Asa Asika has suggested that Afrobeats would have achieved even greater global success if Nigeria’s top artistes had collaborated more often in the early stages of their careers.
In a recent interview on the Afropolitan podcast, the talent manager claimed that only a handful of Nigerian artistes have been instrumental in projecting Afrobeats to the world.
He argued that if stars like Wizkid, Davido, and their peers had prioritised collaboration from the beginning, Afrobeats would have gained even more global traction.
To emphasise his point, Asika referenced the success of Latin music, which he attributed to strong collaborations among artistes like Bad Bunny, J Balvin, and Nicky Jam.
“My biggest piece of advice is always things like, ‘do not make the mistakes we made. A perfect example of not making mistakes we made was our collective knowledge of Latin music,” he said.
“For example, Latin music is very popular due to the collaboration of artists like Bad Bunny, J Balvin, and Nicky Jam. That’s a mistake we made.
“If Davido, Wizkid, and everybody at that point were all collaborating. The probability of our genre being bigger and more successful, even little things like ticket value at shows being stronger, would be a thing. Social media creates a lot of problems.”
Asika also stressed the importance of staying grounded and continuously seeking knowledge.
“So, for me, it’s a matter of advice: don’t get sucked into a world where you’re no longer realistic about what’s real and what’s fake,” he added.
“Obviously, ask questions, like one thing I’m very, obviously ask questions. One thing I’m very proud of is that they will tell you, ‘ You can call me right now, you can call Sam Frank now, Anthony, how did you do this? ‘ Where did you get this? I have no shame in doing that.”
He concluded by highlighting the balance between experience and staying youthful in mindset.
“For me, acquiring knowledge never stops. So, for me, it’s just that, like educating people and just advising them based on the experience that I have attained over the years and also finding a way to still maintain the young boy. I’m not that old,” he said.
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