Wizkid

Know everything about Wizkid Ayo: wizkid biography, his profile, personal life, background, education, career, relationship, collaborations and much more…

Wizkid Personal Life

Wizkid was born Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun on 16 July 1990 in Surulere, Lagos State South West Nigeria. He is one of the most popular and successful singers of his age to ever come out of Nigeria.

Wizkid is also a good stage performer and songwriter who started his musical career when he was barely 11 and was known then as Lil Prinz at the time.

In 2009, he was signed on to Empire Mates Entertainment, EME. He often calls himself Star Boy. He is a Christian who does secular Afro music.

Wizkid’s father never liked his idea of going into music. Though Wizkid hardly talks about his family in the press, but unconfirmed sources say he has a sister, Lade who he loves so much. Lade, the sources say, attends one of the expensive high institution in South West Nigeria.

Wizkid Education

Wizkid dropped out of school in 2010 after he had come to limelight. He said he could no longer cope with being in school and recording music.

Wizkid was a 200L student of Lead City University where he was studying International Studies until he left school and went fully into music.

Wizkid Musical Career

Wizkid first album was titled Lil Prinz and was released in 2001. The album has 7 tracks on it.

He later met OJB Jezreel who mentored his musical career, and they later did a song together. Some of the songs he did with OJB Jezreel became very popular at bars and clubs in Surulere part of Lagos, Nigeria where they were based at the time.

In his early days in music, Wizkid’s father did not like the idea of him going into music, so he felt he should work even harder to impress his father. This led to Wizkid spending quality time in the studio.

His passion for music would have him do anything just to succeed. He has often said that Naeto C and Banky W had great influence in his life and musical style.

This relationship with Banky W had him doing songs with him in his (Banky W) album “The W Experience.” It is on record that they co-wrote the popular single Omoge You Too Much.

Wizkid also recorded a song with Naeto C but was not as popular as the one he did with Banky W. The duo has kept in touch and still does music together including the new song from Naeto C which features Wizkkid on it, Oluwaloseyi.

His 2010’s Holla At Your Boy hit single brought him to limelight, and since then his songs enjoy massive airplay.

In 2013, Wizkid who was initially signed by Banky W’s Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) later broke away from the record label and consequently, he moved out of EME mansion in Lagos and relocated in his own mansion is highbrow Lekki Phase 1 area of Lagos.

Information Nigeria reported that he was merely getting 25% of proceeds from his shows which angered the young artist, and he went solo.

Though the misunderstanding was later sorted out, after which Wizkid was getting 50% from Banky W, but he felt it was time to go solo fully and in 2014 he decided to walk away after the release of his album, Ayo.

Fatherhood and Relationship

In August 2011, Wizkid impregnated an undergraduate named Oluwanishola Ogudugu – an incident he denied during interviews after it was broke in the media.

After series of misunderstandings and DNA tests, he accepted responsibility of the baby and vowed to take care of the girl. The lady successfully gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, Boluwatife.

The little Boluwatife is now 4. Oluwanishola recounted during an interview with Vanguard Newspaper that she felt her world had crashed when she discovered she was pregnant after the fifth month.
In October 2013, Wizkid shared the picture of Boluwatife on his Instagram page. This singular act vindicated Nigerian Entertainment Today, which was the first media platform to break the scandal. Wizkid is currently dating very gorgeous Tania Omotayo.

Also, unconfirmed sources say Wizkid’s girlfriend Tania Omotayo is related to Lola Omotayo (wife of Peter Okoye of P-Square)

Wizkid and Davido

Nigerian music critics have said that Wizkid’s closest rival in music is Davido (David Adeleke). Just like Wizkid, Davido has steadily risen to limelight, and his songs enjoy both local and international airplay.

This popularity had him attending international shows, and people are often compelled to say Davido is a better artist that Wizkid because of his relatively younger age and inborn musical talent.

Many music pundits have held that belief that there is a beef (cold war) going on between the two artists. A claim they have always debunked.

In spite of this, people are often compelled to believe they have this beef because they are hardly seen talking to each other (not even back stage when they are billed to perform at the same concert) and have never been seen performing on the same stage together which is often normal among musicians.

But surprisingly, probably to allay the perceived tension, Wizkid announced that he would do a collaboration with Davido in 2014.

Prior to the announcement, they had been seen to secretly exchange hate tweets, and this had discerning fans convinced they nurse secret malice towards each other. A claim they had either would not like to talk about or have it dispelled in the media.

Wizkid Music Collaborations

Wizkid has been featured by many local and international artists but the notable international collaborations are discussed below:

Wizkid ft Rihanna: In 2014, Wizkid said he wrote a song for US rhythm and blues sensation, Rihanna. He told Dj Abrantee on Capital Show in London while he was promoting his Ayo album that he visited Rihanna in her Los Angeles studio, where he wrote a song for her and he hoped for international collaboration.

Wizkid ft Drake: Wizkid did a remix of his popular Ojuelegba track with Drake in 2015. The remix also has Skepta on it. The original version was a massive success which saw Wizkid travelling round the world to perform it.

Wizkid ft Akon: After the announcement by US singer Akon that he would be collaborating with some African artists to help them build a bigger musical career, he did collaboration with Wizkid, and the song was titled For You. It is one of the hit tracks off Wizkid’s Ayo album released in 2014.

Wizkid ft Wale: Wizkid had American rapper Wale featured in his song Murder which is in the Ayo album.
Wizkid recently announced he plans to do a single with popular Nigerian artiste and guitarist Asa.

WizkidStage Performances

Wizkid often throws cash at his fans while performing on stage. This he does in appreciation of their loyalty, support and love for him. He was reported to throw cash running into thousands of naira whenever he is performing on stage though not all the time. Wizkid also throws his golden bling-bling.

Wizkid Discography

Lil Prinz (2001)
Superstar (2011): The tracks in this album include Holla at your boy, Tease me(Bad guys), Don’t Dull, Love My Baby, Pakurumo, Oluwa Lo Ni, Say My Name, No Lele, Scatter the Floor, Wad Up (feat. D’Prince) and others.

Empire Mates State of Mind (2012): The tracks here include Baddest Boy, Dance for Me, Get Down Tonight, Ko Mo Le, London Girl, Sun Mo Mi, Change, Don’t Delay Me and others.
Ayo (2014): The tracks in this album are Ojuelegba, Jaiye Jaiye, On Top Your Matter, Joy, Bombay, Show You The Money, in My Bed, Dutty Whine, Omalicha and others.

Wizkid Awards

Wizkid has had many nominations in both Nigerian and foreign awards. He has won Ghana Music Awards, BET Awards, The Headies, Nigeria Entertainment Awards, MOBO Awards, The Future Awards, Channel O Music Video awards to name a few.

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