Banky W signed ‘Ojuelegba’ crooner, Wizkid to his label, Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) in 2009
Popular Afrobeats singer and music executive, Bankole Wellington, better known as Banky W, has revealed how he discovered ace singer and former signee, Ayodeji Balogun, aka Wizkid.
According to him, contrary to speculations that he found the ‘Ojuelegba’ crooner on social media, he actually discovered him in the studio.
Banky W made this known, while explaining that an old tweet from Wizkid urging him to sign him was a joke, stressing that he had already signed the artiste before then.
Addressing the topic via a video message currently trending on X, the record label owner also urged fans to let God and their helpers find them working and not just tweeting on social media.
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Speaking via his social media page, the singer-turned-pastor, said: “Let God and the helper that he would use find you doing something. For some people, God will only find you tweeting.
“Just a few days ago, I noticed my Twitter was going crazy. And I went on and I discovered that people found an old tweet from Wizkid where he said, ‘Hey, Mr Banky, my name is Wizkid. I’m upcoming artist. Please, I need you to help me.’ And then they found a reply that I said, ‘Okay, please send me your demo.’
“And people were pointing to that as the inception of the moment where Wizkid and I started working together. And I hate to burst everybody’s bobble, but that moment was just a joke.
“We have actually been working together for about a year. He has been signed, we have been making music and releasing music. We were just being playful at the time when those tweets were sent.
“I didn’t find wizkid from him tweeting, I found him while he was working. I heard his music when I was just listening to a bunch of unsigned artists.
“Before he even started working with me, he had already recorded a chorus with M.I. The very first day I saw Wiz in person, we was a back-up singer for Kellz at an event. He was faithfully serving as Kellz’s hypeman.”
Banky W signed Wizkid to his label, Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) in 2009 but the singer rose to prominence after releasing hit song “Holla at Your Boy”, the lead single from his debut studio album, Superstar (2011).
Wizkid, however, left EME after releasing his sophomore album, ‘Ayo’ in 2014.