At the beginning of every year, entertainment writers and broadcasters are in the habit of coming up with names of new artists that are considered to become top-dogs – those expected to churn out cross-over hit records and by so doing reach the top echelon of the music industry. But more often than not, life always throws in surprises with one or two artists that blow up out of the blue. In January 2019, out from the camp of YBNL, names like Picazo and Lyta were on top of the predictions as the first to become megastars, seldom did anyone saw Fireboy DML transcending both to become the king that he’s now. At that same early month last year hardly did anyone saw Joeboy coming, but he became one of the superstars. With the names of all the new musicians predicted to become A-Lister in 2020 already released, the surprise this year could come from Penthauze Music. This record label own by rapper Phyno has signed some talented artists that are now ready to soar to fame. As someone that worked with Fireboy last year, my hunch is, Cheque, Rhatti, and Nuno will make it big this year – Phyno’s investment is about to pay-off.

Likened to how most people did not see Phyno coming before his rise to fame, his signees are treading the same path. Backed by a legion of grassroots die-hard audience faithful to purchasing their records and turning up at their concerts, Cheque, Rhatti, Nuno alongside Phyno delivered a mouth-watering performance on the song ‘Nyem Space‘ delivered a year ago, precisely January 24th, 2019 – They have all since then gone on to release their debut singles. But what are the strength of these artists? What makes them special? To be sincere, these artists are a shade of everything Phyno is – they can sing and rap at the same time – Their street cred attributes are flawless. So let me talk about them one after the other for better analysis.

I will begin with Nuno. Signed October 31st, 2018, he released his debut single titled ‘8th Mood’ on November 1st of the same year. Laced with metaphor and epic storytelling, the song made its way to top music charts across the country. On Phyno’s album titled ‘Deal With It’ released September 2019, Nuno featured on one of the lead single titled ‘Fuwa Sewa-refix‘. Nunu Zigi alias Nuno is a reputable artist, he could pull a surprise by becoming a megastar this year.

When we talk about the artist name Cheque or Superboy Cheque, his reputation precedes him. With regards to vocal dexterity and flawless delivery, this lad will rival all the top talents in the game as of today. His tuneful cover delivery to Kizz Daniel’s “Fvck You‘ challenge was classic. In June of 2019, he came out all guns blazing with his first three singles under the label titled Pain Away, Jekasoro and Abundance. One of the single “Abundance” came handy with visuals. There’s so much faith in his talents, this year could be the one that he will shine bright like a diamond.

The last but not the least among the signed artists on Penthauze is Rhatti. This January 2020, he came out steaming hot to release his debut single titled ‘Biko‘. As at the time of writing this story, the song has gained massive traction on radio and video have received heavy rotation on TV – Rhatti is a special breed, all the more reason he’s destined to shine in 2020. Alongside DJ J Masta – Penthauze in-house DJ, Phyno’s huge investment and time have gone into working with these talents – this could be the year where everything pays off.

Words by Sesan Adeniji