Popular Nigerian singer and music executive, Bankole Wellington, more commonly known as Banky W, has recounted about how he discovered his former signee, Wizkid.
He said contrary to speculations that he discovered the ‘Ojuelegba’ crooner on social media, he found him in the studio.
Banky W added that an old tweet from Wizkid urging him to sign him was a joke, stressing that he had already signed Wizkid then and that they were just joking on social media.
Speaking in a video message making the waves on X, the actor and singer-turned-pastor urged fans to let God and their helpers find them working.
He 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 in 2009.
He later rose to limelight after releasing “Holla at Your Boy”, the lead single from his debut studio album, Superstar (2011).
Wizkid exited EME after the release of his sophomore album, ‘Ayo’ in 2014.