Entertainment
Wizkid releases new album “Morayo” in tribute to late mother
Grammy-winning Nigerian artist, Ayodeji Balogun, famously known by his stage name Wizkid, has released his sixth studio album, “Morayo” in tribute to his late mother, Jane Balogun, who passed on in August 2023.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the much-anticipated 16-track album was release on streaming platforms on Friday.
The tracks include hit songs — Troubled Mind, Karamo, Kese (Dance), Bad Girl, Time, Piece of My Heart and Pray, with collaborations featuring renowned artistes such as Asake, Brent Faiyaz, Jazmine Sullivan, Anaïs and Tiakola.
Wizkid had earlier in June, in a video message shared on his social media page, told his fans that the album was to honour his late mother.
He said “my album ‘Morayo’, dedicated to my mum, the love of my life, drops very soon. Don’t dull. Don’t sleep.”
In another post on his X handle, he wrote: “Morayo! Friday, Nov. 22.”
However, the ace singer in October dropped a track “Piece of My Heart”, featuring American singer and songwriter,Brent Faiyaz, from the album for his curious fans.
The soul-stirring track immediately set a new record on Spotify for the biggest first day streams by any song, pulling 1.01 million streams.
Wizkid broke the record he previously shared with Asake for their chart-topping single “MMS” from Asake’s “Lungu Boy” album, making “Piece of My Heart” Africa’s first song to surpass one million opening day streams on Spotify.
NAN reports that Wizkid, born in Surulere, Lagos, started his music career at 11 and released a collaborative album with Glorious Five, a group formed with Church friends.
In 2009, he signed with Banky W’s Empire Mates Entertainment and became famous with “Holla at Your Boy”, and since then, evolved to become a global brand.
Among other feats, Wizkid became the first Nigerian musician to have over one million followers on Twitter (now X) in 2014.
He became first Afrobeat artist to appear in the 2018 Guinness World Records for his contribution to “One Dance” and his song “Soco” became his first Afrobeat single to be certified gold in Canada.
In mid-2019, Wizkid was featured on Beyonce’s “Brown Skin Girl”, taken from the acclaimed “The Lion King: The Gift” soundtrack, which earned him his first Grammy Award, among other nominations and awards.
Besides “Morayo”, his studio albums include Superstar (2011), Ayo(2014),Sounds from the Other Side(2017),Made in Lagos(2020) and More Love Less Hate(2022)
Grammy-winning singer Burna Boy has revealed that the original version of “Laho” with Shallipopi couldn’t be released as planned due to scheduling conflicts with other projects he had lined up.
He jokingly expressed on Instagram that people still didn’t know him well enough after all these years.
Burna Boy gifts Portable N20m after defeating Speed Darlington in boxing match
He shared the original version, which will be available today April 25th.
Burna Boy wrote: “So after all these years y’all still don’t know me enough? If this “Laho” was the remix then I’d go first lol. This was actually the original version, It just couldn’t be cleared for the time he wanted to release cuz it clashed with other releases that had to do with me. Na the remix Shalli first drop, this is the original. @Shallipopi ft Burna boy LAHO 2 dropping today at 12am.”
Mohbad died on September 12, 2023, after receiving an injection administered by Feyisayo Ogedengbe.
He was buried the following day. On September 21, 2023, his body was exhumed by police for an autopsy.
In May 2024, the pathologist in charge of the autopsy revealed that the cause of death could not be determined due to the decomposition of his body.
A toxicology report obtained by TheCable in June 2024 showed that Diphenhydramine, an antihistamine, was found in his system. However, it was not in a lethal concentration.
During the coroner’s court sitting on Friday, Eze, who conducted the second autopsy and medical review on Mohbad, argued that what was discovered in the singer’s system was not hard drugs but “regulated” doses of antihistamines, medications commonly used to treat allergy symptoms.
He added that he could not determine how the injection was administered, but upon examining the injury that led to it, he found it to be superficial.
“Even a newborn baby won’t die from that injury. At the time I conducted the autopsy, it wasn’t even there, maybe because of the post-mortem changes on the body,” he said.
“I couldn’t tell how the injection was given, because I had already lost (his) fluids.”
The pathologist said the singer may have died from a “severe allergic reaction” to the injected substance, which led to multiple organ failure.
He described the case as a “medical misadventure”.
“Considering all the postmortem findings, including ancillary tests and available information, a major disruption of vital organ systems of the body with resultant fatality due to a severe and rapid hypersensitivity reaction to a substance administered by parenteral route is plausible,” he added.
Adedayo Shotobi, the coroner, said the date for the final ruling will be communicated to all parties involved.
Nigerian Afrobeats singer Davido has claimed that he started his life in a one-room apartment in a public compound, known locally as a face-me-I-face-you.
The singer made the claim on a song titled CFMF, off his fifth studio album, 5ive, which was released on Friday.
He claimed that he is now living a flamboyant life due to Jesus’s divine intervention.
“Take a step and walk into my life…
Started all the way from face me I face you
Face me I face you
And now, I am living real large all thanks to Jesu
All thanks to Jesu oh,” he sings.
His claim has been met with a groundswell of doubts, especially on social media, as the singer is known to be the son of billionaire businessman Deji Adeleke.
This is not the first time Davido has attempted to paint a grass-to-grace story in his music.
On his debut 2011 single, Back When, Davido claimed many ladies rejected his advances when he had no money but began chasing him after he achieved fame and success.
The song didn’t achieve much commercial success, partly due to the doubts that greeted his claims of humble beginnings, as he was known to be from a wealthy background.
Davido finally gained widespread prominence after the release of his 2012 breakthrough single, Dami Duro, where he embraced his wealthy background and boasted that he was unstoppable as the son of a rich man.