How ‘Ojuelegba’ Took Wizkid to the World

Ten years after its release, Wizkid’s ‘Ojuelegba’ endures as the anthem that connected Lagos to the world, and the propeller for Wizkid’s international rise. 

Ojuelegba, the metropolitan suburb of Surulere that connects the mainland and island areas of Lagos, is famed for possessing many of the traits that make Lagos the insomniac, unsettled city it is. Vehicles brazenly compete for lanes as road laws become merely a suggestion, a multitude of people traveling to different destinations form a dense human traffic, while the horns and shouts and music from different sources coalesce to give it its own resting volume, a pulse. Wizkid describes Ojuelegba as a ghetto in very literal terms, and yet, when the time came to pen a tribute to this tempestuous place, the town of his birth, he was gentle, tender even. His 2014 song, ‘Ojuelegba’, would go on to pull millions of streams and a bevy of accolades, shifting not just the course of his career, but the entirety of Nigerian music’s direction.

When ‘Ojuelegba’ was released, Wizkid was only four years into the industry, but it was clear that he was there to stay, and that he was still to grow even bigger. Already he had cut his teeth with international tours in the US and the UK; short of iconic locations like the O2 and Madison Square Garden, but about on par with what any Nigerian in music had ever achieved. He had rolled in a Next Rated award at the Headies in 2010, his debut year, and made his reprise with Artist of the Year 2012. He was also releasing a sophomore album after Superstar had achieved tremendous critical and commercial success. In the context of his humble upbringing, he was the one in a million, the one who had escaped the slum to enjoy the better life the people he grew up with had communally dreamt of...