Superstar by Wizkid: The 10-Year Celebration of a Classic
The cultural impact of Wizkid's debut album cannot be understated even 10 years after its release.
“Ten years from now we'll still be on top/Yo, I thought I told you that we won't stop” - Diddy on ‘Mo’ Money, Mo Problems’.
The date June 12 is no ordinary date in Nigeria’s history. On this day in 1993, millions of Nigerians voted in the election that was presumably won by late Chief M.K.O Abiola, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Nigeria (SDP).
The June 12 election was annulled by the IBB regime shortly after. Democracy wouldn't return to Nigeria after six dark years.
Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun was three years old on June 12, 1993. 18 years later, on this same date Balogun now known as Wizkid released his influential debut album ‘Superstar’ via the then glossy pop hit factory Empire Mates Entertainment (EME).
Today makes it a decade since Wizkid released his first body of work.
It was during the summer (rainy season in Nigeria) that the stronghold of piracy known as Alaba rolled out the seminal album from Ojuelegba’s finest son. It was a time of tacky Shamballa beads and rosaries, ugly Supra sneakers, skinny jeans that microwaved testicles, horrible AMA Kip Kip T-shirts, chunky Casio watches, the jerk dance and bootleg Rayban shades.
Yeah, the fashion sucked but the music banged as a new generation was about to come into its own. You can call it the growing pain of a new era.
‘Superstar’ came right on time when the ubiquitous Mo’ Hits Empire was on its last legs. The young culture needed a champion and Wizkid who had gone on a mad two year run whipped up the nation into a frenzy in anticipation of his first album.
Culturally, for the Gen-Z and the young millennials, this was a period to be daring, to sneak out the house for ‘Elegushi Loading’ trips or maximum rocks at Rehab Nite Club.
Initially marketed as a bubble gum pop star to impressionable teenagers, Wizkid’s quick acceleration as a sex symbol partying in strip clubs (‘Tease Me/Bad Guys’) would lead his young target audience to the liberating night life in Lagos, the pied piper of pleasure.
The hedonism ushered in by Wande Coal on his classic solo album ‘Mushin 2 Mo’ Hits’ would be stretched to almost maximum capacity on Wizkid’s album.
The hedonistic music was a passport of sorts for the young to seek pleasure in night clubs and private beaches than deal with the failed promises of Nigerian democracy. Party and bullshit over politics. Escapism over reality and that’s why unlike other blockbuster albums before its time, ‘Superstar’ lacked a conscious song.
While it lacked conscious lyrics, it doubled down on individuality and materialism, capturing the zeitgeist of a new period.
Primarily produced by Samklef, Superstar was more than an extension of Wande Coal’s fine template. On ‘Don’t Dull’ a core component of the LP, Wizkid took a detour by embracing the dark streets in the inner city of Lagos. This would be a new element added to the young Afrobeats genre.
Beyond the attempt at scoring a classic ballad song ‘Love My Baby’, and the successful blend of Fuji and Afrobeats on ‘Pakurumo’, Wizkid uttered a prophetic line on his classic debut. It’s a line so pivotal that it is arguably the centerpiece of the project.
On ‘No Lele’, the second track on the LP, Wizkid screamed “Ojuelegba Shitta/ask my sister/ my music travel no visa.” This line is likened to an arrow shot into the future by an able archer.
Coincidentally the success of ‘Superstar’ and other seminal albums during this period would trigger the invasion of contemporary Nigerian pop music to Western Europe and eventually America.
What makes that Wizkid line more eerie is the fact that his smash hit single ‘Ojuelegba’ released in 2014 would turn out to be an international sensation which more or less kickstarted his international recording career.
When ‘Superstar’ was initially released it gained mostly positive reviews from critics and fans alike. No one however claimed it to be an instant classic.
While Wizkid won two awards at the 2012 Headies edition (‘Artiste of the Year’ & ‘Revelation of the Year’), ‘Superstar’ lost out to P-Square’s ‘The Invasion’ in the ‘Album of the Year’ and ‘Best R&B/Pop album’ categories.
As the years have gone by it would be criminal not to call ‘Superstar’ a classic. Supervised by the EME boss Banky W, Wizkid created a masterpiece for a new generation to dream bigger than its eyes could see.
2face Idibia gave his own generation the belief to believe in its dreams with his classic debut album ‘Face 2 Face’, likewise Wizkid opened up the vortex for his own generation to go and conquer the world. And it has done so.
Wizkid is a Nigerian Pop Culture Icon.