Nigerian music star and record label executive, Bankole Wellington better known as Banky W, has revealed how he discovered Afrobeats superstar, Wizkid.
The Empire Mates Entertainment boss clarified that contrary to speculations of him signing the ‘Come Closer’ crooner after discovering him on social media, he actually found him in the studio.
Banky W recalled that an old tweet from Wizkid asking him for a record deal was a joke, stressing that he had already signed Machala then.
The 42-year-old entertainer said that he found out about Wizkid’s musical talent when he was listening to some unsigned artistes songs.
Speaking in a video trending on social media, the singer turned politician urged fans to let God and their helpers find them working.
Banky W 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 craazy. 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 artistes.
“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 Empire Mates Entertainment in 2009. But the father of four exited EME after the release of his sophomore album, ‘Ayo’ in 2014.