Ayo ‘Wizkid’ Balogun is one Nigerian artist that has attained international recognition and he deserves it.
The Nigerian has managed to not only cross over into the global world but also merge the International music scene and the Nigerian music scene.
In this feature with International magazine, FADER, he talks about his many collaborations including writing with ColdPlay’s Chris Martin on a song for Rihanna, a collaboration with Tinie Tempah, an unreleased song called “African Bad Girl” with Chris Brown and more.
See excerpts from his interview…
On awards: My real fans know I am not really about that kind of thing. That was not the reason why I fell in love with music.
On ‘Ojuelegba’: I knew it was a good song but I didn’t expect it to blow up the way that it did. My parents still live there. We have a house there.
On house music: I like the way house music is produced. In Africa, house music artists are the ones most likely to cross over internationally. There are very few African artists who can do that
On his upcoming EP ‘Sounds from the Other Side’: I’m a perfectionist. I can listen to the music now and tomorrow I’ll be like, ‘Yo, I feel we need to change this’, and then we have to go back to the drawing board.