Senegalese-American artist Akon has said that he was instrumental in launching the worldwide profession of Nigerian Afrobeats star Wizkid.
In accordance with Akon, Wizkid was nonetheless a neighborhood act when he signed him to his label in 2008 and helped refine his craft.
Throughout a current episode of the Bagfuel Brigade podcast, Akon additionally asserted that Afrobeats may not have reached its present international standing with out his early efforts to nurture Nigerian artists and join them to bigger worldwide markets within the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Akon mentioned …
“In 2008, I spent my time in Nigeria creating what you see right this moment as Afrobeats. And all of them can attest to it
“Wizkid was the primary [Nigerian] artist we signed formally at the moment. After which we went on to signal a gaggle referred to as P-Sq., which was the primary [Nigerian] group that made it internationally.
“Wizkid was simply the native Nigerian star earlier than we touched him and it opened as much as a much bigger market. I wouldn’t need to take credit score for all of it however I can let you know that if we didn’t do what we did, Afrobeats would nonetheless have been in the identical place it was once we received there [Nigeria in 2008]. That I can let you know 100 per cent.
“I introduced the enterprise facet of music to Afrobeats as a result of all they [Nigerian artists at that time] knew about was the inventive [side of music]. There was no enterprise, no infrastructure, none of it hooked up to it.”
Watch video under …
“I spent my time in Nigeria creating what you see right this moment as Afrobeats… Wizkid was simply the native Nigerian star earlier than we touched him and it opened as much as a much bigger market…”
– Akon pic.twitter.com/ZmhIj1OfK5
— @𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗷𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗯𝗼𝘆 (@OneJoblessBoy) May 2, 2025
