Think of Wizkid right now, and what
images are generated in your head? Does it throw up photos of a young
man, focused on his career, with hardwork and dedication his key
components to thriving?
No. Here’s what you conjure in your head.
You
close your eyes, deeply pressing your eyelids against your pupils that
it feels a tad hurtful. Then you allow your mind wander to the human,
Wizkid. The images that come forth are not inspiring. To say the least,
they are disheartening. A young man, once a symbol of hard work and
representative of the common struggle to rise above the odds and
succeed, now is the opposite of that.
Wizkid cuts a
lavish figure. His demeanour has moved from young achiever, to wealthy
mindless loafer. 2014 was the height of it all, with incessant fights
and public battles being his choice of public relevance. His beef with Davido split his image in half, Samklef’s revelation was an eye-opener, and Saeon’s mild expression of discontent didn’t exactly cover him in glory.
Simply
put, those three beefs were image killers. Sure he held his own, and
responded with verve, giving as good as he got, but ultimately, his
image took a bashing.
Then came reports of recreational drug use. Wizkid was reportedly arrested in Kenya for use of marijuana,
and photos on social media has him showing huge partiality to a wrap of
weed. To ‘wrap it all’ (forgive the pun, couldn’t resist), there are insider reports which reveal that Wizkid and his smoke are inseparable.
Mix that in with his propensity to literally ‘throw away’
money at events, and you get a grim picture of a lost man. I have
personally been a witness to that. He produces a wad of bills and
proceeds to fling it randomly into the crowd, always eliciting a
mini-stampede.
That, my friend, isn’t a sign of maturity or focus.
Musically,
Wizkid has been on the receiving end of a lot of bashing. His last
album, which I deeply love and appreciate, was a downer to many people, with a huge outcry about the quality of sounds and lyrics.
Wizkid has the clubs hopping to his fast-tempo releases, and that will
never change. But people want more than dance from the star, and their
complaints are becoming deafening.
Strategically, Wizkid’s career moves have left a lot of heads shaking. His decision to make a ‘complacent’ music video for ‘Ojueleba’, has many cursing. Before then was a bland video for ‘Wonder’, and most recent, is another similar visual for ‘Sound It’.
Starboy
is his next project, and we are yet to feel convinced about the
prospects of that project. Everything is hinged upon the talent, star
power, and musical brilliance of Wizkid. There is no bigger picture
being sold to the public. It’s just Wizkid and his producers.
Wizkid gives an air of nonchalance, and a sample of opinion throw up one sad fact: he has lost the plot.
Many
inside sources and key players in the Nigerian music sector, people who
work behind the scenes to produce the shine that we see, have expressed their displeasure at his current state. They believe the influences around him are negative, and ultimately will be detrimental to his life and career.
Another
detrimental factor in his young career are his fans. As is the case in
Nigeria, fans of Wizkid are blind. They follow his shine and all that he
represents, but they lack the ability to tell him the truth. Dissenting
voices of reason are quickly abused, branded as haters, and bullied for
revealing th glaring truth. That has gone a long way from insulating
him from the shocking current of truth that he deserves.
What’s
happening to our favourite star? What exactly does he need to do, to
reassure us all that he still has his focus right? What does Starboy
represent, and what is the greater aim for the project?
These questions can only be answered by the deeds of Wizkid. But sadly, the star is doing. Doing the wrong deeds.
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