Last Saturday, one of Nigeria’s biggest music exports and Starboy Entertainment CEO, Wizkid, pulled off a historical feat only achieved by other world-renowned stars such as Beyonce, Adele, Kanye West, Drake, Britney Spears and a few others by selling out the 20,000 capacity O2 Arena for his Afro Republik Concert making him the first African artiste to do so as a headlining act.
When the singer announced a week to the event that the tickets for the concert had sold out, the internet went into a frenzy. To borrow the popular phrase from the rapper TerryTheRapman, ‘No Be Beans’ to sell out 02 and props must be given to all who contributed to make the event a success that it was. Home and abroad, the countdown began as people were eager to witness the spectacle which was also had other star guests like Tekno, Mr Eazi, Tiwa Savage, Maleek Berry, YXNG Bane and NOT3S as supporting acts.
The concert happened and actually lived up to its billing as all the artistes delivered exceptional performances during their sets with one of the major highlight being the moment Wizkid and Tiwa Savage displayed their ‘bestie’ acts on stage. However, what was conspicuously noticeable was the absence of the new supposedly signed Starboy artistes, Terri and Spotless who did not get any feature on stage with their boss. In fact, all the photos that have been shared from the event didn’t feature both artistes and even in the video from the green room shared by Nigerian UK-based media personality Adesope Olajide, both artistes were missing, prompting questions if the duo were in even in London for the show.
Read: ‘My Baby, Sexy Tiwa’ – Wizkid And Tiwa Savage Serve Their ‘Bestie’ Goals At 02 Arena Stage
While many may want to suggest that the organisers for the sake of a perfect production wanted a to maintain a lean amount of sets or that the newbies didn’t have songs in thier catalogue to earn them a set, Wizkid had the leverage to introduce his new boys especially as Terri and Spotless contributed heavily to the success of ‘Soco’, arguably the biggest song in Nigeria from the first quarter of this year and it would have been a big morale boost for them to perform that song along with Wizkid on the big stage for the world to see them and also have them also get a taste of what success is like if they work hard.
Read: Its Official! Straboy Act Terri Pens Contract with the Label
A lot has been said in the past about Wizkid’s willingness and ability to effectively and/or intentionally push talents that are supposedly under his wings and this recent action or perhaps inaction by Wiz lays credence to all these insinuations. This is especially as Wizkid during his coming up days enjoyed a lot of support, push and leverage from Banky W, his then label Boss at EME.
It is on record that in 2010 at the 12th Kennis Music Easter Festival stage, Banky W made a bold introduction of Wizkid to the Nigerian entertainment industry where he referred to him as the future of the Nigerian Music industry and his ‘retirement plan’. That move alone endeared the then 19-year-old to the hearts of major stakeholders in the Nigerian entertainment circle and ensured that Wizkid got a lot of media attention. That is the hallmark of good leadership.
For a better perspective, we cannot but draw comparisons with what Wizkid’s friendly rival is doing with his DMW crew. Davido since launching his label has been able to groom bonafide stars such as Mayorkun, Dremo and recently Peruzzi and Yonda and never shies away from projecting them. Mayorkun with the support of the DMW boss had a successful headline concert last December. Davido only recently signed current buzzing artiste Idowest and is also rumoured to have signed Nigerian Rapper, Sinzu who recently got released from jail. With these power moves by Davido, it is safe to say that the young man is positioning the label to becoming the most bankable label in the continent.
As for Wizkid, the Starboy Entertainment boss needs to really make up what he really wants to do with his label. If being a successful solo artiste under his own platform is what works for him, he should stick to it and not stifle the growth of those who are supposed to benefit off associating with his brand. This is 2018!