Sesan Adeniji: We Won The Grammys, But What’s Next For Naija Artistes To Do And Conquer?

It has been months since the news of Burna Boy and Wizkid winning the Grammy Awards, which made both the first homegrown Nigerian artistes to win the most coveted prize in world music, the Holy Grail legends before them could not attain. With such massive achievements in the bag, the nagging question now is, what’s next for Naija musicians to do and conquer?

The answer to that specific question will determine if we will dominate the world music scene for a long time or become a flash in the pan. Burna Boy and Wizkid will push the envelope, but they can’t rule forever. I also know that in this country, we have a culture of “Me Alone”. But the only way we can maintain this recent world recognition/commendation and conquer more territory is to have a concerted effort to seed more talents into the international entertainment market.

Like in football, the earlier a country exposes and exports a stream of young talents into international competition, the earlier they will put together a chunk of experienced players to dominate and reach the finals of countries’ tournaments. Likewise, in the music industry. The earlier we discover and shine enough spotlights on young talents by exporting their music to the world, the earlier we stand a chance to dominate world music.

Nowadays, the music business is more than just musicians, so the narrative should be about exporting the content of Nigerian artistes, dancers, models, entertainment writers, music producers, video directors, OAPs, and A&Rs. The more music and music-related content creators we seed, the more we will positively shape our Afrobeats narratives, conquer the music corridors and have corner offices in the world music market.