire Mates Entertainment (E.M.E). He rose to
prominence in 2010 with the release of the song “Holla at Your Boy” from
his debut studio album, Superstar (2011). “Tease Me/Bad Guys”, “Don’t
Dull”, “Love My Baby”, “Pakurumo” and “Oluwa Lo Ni” were also released
as singles from the Superstar album. Wizkid’s self-titled second studio
album, Ayo, was released in September 2014 and was preceded by six
singles: “Jaiye Jaiye”, “On Top Your Matter”, “One Question”, “Joy”,
“Bombay” and “Show You the Money”.
In 2016, Wizkid achieved international recognition following his
collaboration with Drake on the global hit, “One Dance”, which reached
number one in 15 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom,
Canada and Australia. In addition to his solo work, Wizkid has
collaborated with several other artists and was featured on the hits
“Girl” (with Bracket), “Fine Lady” (with Lynxxx), “Sexy Mama” (with
Iyanya), “Slow Down” (with R2Bees), “The Matter” (with Maleek Berry),
“Pull Over” (with KCee) and “Bad Girl” (with Jesse Jagz).
Following the release of his second studio album and expiration of
his 5-year recording contract, Wizkid left E.M.E. On 1 March 2017,
Billboard magazine reported that Wizkid signed a multi-album deal with
RCA Records. The deal was first reported by several media outlets in
September 2016. The chairman and CEO of RCA Records, Peter Edge,
somewhat confirmed the signing while speaking to Music Business
Worldwide in January 2017.
He was ranked 5th on Forbes and Channel O’s 2013 list of the Top 10
Richest/Bankable African Artists. In February 2014, Wizkid became the
first ever Nigerian musician to have over 1 million followers on
Twitter.
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