Tag: Afrobeats

Nigerian Afrobeats sensation Asake has taken a major step in his career, signing a new management deal with Double Eleven, the management and creative agency led by music executive Alexa Perkins.

The announcement, first highlighted in Billboard’s weekly signings roundup, signals a new era for the hitmaker following his split from long-time manager Stephen Nana, popularly known as Stevenator.

A Strategic Move for Global Growth

With more than 5.6 billion streams worldwide, Asake has become one of the most successful Afrobeats artists of his generation. His third studio album, Lungu Boy (2024), ranks among the top 20 most-streamed Nigerian albums of all time, while his latest project, MONEY, was released this summer under his independent imprint Giran Republic.

Under his new management, Asake is expected to expand his international footprint. Alexa Perkins, who heads Double Eleven, brings deep industry experience from her years working with major labels and distributors including Def Jam, Capitol Records, TuneCore, and EMPIRE. Her track record in artist development and global marketing is seen as a key asset in Asake’s transition from regional superstar to global brand.

Earlier this year, former manager Stephen Nana revealed that he stepped away from managing Asake because the singer’s rapid rise became overwhelming. Nana cited the constant travel demands and the toll on his family life as reasons for the split.

“Asake’s growth was so explosive that it became too much for me to balance with personal commitments,” he admitted in an interview with The Nation.

Building Independence

Despite his exit from Olamide’s YBNL Nation earlier this year, Asake has successfully built a foundation of independence. He owns his masters, runs his Giran Republic imprint, and continues to distribute his music through Empire, a partnership first established in 2022.

The new management deal complements this independence by adding professional oversight and global strategy. Already, Asake has begun making international moves, featuring recently on Gunna’s “Satisfaction” from the rapper’s The Last Wun album.

Being referred to as an African artist has come a long way. Once upon a time, we were considered underlings on the global stage, but in the past decade, we’ve broken that barrier. Artists like D’Banj, PSquare, Wizkid, and Davido fought for global dominance.

On streaming, Wizkid’s ‘More Love, Less Ego’ proved to Nigerians that our music can break the language barrier with 1.21 million streams on the first day. This year, Shalipoppi’s ‘Shakespopi’ earned over 1.5 million streams on Spotify, making it the biggest first-day stream of the year, followed by Mavin’s queen, Ayra Starr (1.27 million).

Here’s a full list of the biggest first-day stream on Spotify:

1. Davido – “Timeless” (4.91M)

2. Burna Boy – “I Told Them” (2.93M)

3. Asake – “Work Of Art” (2.27M)

4. Wizkid – “S2” EP (2.08M)

5. Olamide – “Unruly” (1.81M)

6. Shallipopi – “Shakespopi” (1.59M)

7. Burna Boy – “Love, Damini” (1.36M)

8. Ayra Starr – “The Year I Turned 21” (1.27M)

9. Wizkid – “More Love, Less Ego” (1.21M)

10. BNXN – “Sincerely, Benson” (1.17M)

Not really what you want to hear, but it’s true… Our Big Wiz recently announced he isn’t an Afrobeats artiste anymore. He claims to have transcended beyond the label, Afrobeats.

Afrobeats, a music genre mostly associated with Africans, is the modern version of music legend Fela Kuti, the Afrobeat artiste. The sound, Afrobeats, gained global recognition in the past few years and most international music bodies like the Grammys have created a spot for Afrobeats in their awards. Even Billboard has added a category for Afrobeats in its charts.

Via his official Instagram account, @wizkidayo, he spent the past two days he’s more than one sound.

Singer Davido once described Afrobeats as an umbrella term to describe African music and not the actual name of the genre.

Wizkid isn’t the first to detach himself from Afrobeats; Davido and Wizkid are guilty of this.

Burna Boy described himself as an Afro-fusion artiste because his sound evolved overtime. to him Afrobeats is a box he doesn’t fit into. Burna Boy has done Raggae, Afrobeat, Afrobeats and Hiphop.

While describing himself as more than Afrobeats, Wizkid announced his upcoming album named after his mother, Morayo.