Dr Sid: We are very proud of Wizkid

Ayo “Wizkid” Balogun has put Nigerian music on the world map, says Dr Sid, Mavin singer and certified dentist.

Boiler Room in collaboration with British Council, spoke with key entertainment figures to discuss the evolution of Nigerian music over the last two decades; state of the music industry and how the genre, “Afrobeats” could be problematic.

Dr Sid, during the interview, gushed about Wizkid’s performance in the international scene. “We are very proud of Wizkid for what he has done and what he is doing”, he said.

“He has actually put Nigerian music on the map, tomorrow it could be Davido, next tomorrow, it could be Korede Bello, Tiwa Savage, Seyi Shay. They are all artistes that are getting recognised now in the music that they do in Africa.

“What we need is to get the music on bigger platforms, proper global distributions, proper radio placement. If you wanna break the sound, you can actually say, “You know what? Every day on BBC or hot97, we are gonna play you music from Africa because that is the new sound”.

The doctor bemoaned the insignificant recognition according to African music, which he described as the “new sound”.

“It is taking longer for the world to actually recognise it but that is the new sound. Dance is there, electronic music is there, hip hop is there but the African sound is different, it is groovy and it makes you wanna move. You can see the infusion of that coming in a lot of songs than you actually know have African influence.

“For me, what is most important is sound and the core element of the sound remains African.”