www.letsdanzit.com: 26 impressive highlights of Wizkid career As He turns 26 today

Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun popularly known as Wizkid turns 26 today, July 16, 2016.

To celebrate the award winning Starboy whose international rating has spiked tremendously, here are 26 impressive highlights of his career so far…

Wizkid was born in the Surulere part of Lagos which has inspired a lot of his lyrics. He started music at the age of 11 while understudying notable producer, OJB Jezreel.
Wizkid’s first musical effort is a 7-track mixtape in 2001. He was then known as Lil Prinz.
As a frequent visitor to OJB’s PointBeat Studios at Gbaja Street in Surulere, Wizkid got inspired while watching 2face Idibia record songs for his Grass to Grace album. He was also around while Sound Sultan recorded his debut album, Jangbajantis .
In 2008, Wizkid was admitted to study Sociology at the Lagos State University’s Faculty of Social Science.
Wizkid first came to the limelight when he featured on MI Abaga’s ‘Fast Money Fast Cars’ in 2009. He also featured on Kel’s track ‘Turn By Turn’ which further set him up as an act to watch out for.
He got signed to Banky W’s EME in 2009 after which he started recording his debut album.
In mid-2009, Wizkid dropped out of LASU and focused on his music. He was later admitted to Lead City University in Ibadan to study International Relations but also dropped out after two sessions.
Wizkid’s first single, ‘Holla At Your Boy’ was released in January 2010 and became an instant hit across the country. He later released ‘Tease Me (Bad Guys) and ‘Don’t Dull’ as follow up singles which further established him as an act to be taken seriously. In the same year, he won his first major award at the Dynamix All Youths Awards as Promising Artiste of the Year.
His debut album, Superstar was released in 2011 to critical acclaim. Apart from the previously released singles, the album contains hit tracks like ‘Pakurumo,’ ‘No Lele,’ ‘Love My Baby’ and many others.
Having become one of the most-sought after acts in the country, Wizkid won the Next Rated Award at the 2011 Headies and the Most Gifted Newcomer Video at the 2011 Channel O Music Video Awards. He soon added the MOBO award for the Best African Act to the list.
On his 16-track debut album, Wizkid worked with a total of 7 producers. They are E Kelly(1), Masterkraft (2), Jaysleek (3), Samklef(6), Shizzy(1), DJ Klem(2) and Q Beats(1).
The album features Wande Coal, Banky W and Skales and despite not featuring many top acts, the album was considered a success.
Superstar won the Album of the year at the Nigerian Entertainment Awards in 2012 while Wizkid also won the Best Pop R n B artiste of the year. He also won the Artiste of the year and Hip Hop World Revelation of the year at the 2012 edition of Headies.
Wizkid has a 5-year old son, Boluwatife whom he had with Sola Ogudugu in 2011 while she was an undergraduate of Houdegbe North American University. Wizkid initially denied paternity of the boy but later owned up and has continued to show off the handsome boy on his social media pages.
After the success of his first album, Wizkid became one of the biggest artistes in the country, performing at major gigs in Nigeria and also embarked on tours outside the country.
In September 2013, Wizkid parted ways his first manager, Osagie Osarenkhoe and employed Godwin Tom. This began rumors that the Pakurumo singer might be having troubles with the Banky W-led EME.
In February 2014, Wizkid took to Twitter and in a series of tweets, expressed his displeasure. His tweets were immediately interpreted in many quarters to be directed at Banky W who days earlier had claimed all was well with him and the singer. Wizkid tweeted: ‘Don’t take Loyalty for stupidity..don’t!’ ‘Moving on to start all over again!…F**k it!’.., and went on to add: ‘If dey sleep on u..move on!‘
Weeks after the Twitter spat, Wizkid signed a management deal with Disturbing London owned by Tinie Tempah.
Wizkid’s 2nd album, Ayo was released in September 2014. A roaring success, it was his last album with EME.
Wizkid’s label, Star Boy Entertainment has promising act, L.A.X and producers, Maleek Berry and Legendury Beatz signed up.
Since coming into the limelight, Wizkid has been in a celebrated relationship with Tania Omotayo. The relationship has not been without rumors of break ups but they appear to be waxing stronger.
In April 2015, Wizkid joined Chris Brown on stage at a concert in South Africa which got many on the international scene looking his way, especially after revealing that they have recorded songs together. He has also announced that his next album will feature Grammy award winning singer, Angelique Kidjo on the album.
In June 2015, Wizzy dumped telco firm, MTN for rival, Glo in a deal that has got tongues wagging. The exact amount has not been made public but reports claim the deal is worth over N100 million.
In 2015, Wizkid got a pre-birthday present when Drake jumped on one of his most successful singles, ‘Ojuelegba’ and did a remix with Nigeria-born UK rapper, Skepta. Ghana’s star rapper, Sarkodie had earlier jumped on the same song.
In 2016, Wizkid was featured on the song ‘One Dance’ by Drake. The song according to Billboard, racked up 4.67 million streams in one week. The song also set a new record, becoming the longest-running No. 1 single in U.K.’s digital era spending over 11 straight weeks on the top of the chart.
Earlier in the year, he signed three of Ghana’s biggest acts to his international label after winning the African Artiste of the Year Award at the 17th Ghana Music Awards.