It is no longer news that Ayodeji Abrahim Balogun professionally known as Wizkid, has always looked up to the late legend Fela Kuti in terms of Afrobeat and highlife music. Wizkid is one artist that has adopted a little of Fela’s style of music as well as his fashion sense.
Not just Wizkid, we also have the likes of Burna Boy, Patoranking, Sound Sultan etc who have always added a little of Fela’s feel to their songs, even down to his style of dance.
Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who died on the 2nd of August 1997 is indeed an inspiration to many Nigerian musicians today, highly respected even in death. He had laid a legacy and a foundation that most artists look up to.
Wizkid has always acknowledged the fact that if not for the hard work and time Fela spent in building the music industry, artists like himself would not have been known today. He has shown this in many ways, down to him having a tattoo of Fela Kuti on his arm.
Taking us back to early this year, when Wizkid announced that he will be releasing his album on his birthday July 16th2020. His fans anticipated the album but it never dropped.
Just when everyone had given up on Starboy dropping an album this year, his team started dropping hints that he will be dropping his album on the 1st of October as they flooded social media with a ring designed with Nigerian colors; Green and White. This is coming after Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage and Davido had release their albums and singles.
While his fans were waiting patiently for October 1st, Wizzy took everyone by surprise as he made an official announcement on his social media pages that his Made in Lagos album will be dropping on the 15th of October 2020.
After much research into why Wizkid decided to postpone the release of his album from July 16th to October 15th, it was discovered that Starboy wanted to pay respect to the legend of Afrobeat and Highlife music, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, as October 15th happens to be his date of birth.
Wizkid dedicating his album to late Fela Kuti can only prove one more time that he is forever going to be grateful for all the hard work done by Fela in the music industry. His dropping the album on Fela’s birthday is his own way of showing gratitude to the late legend.
A few similarities between a couple of Fela’s album covers and that of Wizkid’s Made in Lagos album cover have been observed. This is not the first time Wizkid is being compared to Fela in his dressing, song and dance moves. Wizkid is a die-hard fan of the legend “Fela Kuti”
