The African Giants of the entertainment industry

In the last five years, African music has become the jewel of the world. Gone are the days where collaborations with foreign artists are seen as a feat for African stars. In truth, the reverse has become the case, with foreign stars flattered to collaborate with their African colleagues, understanding the benefits they derive from such collaborations.

This is as a result of the meteoric rise of artists such as Wizkid, Tiwa Savage and Burna Boy, who individually and collectively have projected the African sound through their music. Worthy mentions go to artists such as 2Baba, P-Square and Davido for their efforts in promoting African music but there is a reason Wizkid, Tiwa Savage and Burna Boy are considered African giants, stealing the album title of the latter.

WizKid is a certified hitmaker, where he lacks in content, he makes up for with his melody and knack to create catchy tunes. His hit list stretches like the Nile from ‘Holla at your boy’ which introduced him as a solo act under EME records in 2010 to the new sounds he has been able to create in recent times. WizKid appeals to a wide demographic because of his stature, ability to evolve with the times and his great fashion sense.

WizKid’s penchant to murder any beat he sings on has earned him a cult following in music. His 2015 single ‘Ojuelegba’ which highlighted the struggles he endured in the early years of his recording career, brought the international attention he long deserved. WizKid had been an African giant for years, but it was in 2016, he cemented his international recognition following his collaboration with Drake on the global hit, ‘One Dance’, which reached number one in 15 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. And fast forward to 2018, Wizkid became the first Afrobeats artist to appear in the 2018 Guinness World Records for his contribution to ‘One Dance’.

In mid-2019, one of his brightest moments came when he featured on Beyoncé‘s ‘Brown Skin Girl’, from The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack.

WizKid has also contributed to the development of other artists with the launch of his Starboy Entertainment imprint in 2013, going on to sign acts such as Maleek Berry, Legendury Beatz, Efya, R2Bees, Mr Eazi and most recently Terri.

Wizkid’s ace seems to be his element of surprise. What do you say about a man who after meeting with American record producer, P. Diddy, failed to post pictures from their meeting, while an enthused P. Diddy posted the pictures on instagram before Wizkid did days later.

Confidence? Pride? None of the above? Or all of the above? Wizkid is an excellent PR guru who exploited historic moments in his career to great effect by making them makes seem normal to him. This strategy has continuously brought him more attention. He is that star whose light won’t dim under another star’s light.

It is safe to say the only time WizKid didn’t pull a trick off his hats was in his 2017 collaboration with Drake ‘Come Closer’, where Drake twice failed to come closer by not making an appearance in any of the two released videos for the song. Yes, Drake was on the song but if he had made an appearance in any of the videos, it would have been major for WizKid’s career. Nevertheless, WizKid has rarely had low moments in his illustrious career.

Tiwa Savage is the undisputed Queen of Afrobeats. She makes Yemi Alade’s self-acclaimed ‘Mama Africa’ title look like a fraud. Since her introduction into the Nigerian music scene, she has oozed with consistency and grown in her craft like no other female artist in the game.

In fact, no other female artist has shone in a Nigerian music industry predominantly male dominated. Her hit list is rich aand she’s arguably the most featured female artist in Africa with countless collaborations. She is everybody’s chic, the one they run to when they need a female twist or touch to a song. Ask Patoranking, Wizkid or Kizz Daniel, they will attest to her smooth delivery.

What can you fault about the former Mavin Records frontline act who began her music career doing backup vocals for artists such as George Michael  and Mary J. Blige and has lent vocals to other musicians such as Chaka Khan, Blu Cantrell, Kelly Clarkson and Ms. Dynamite?

Since the release of her debut studio album in Once upon a time in 2013 supported by seven singles — ‘Kele Kele Love Kele’, ‘Love Me’, ‘Without My Heart’, ‘Ife Wa Gbona’, ‘Folarin’, ‘Olorun Mi’ and ‘Eminado’, Tiwa has continued to soar with hits upon hits.

Being the first Nigerian artist to be signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2016 and the first female artist to win Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music awards in 2018, Her CV speaks for itself.

Tiwa Savage is not your average female artist; she is a television host, a songwriter and a sex symbol. Not that you need to, but rewind to her Moe Musa-directed music video for ‘Wanted’ released in 2014 and you can tell she is deliberate in her projection as a sex symbol. Yes the video prompted a huge public backlash but it also helped to increase her popularity.

With the release of her latest album ‘Celia’ expect Tiwa Savage to dominate the airwaves yet again.

On this list, Burna Boy is arguably the most complete of them all. To be fair, speaking of originality, rich content and craft mastery, no artist is on his level. And he has never been one to follow the trend. Experimentation with sounds has been a constant narrative of his musical journey. Songs like ‘Like to party’ and ‘Run my race’ sound fresh even till this day.

Burna Boy is in a world of his own, no artist has come close to filling the void left by Fela in terms of creating politically charged music like Oluwa Burna has done. Burna always finds a way to incorporate socially or politically conscious elements into his music through his rich song writing ability.

For an artist who isn’t known to do so many features, Burna Boy doesn’t fail to deliver when he does. His feature on the remix of South African producer Master KG‘s viral song ‘Jerusalema’ is a testament to this. A song in which he showcases his lyrical depth, also partly singing in the isiZulu language.

It 2019, Burna Boy solidified his reputation as a force to reckon with in the African music scene with the release of his fourth studio album ‘African Giant’ and outdid himself with the release of his fifth studio album ‘Twice As Tall’ in 2020 to cement his place in the global music scene in less than a year.

Twice As Tall can be seen as a perfect response after losing the gong of Best World Music to Angélique Kidjo at the 2020 Grammy Awards. Getting P Diddy to executive produce your album is no mean feat but Burna Boy did it with Twice As Tall.

The album has broken several records; it is currently the biggest opening weekend ever for an African artist album on Apple Music globally charting in 56 countries. Also it recorded five million streams in just an hour of its release generating rave reviews in the process.

For these African giants, it isn’t all about the awards, sold out concerts, numerous endorsement deals or their street credibility. Just like the ones before them, Fela, 2Baba, D’Banj and P-Square, they have all been able to capture the attention of the world with the African sound, making Afrobeats a global brand, only that they have taken it to heights previously unimagined.