Born as Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun on the 16th of July in 1990, Wizkid, as he is professionally known, I started his music career at the age of 11. At the start of his career, Wizkid was able to release his first album with the Glorious Five, a group comprising himself a few friends from his church. For his first record deal, Wizkid signed with Empire Mates Entertainment at some point in 2009. His breakthrough single from his debut album, “Holla at Your Boy,” symbolized his rise to stardom in 2011. Crossing the one million mark in Twitter followers, he became the first Nigerian artist to enjoy the feat. He went on to release his second studio album, Ayo, in September of the same year. Six singles supported the album. Twenty thousand sixteen turned out to be a major success. He collaborated with Canadian singer and Rapper Drake on “one dance,” which was a global hit and topped the charts in 15 different countries, including the US and UK. In 2017, he signed a multi-album deal with RCA records.
Growing up in an interfaith family with 12 sisters, Wizkid schooled at Ijebu Ode Grammar School. His favorite artists as a child include Bob Marley and Fela Kuti. He had also cited Naeto C as one of his mentors when he was only 15. After completing two sessions at Lagos State University in 2009, Wizkid dropped out. He went on tour in London in 2012 with performances at HMV Apollo on the 4th of June the same year. Following the release of empire mates State of mind album, the group went on tour in the United States from July to September. The tour is mostly remembered for their performances in Houston, Dallas, New York City, and Chicago, to name just a few. He performed alongside Kendrick Lamar, Trey Songz, Tulisa, and Angel at the BBC Radio 1Xtra in 2012.
On the 5th of January in 2015, Wizkid released the video for jewel Akbar, a song where he barely spoke about his struggles during the beginning of his career. In the remix of the song, there are four crews from both Drake and Skepta, and it was premiered on OVO sounds radio in 2015. During his visit to London in 2014 October, Wizkid confirmed that he was working on a new album. It also confirms that African bad gyal, is collaborating with American singer Chris Brown, what’s going to be the lead single from the album. They both performed the song in Durban South Africa during a Chris Brown concert in 2015. On the 5th of April 2015, he became the first-ever Nigerian artist to appear on billboards Twitter last 24 hours charge after his best feature on Drake’s single One Dance. You can read about Wizkid net worth here.
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