Wizkid needs no introduction in the entertainment industry as he is legit one of the most influential figures in African music.
And he has been for quite some time too. Since he made his debut in 2011, he has not slowed down once. He has achieved a lot, broken a lot of records, and stayed on top of his game.
Truth is, Wizkid is not the best artist in the music industry. No. Wizkid is the music industry.
A lot is known about Wizkid, his career, his background, and his lifestyle. Still, there’s no doubt that there’s enough fact about the man to go around. I have no problem believing that most people (even those who are not his fans) can answer any Wizkid trivia about his life or career.
Anyway, without any further ado, here’s seven facts about Ayo Balogun, aka Wizkid, that I bet you didn’t really know.
1. He Used To Go By The Name Lil Prinz
In the mid to late 2000s, it was a thing to add “lil” to your name to make it cool, following the trend of artists like Lil Wayne and Lil Bow Wow. Well, Wizkid was way ahead of his time then and long before there was Lil Baby or Lil Durk, his first stage name was Lil Prinz.
2. M.I Abaga Gave Him His First Feature
Most people don’t know Wizkid has a close relationship with veteran rapper, M.I Abaga. But the fact is, M.I was one of the people that put Wizkid on in the early days.
On his debut album, “Talk About It,” M.I featured the then 17-year-old Wizkid on a track named “Fast Money, Fast Cars” where Wizkid did a very popular hook. This was long before Wiz was an EME boy.
3. His Best Friend Is Rotimi Rudeboy
Wizkid has a lot of friends, obviously. But many of these friends he got after the fame. There’s one though, whom he has known since he was a kid. He’s called Rotimi Rudeboi and Wizkid shouted him out on the “Superstar” album in 2011.
Rotimi who is part of Wizkid’s team these days is the owner of the popular W Bar in Lagos.
4. Almost Won A Grammy in 2016
Back in 2016, The Recording Academy (aka Grammy Organisers) changed the rule of awarding to include everyone that worked on a particular project.
That was the same year Wizkid was on Drake‘s “Views” album, and many thought he was gonna win that year. Well, if not for Adele, he might have. Way back before Burna even dreamt of making “Ye.”
5. Wizkid Has Always Been In Ghana
Now, this is one tidbit that has escaped most people. But back in the mid-2010s when Wizkid had a record label, he wasn’t alone.
As a matter of fact, for a long time, the President of Starboy Entertainment was the Ghanaian artist, Omar Sterling, who was one-half of the R2Bees duo, and that’s why Wizkid has a lot of songs with those guys.
Wizkid didn’t just move to Ghana last year. He has always done business in Ghana, and he’s fond of the West African country.
6. He Was A Studio Rat In His Early Days
“Ojuelegba” is not based on fiction, I can tell you that much. Wizkid did use to hang out around studios back in the day, being a messenger boy for artists that came to record all day long just so that at night he might get a chance to do his own music.
People who knew him back in the day would always say the guy was very humble and that was how he got ahead. Clearly, it wasn’t easy.
7. He Crashed A Porsche, Bought Another The Next Week
In 2014, there were all these stories about artists that used to circulate on blogs and many of them turn out to not be true.
But there’s a particular one about Wizkid crashing an expensive car, and buying a new one the next week and sources have confirmed that it is very much true.
He even talked about it on Kayswitch’s “For Example” in 2014.
