by I signed Wizkid in 2008 – Singer Akon says as he speaks on what transpired between them & struggles introducing Afrobeat to the world
Senegalese-American singer Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, known mononymously as Akon in a recent interview that surfaced online speaks about signing Wizkid, PSquare as well as the struggle introduce Afrobeat to the world.
In the videos of the interview that hit the internet, Akon, the “Lonely” crooner said after the 2006 world cup in Germany, he came to Africa where he came to work on how to take Afrobeat who is already popular in African countries to a global level.
He noted that while trying to introduce Afrobeat to the world, they encountered a lot of problem as it wasn’t accepted in the U.S.A.
He noted that it’s always a fight then as they struggled so hard to bring Afrobeat to the limelight noting that Afrobeat was more of a local music that is being produced traditionally and by extension won’t break out of Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries.
He added that they PSquare and Wizkid were mostly the artistes that doing so well at that particular period of time. He further added that PSquare that was made up of twin brothers, Peter and Paul Okoye were undoubtedly the biggest and most streaming artistes that time and through the process of promoting Afrobeat they sponsored their shows.
Speaking further, Wizkid as a Solo artist makes things better as he was way more bigger, introduced late fela’s vibe accompanied with the younger generation swag. Akon during the interview uttered that he signed Wizkid in 2008 in Conjunction with Sony Music and through this they were able to Affiliate then tried to take Afrobeat to the global level.
Still battling with the difficulty of accepting Afrobeat generally, Akon said Afrobeat managed to get relevance mainly through social media and YouTube after it got accepted to some extent in London.
Akon disclosed that the huge breakthrough of Afrobeat into U.S is when Drake featured Wizkid on the hit song “One Dance.”
Akon concluded that since he was unable to sign Wizkid to his record label, he had a working relationship with him between 2008-2018 by affiliation via Sony Music.
As at the moment of typing this, Afrobeat is now a global sound and gained massive recognition all around the world with artistes like Wizkid, Burnaboy, Davido, Fireboy DML, Rema, Tems, Tiwa Savage among others putting the country name on the world map.
