Nigerian singer Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, known professionally as Wizkid has released his latest 14 tracks album, ‘made in Lagos’.
On October 11, 2020, Wizkid had an illuminating conversation with Dayo and Mansour of The Beat 103.6 FM, London. He admitted his wrongs of not bringing an artist through, he spoke about his passion, his love for his kids and how they have changed him, his focus on positive energy, passion for helping the next generation, and why he’s grown to hate clubs.
When we finally got Made In Lagos on October 30, 2020, that 18-minute conversation felt like a playbook for the album. In those moments, he was calm, playful, articulate, and peaceful. He has also lost his boundless energy of the early 2010s. He moved gracefully through the stairs of life and seemed relieved that his Oddyseus was finally coming home.
Made In Lagos is the brainwork of a man who only makes music to feed his fans and satisfy his love for the craft. He doesn’t seem driven to prove a point or to take unnecessary risks. This is Wizkid operating by his own rules and finding unique ways to excel in it.
Just like that Beat 103.6 FM, ‘Blessed’ featuring Damian Marley is emblematic of this album. It encapsulates everything that ‘Made In Lagos’ is thematically, sonically, and topically about in one track. But what stands out is Wizkid’s take on his evolution, wins, losses, pleasures, and his peace.
Marley sings, “I might be rough around the edges, maybe yes. I keep it nappy and I do what makes me happy and nobody can deny me that I’m blessed…” That might seem cocky and spoken from the mouth of Marley, but it echoes Wizkid’s state of mind.
Wizkid later sings, “Man, I’m feeling blessed o. Say tonight, me and my guys, we go jam gbedu…” He then goes further to highlight the tenets of his calmness.
Sometimes, it is not perfect, but ‘Made In Lagos’ represents growth, ease, and the perfection of failed experiments from his last two bodies of work, Sounds From The Other Side and the terrible, Soundman Vol. 1.
At 30, he has also evolved and grown accustomed to being family-oriented. In the video for ‘Smile,’ he featured his three sons. On interview circuits, he has gushed over his sons and his family-based orientation. On ‘Blessed,’ he expressly paid homage to his kids and on ‘Reckless’ he sings, “And I go do anything only for my family…”
Made In Lagos: A journey of elements
In July 2017, Wizkid capped off an incredible one year run with the release of his third album, ‘Sounds From The Other Side.’ While the album charted inside the Billboard 200 and opened Wizkid and the larger Nigeria to another audience, the album was fundamentally flawed as it significantly alienated Wizkid’s fan base on the home front with its Caribbean sounds.
While ‘Sweet Love’ has since aged like fine wine, ‘Come Closer’ and ‘African Bad Gyal’ are slightly divisive. After that album, Wizkid never remained the same as a person and as an artist. He became more withdrawn, aloof, and frozen in time as his music crawled into a mid-tempo flirtation between lo-fi Afro-pop and Afro-Swing.
He also spent less time on social media and even lesser time in interviews. With Jada Pollock, he also had his third child, Zion in the same year.
His topical conversations also got more constrained and he seemed to focus on his comfort and topics that represent happiness to him – women, love, sex, money, and peace. While that was a problem for a while, it wasn’t a problem on Made In Lagos as those topics become alluring. During that interview with The Beat 103.6 FM, London interview, he calls himself “lowkey.”
He alludes to all the above on ‘Blessed’ as he sings, “My brother makes you know. Life wey I dey live, say I dey live am on the low… See, I just wanna hold onto my corner with my lady, make her cool me down…”
On Reckless, he also sings, “My baby tellin’ mе to pose for the media. I got a bеlief, I don’t talk my sh*t…”
Made In Lagos: Dealing with detraction
If Wizkid was wide-eyed and aspirational on Superstar, appreciative and introspective on the substantial parts of Ayo and bland for earth-shattering substance on ‘Sounds From The Other Side,’ life has since shown him unsavoury shades.
