After releasing his debut album
‘Superstar’ Ayodeji ‘Wizkid’ Balogun hasn’t looked back. Scoring number
one hits, collaborating with international acts, winning world
recognized awards and working up his way to A-list status, his nickname
‘Starboy’ might now be looking like an understatement.
In this exclusive interview the 22-year-old tells us about his experiences performing overseas,
working with Akon, Wale, Young Jeezy, and why he feels he’s with the
best team.
In one word, describe what the past year has been for you?
Blessing, it has been a blessing.
After the release of your debut album ‘Superstar’, who made decisions to go on tour or travel out of Nigeria?
I feel like everything just happened. It
was funny because everything kept on happening, there was nothing we
planned for, it was just God. Big shout out to my fans as well because
after I released the album, I was getting calls from all over the world
for bookings. I could say it’s by my hard work, though. Of course
everyone else is working hard, but you just have to have that x-factor,
and that’s what has been pushing me on.
Where did you enjoy performing the most, the UK or US?
It was a totally different experience
because in the UK, we have a lot of Nigerians living in one community,
but in the US people are scattered all over, you have some people
staying in New York, Minnesota, New Jersey. That’s the difference.
Everywhere I went to, it was a different kind of love, because some
people didn’t even think that I would come for the concert, because they
felt like ‘why would Wizkid come to Minnesota or some funny place in the United States?’ It was a just a different experience for me.
How was it, working with the likes of Akon, Wale, Kardinal Offishall, The Game and Young Jeezy?
It was crazy, because I was at BET, then I was invited for a dinner. Wale has always been my friend, and [I'm also friends with] Bu, who’s Akon‘s younger brother. He came there with Young Jeezy
and introduced me, and that was how I started work with him. When we
recorded the first song, everybody loved it, [and] before I knew it The Game
came in and heard the song and said he had to jump on it. We booked
another session for the next day, then came back and recorded. Chris Brown and every other person came through, and it was a great feeling. I felt blessed.
Do you think not having a specific genre as an artiste has helped you have an edge over Nigerian artistes?
I wouldn’t say I have an edge over all
other artistes because everybody has their own talent, but I’ll just say
it’s my thing. It’s something God has blessed me with and I have worked
very hard with it. It’s not just that I sit down and it comes to me, I
try to surf for inspiration, and I think it has really helped me to be
the ‘Wizkid’ that I am. People don’t get surprised by what I do, they
feel like I can come up with any style, so it has helped me.
So which other international artistes have you worked with that we don’t know of?
I don’t want to let the cat out of the
bag because people know almost all the ones I’ve worked with, so I will
keep the others a secret till the time comes.
How did you find time to record your forth-coming album while you were busy on tour?
I am a workaholic, I’m a studio rat. In
London, after the concerts I went back to the studio to do my thing,.
It’s the love for music that keeps me going.
