Olamide Sets Record Straight: ‘Wizkid Is My Senior in the Music Industry’

Nigerian rap icon Olamide has clarified long-running assumptions about his career timeline, stating that Wizkid entered the music industry before him and should be regarded as his senior professionally.

Although both megastars broke into mainstream fame in 2010 — with Wizkid’s “Holla at Your Boy” and Olamide’s breakout hit “Eni Duro” — fans have often considered them industry peers. Their joint nomination in the 2011 Headies Next Rated category, which Wizkid won, further fueled this perception.

But Olamide says the timeline tells a different story.

Speaking in a recent interview with streamer Azeeez, the YBNL boss explained that Wizkid had already been active for at least two years before his own rise.

“Wizkid and I didn’t start doing music at the same time. He started a year or two before me — he was already putting out music before I came,” Olamide said.

Wizkid’s early work dates back to 2008, when he featured on M.I Abaga’s hit track “Fast Money, Fast Cars”, a milestone that preceded his mainstream breakthrough.

The clarification has sparked fresh conversation among fans about the evolution of Afrobeats and the generation of artistes who ushered in the genre’s global dominance.