‘We often got kicked out of clubs’ — Osagie Osarenz recounts early days of Wizkid

Osagie Osarenz, the talent manager, has recounted how she met Wizkid and nurtured him into a music star. 

Osarenz managed the ‘Ojuelegba’ singer for about five years before they parted ways.

In a chat with Afrobeats Intelligence, a podcast hosted by Joey Akan, the music journalist, Osarenz said she first met Wizkid around 2007.

The brand influencer said she had asked Wizkid to meet her after a colleague told her about his potential.

Osarenz said when they finally met, she knew the ‘Essence’ singer “was not ordinary” due to his intelligence and willingness to learn.

“One day, I was deleting texts from my Nokia phone when I saw one that reads: ‘Hi, my name is Wizkid, I am the one referred to you’. Then I asked him to come and see me. That was around 2007, 2008. He was like 17 at the time,” she said.

“Just from looking at him, I knew he wasn’t ordinary. Usually, for every artiste that I work with, there has to be that connection. Like, I can see and feel it within few minutes of my conversation with you.

“There’s nothing you would ask Wizkid to do in the studio that he would not do. He was never too tired for any task and he was very willing to learn. That convinced me to work with him.”

Osarenz said at the time, they usually get kicked out of shows due to Wizkid’s small look and the fact that she was also skinny.

“We used to get kicked out, we couldn’t get into clubs because of his small look and the fact that I was also skinny at the time,” she added.

“They would be like ‘what are you doing here with a child?’ There were days when Sound Sultan is performing at shows, we would plan towards arriving at the venue at the same time with him so he (Sound Sultan) could facilitate our entry or just hope that someone would recognise us at the gate. Crazy times.”