5 potentials of Wizkid-Drake collaboration, benefits to Nigerian entertainment

Wizkid is coasting as far as music is concerned and we love the current success story his collaboration on One Dance has brought the Nigerian entertainment industry. It’s helped position us in a positive light internationally just as it has potentials to do more for Nigerian music.

Nigerian pop star Wizkid is having a swell year and it’s only the fifth month in what is already considered a successful run of form for the Nigerian entertainment industry.

Everything started in July 2015 when Skepta introduced Drake to Ojuelegba and the latter jumped on the track and recorded a remix to it.

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This introduced the world to a brighter side of Nigerian music and before long the remix led to the Drake song One Dance which dropped on April 5, 2016.

With this, Wizkid is sure gaining foothold in the global music scene and it presents many more opportunities for other pop artistes in Nigeria.

One Dance is the 12th track on the new album Views, the fourth studio album from Drake, which was released by Cash Money Records, Young Money Entertainment and OVO Sound on Thursday, April 28, 2016.

On April 29, Drake performed at two shows in Toronto and during one of the performances with Justin Bieber the Energy rapper announced that the new album sold 630,000 copies in one night.

On the heels of its commercial success, One Dance has climbed steadily up the Billboard Hot 100 chart and is currently number two.

But this means more than just success for Drake and his Nigerian co-producer Wizkid.

It means a whole lot for Nigerian music and entertainment in general and here are five ways the collaboration and the new found partnership between both stars can influence the Nigerian music industry:

1. Introduction to the world – The collaboration on One Dance serves as a strong introduction of the Nigerian music and sounds to the world on another level. There have been international collaborations by Nigerian artistes in the past but there are songs and there are songs. With the current Billboard success of One Dance, there’s no limit to the opportunities before our local industry.

2. Opportunities – The partnership between both stars provides an avenue for more collaborative efforts for Nigerian musicians given the way the entire narrative began.

In 2015, Wizkid talked about meeting up witth Drake after the latter followed him on Instagram.

Here’s what he told Ghanaian radio station Empire FM: “I was there and saw that Drake followed me on Instagram so I DMed him and I was like ‘Yo, I’m a big fan of your music’ and he was like I like your music as well. So we started talking and we talked about hooking up in London, so I went to London the next day and when I got there, I saw that he had already done his verse to the song, it was just funny mehn!”

So we see that he didn’t have to go ‘contract’ anybody for a feature neither did he lobby or pay for anything, at least from the information available to us.

3. Positioning – The collaboration sells our music to the world in a positive light in terms and view of the quality of our sounds, the talents laden in our industry and the adaptive features of our entertainers.

4. Imaging – Wizkid might have had a very limited contribution on the track but he also shares songwriting as well as production credits on One Dance, a feat that sees him righting all the wrongs of Dbanj’s pitiable affiliation with G.O.O.D. music and Kanye West in 2011. As a result, the world can see that indeed our industry has true, diverse talents.

5. Further success – Wizkid’s partnership with Drake, according to insiders, will produce more songs and we can’t wait. First, because we need good music and secondly because it will help further project the marketability of the Nigerian music industry.

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If the soon-to-be-released collaborations pan out as expected, then it helps the world see the market benefits in synergizing with Nigerian musicians.

With One Dance currently enjoying commercial and chart successes, there’s no disputing that there’s more where Wizkid came from. It’s like going to Brazil to scout for football talents or going to Asia to shop for electronic gadgets, there’s always more from where the first buy was made.

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