In just six years of his music career Wizkid has move from star to become superstar, he has stolen out heart and also turn us to an addicted fans of his sound.
International Nigerian pop star Wizkid is a year older today, I mean Wizkid cloaks 26 today and here at GY we are going to do short review on him by moving down memory lane to look back on how he started and his achievements so far.
His real name is Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun and he was born on 16 July 1990, the Starboy himself Wizkid rise to stardom began after the release of his record-breaking breakout hit single ” Holla at Your Boy ” on 2 January 2010, at the age of 20 under the Banky W‘s EME record label.
The ” Holla at Your Boy ” was first single off his first studio album tilted ” Superstar ” which was released on 12 June 2011 under the Empire Mates Entertainment record label and it consists of hit tracks such as Tease Me/Bad Guys, Don’t Dull, Gidi Girl, Love My Baby, Pakurumo and Oluwa Lo Ni.
In fact all the tracks on that album became major hits, paving the way for greater things for Wizzy in Nigeria and African music industry.
That same year, Wizkid’s ” Holla at Your Boy ” got nominated for Headies Next Rated which he eventually won alongside with Headies Best Pop Single.
The music video for Holla At Your Boy was also nominated for Most Gifted Newcomer Video at the 2011 Channel O Music Video Awards and Afro Pop Video at the 2011 Nigeria Music Video Awards (NMVA).
In 2012, Wizkid’s Superstar album won Best Album of the Year at the 2012 Nigeria Entertainment Awards.
His second studio album with self-titled, Ayo, was released on September 17, 2014, three years after his sophomore album Superstar.
It consists of nineteen tracks which included Jaiye Jaiye, On Top Your Matter, One Question, Joy, Bombay, In my bed, Ojuelegba, and Show You The Money
Through-out the year, all his songs and collaborations were all back to back hits.
Such as 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.
This positioned Starboy as the artist with the midas touch.
In September 2015, Starboy revealed through his Instagram that he would be postponing work on a third album but would focus on an Extended Playlist, EP, instead.
This announcement he made after attending 2Face Idibia’s “Fortified” tribute concert as he said, “I celebrated the legend 2face Idibia last night! Epic! It made me realize how much work I need to do.”
In an interview with Fader Magazine, he revealed the title of the EP as Sounds From the Other Side.
In 2013, Starboy ranked 5th on both Forbes and Channel O’s list of the Top 10 Richest and Bankable African Artists.
In February 2014, Wizkid became the first ever Nigerian musician to have over 1 million followers on Twitter.
This year, on April 5, 2016, Wizkid emerged as Nigeria’s first artist to get on Billboard’s Twitter Last 24 hours chart after he featured on Drake’s One Dance.
The song reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and held the spot for weeks.
At the age of 26, Wizkid’s achievements include, a BET Award, a MOBO Award, five The Headies Awards, two Channel O Music Video Awards, six Nigeria Entertainment Awards, two Ghana Music Awards, two Dynamix All Youth Awards, two City People Entertainment Awards, and a Future Award.
He has received three nominations at the MTV Europe Music Awards and has also been nominated four times at the World Music Awards.
Wizkid had the magic touch six years ago when he began his journey to stardom, and he still has it today as he celebrates his 26th birthday.
Credit: Wendiva Blaze
Photo Credit: Google Images