Akon's Recent Interview With Shade Room About How He Helped Nigerian Musicians

After Akon's recent The Shade Room interview, the part people ran with was his views on polygamy.

Instablog clipped up that part and posted for debates. 

I thought that was the least significant part of the interview.

The guy spoke about how much he poured into Nigerian artistes.

Then he was a global phenomenon. He'd signed successful artistes like Lady Gaga and T-Pain.

So his eyes were on Nigeria.

He'd noticed that Wizkid was super talented but Banky W didn't have the resources to position him internationally.

So he signed Wizkid to his label, Konvict Muzik.

Their partnership helped put Afrobeats on the global map before others took things to the next level.

Collaborations like "Escape" and "Don't Dull (Remix)" dropped, and Wizkid's international career took off! 

His support opened doors for Wizkid's future global hits and collabs.

Next, he developed artists like Psquare and D'banj.

He said the music made by our artists was so traditional that it wasn't breaking outside Nigeria. 

So, he started blending it with commercialised sounds and instruments, giving it a more modern vibe. That's when Afrobeats started evolving into Afropop (songs like Chop My Money (Remix).

I remember during that era, he would always say 'my brothers about to take over the world'.

He was all over Lagos. 

He said his focus on Africa, not just in music but infrastructure development, somewhat slowed down his international music career. 

In a nutshell, Akon was the OG global star who worked with your faves way before it became a trend. 

We don't talk about his contribution to the culture enough.

BTV reporting