In 2018, he made two records; ‘Bad Energy’ with Skepta and ‘Fake Love’ with Duncan Mighty. While he sought to highlight and treat negative energy on those two songs, he’s too ‘Blessed’ to stress on ‘Made In Lagos,’ despite also highlighting bad energy.
On ‘Blessed’ he sings, “I dey pray for my enemies… See, I don’t wanna talk about the things wey go make me down tonight. See, I don’t wanna talk about the things wey go, wey go, make me frown tonight…”
And on ‘Reckless’ he sings, “I got a reason I got so much to give. Showered in blessings, now my cup’s runnin’ over. I no dey give a man, more than what he deserves ‘cause they still dey bite the hand wey dey feed them…”
Sometimes, he also pays his detractors no mind. On ‘Grace,’ he sings, “Man I no dey look nobody, feel say I feel fine, yeah and I stand real tall and I send no one…” This is because he knows that he’s blessed and that, “Dem nor fit run my race…”
And why wouldn’t he? He knows where he is coming. On ‘Reckless,’ he goes, “If I tell you all the days I had to sacrifice…” On ‘Grace’ he again alludes to his journey, “Say you no believe what my eyes did face…” But then, he recognizes a need to be grateful. On Blessings, he sings, “Got so many blessings, I dey count all night…”
While he seems mature, he still has a tendency for petulance as a way to deal with detraction. On ‘Gyrate’ he sings, “If they wan test yeah, all their man go fall…”
Made In Lagos: Women, love, sex, money and a good time
Throughout ‘Made In Lagos,’ the woman and a good time are the key focus that originates from Wizkid’s aloofness, calmness, and carefree nature. Even when Wizkid talks about serious topics on ‘Reckless,’ ‘Blessed’ and ‘Grace,’ the topics found a way to devolve into themes of a good time.
On ‘Blessed,’ he goes from a serious topic to sex-filled chatter about the good life. Also on ‘Reckless,’ he goes from family orientation to chatter about his sexual prowess, “And I go do anything only for my family. I got the thing that makes your body do the nuh linga, makes your gyal come through, makin’ plays all night…”
It’s not entirely his fault. After all, he’s a staunch member of the Yoruba demon council. He had earlier gushed over the influence of women over him, “Gyals dem never give me bad energy…”
On the Afro-fusion/Afro-swing ‘Sweet One,’ Wizkid develops into a full-blown lover boy, complete with brazen statements and sprung adlibs. As the saxophone and melodies collide for heavenly rhythms, he declares his affection for a woman who says “yes” to him even though she has money on her mind.
With H.E.R ‘Smile,’ Wizkid celebrates womanhood on a well-written R&B track. The ‘Mighty Wine’ of the beautiful ‘Roma’ sends Wizkid crazy. ‘Roma’ particularly sounds like something women will love, but ‘Mighty Wine’ seems like something the album could have done without.
Bruh, aside from the fact that ‘True Love’ is a disturbingly psychedelic Afro-Fusion, Highlife-Fusion, and Afro-Bashment record that could soundtrack kush-filled romance beside the beach, Tay Iwar and Projexx killed it. It also contains explicit sex talk.
It then got wilder, more explicit, and more vivid on the Afro-pop record, ‘No Stress’ – which made more sense as part of this album, and ‘Ginger’ with Burna Boy. The R&B/Bashment of ‘Piece of Me’ with Ella Mai also discusses sex as properly make music. When it all feels like it had slowed down, ‘Essence’ comes on in its supreme chronicle of sensuality.
Guys, Terms went into beast mode on a happy record with beautiful songwriting. Frankly, it’s one of the best Nigerian songs of 2020. The way the beat also merged Alte R&B with Afrobeats into one sound is amazing. Jesus Christ!
Wizkid also loves money. But it’s quite interesting that money doesn’t form a core part of his topical discussion. It’s only in selective moments like on ‘Grace’ that he alludes to money. He sings, “Money on my mind, I never waste time, yeah…”
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