I came across this open letter to Wizkid from a certain fan and decided to share. I’m not going to judge, just read for yourself and tell me what you think!
OPEN LETTER TO WIZKID
Wizkid vividly I recalled back in 2011 dropping smash album”superstar”, with charts topping hits from holla at your boy to tease me, from don’t dull to pakurumo and more,you took the industry by storm,young,energetic and vibrant with unforgotten hits ,captivating voice and immense talent,grabbing awards and gracing
expensive shows both home and abroad, no doubt a game changer, a perfect
game changer ! Every young kid want to be Wizkid .
Here came 2012,year of EME-cee, you took the shine of the crew,laced graceful and
lovely hooks on 80% of the album songs,you so fly,hot and invisible.
More shows and awards never stop rolling in. Starboy himself never
seems unstoppable.
And 2013, you seems superfly,you were at your
very best,in between controversy and misunderstanding with your then
manager (Osagie) and record label,EME Ent,u popped out singles- hits
singles! Upto 20 singles ( a whole album) back to back rocking airways,
topping charts in just 1yr, 1 year I repeat,smiles..bro here is a
piece of advice putting out a lot of songs out in just 1 year is simply
going to sell you short you still have a long way to go and no body does
that in the world not even music icon Tupac, Jay Z and our very own Tuface idibia.
Your style is monotonous- same style,same theme of
songs all I heard is baby-baby-baby, huh! People are getting bored of
hearing same thing every blessed day ,baby songs will never make you a
legend, it will never take you anywhere,fine it will put couple of
millions in your account, buy you designer clothes and gold chains and some
expensive fancy cars but for how long will that be before the brand Wizkid vanished?
Bob Marley,Tupac and Fela Anikulapo kuti became
legends basically because of the unrivaled contents of their lyrics
about life, reality, freedom and brutality of mankind,they did it for a
long time and they did it perfectly.
Wizkid, listen and listen carefully,you need to start buying songs like a real professional,you
need to go back to your winning team(Osagie and Banky W), let them be in
control of your career just like when you guys started back in
2010.Remember these people are well read and older thus they possessed
lots of exposure and experience you might never get in the next 10yrs.
You need to understand you are a big brand who has a name/image to
protect, you need to step up your game, surround yourself with highly
educated entertainment professionals not your so called semi-illiterate
team.You need to understand the fact that the music industry is highly
competitive,growing very fast with new artists springing up every
blessed day.They are mean,hungary for fame and fortune and committed
and simply want to dethrone you and the rest of reigning established
artists.
Take time to pen good and meaningful songs,get
professional song writers and slap it with classy expensive videos not
all those 2-seconds-one-spot videos you are giving us,they are not
helping your brand. “Holla at your boy” and “pakurumo ” videos became
big hits and highly successful just because their story lines were
carefully written- perfect scripts,good directing with high budgets which
I believe is the handwork of the master planner himself,Mr. Banky W.”The matter” was a very
good song-great delivery, great breath control,lovely rhythm and killer
beat but the beautiful song was killed by a cheap and conceptless
video.Davido will spend his last penny to get good and well written
songs and slap it with classy and High budgeted videos.He wasn’t a freak
to have shot 3 videos for his hit song skelewu that shows he classy
,he’s professional, he wants the best,he has big taste ,he knows what he
doings and what he wants .I see him doing different styles, very
versatile, very
diversify,tell me why he won’t grab those MTV awards
and swept off heart of fans.Davido is practicing what I called
PWMS-Professional Western Music Strategy i.e. buy songs, shoot classy
videos and get good results,everybody does that around the world, that’s
the professionalism, from Beyonce to Rihanna, Chris Brown to of
course,the late legendary Michael Jackson. Banger Lee aka D banj aka Kinniun funfun
will also spend his last to
get the best producer to give him best of production and world class
videos and massive promo same thing goes to the undisputed twins called
“P square”.Stop doing things anyhow, stop giving us rush up jobs
-production and videos,they are not helping your brand. Be more
professional, be more committed, control your temper, control your
ego,stop changing managements-it kills,your career,one management hasn’t
finished implementing his strategy on you to excel in your career, you
sacked him get another and start afresh, bro that’s career suicide!
Respect your management, listen to them they are working round the clock to make
you remain at nos 1,they are thinking for you to excel,stay humble,they
are the drivers of your success,your success lies in the hands of thier great ideas and
strategies.Stop the idea of I-can -do-it -by-myself just because you
made couple of millions ,got fame and knew some OAPS and Djs, fame and
fortune isn’t enough. It has killed many (artists) and will still kill
more. Stop tightening hands over your career, you need to spend more on
your career, if you don’t, it will die , money will stop coming in and might
go broke .Incase you are wondering what this is, it’s no beef just a piece
of advice material for you to get things right. Am your nos 1 fan, I
respect your talent and hustle but I hate seeing my hero falling so has
many other music lovers in Nigeria and beyond. I wanna see you doing
music and doing it big for the next 10,20 years maybe more.
Ayodele Ahmed
Entertainment expert/song writer/artist manager.
