The audience did not come for play-play.
Afrobeats music lovers across the city showed up Saturday night for BRIC's Celebrate Brooklyn summer series to watch Nigerian producer and music phenom Wizkid (Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun) perform all of his biggest hits over the past decade, including the summer global chartopper "Essence!"
DJ Tunez got the crowd warmed up, playing some of Burna Boy's biggest hits. And so, by the time Wizkid hit the stage, the crowd was already on fire. And Wizkid did not disappoint. The audience's mood at the Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park was electric. And if you were one of the lucky attendees, it was impossible not to catch a vibe!
Wizkid began recording music in Nigeria at age 11 and dropped his first album, Superstar, a decade later in 2011. He achieved international recognition in 2016 with his collaboration with Drake on the hit single "One Dance," which reached number-one in 15 countries. He went on to became the first Afrobeats artist to appear in the 2018 Guinness World Records.
In 2019, he was featured on Beyoncé's project The Lion King: The Gift on the collaboration "Brown Skin Girl", which won him a Grammy Award for Best Music Video. His fourth album, Made in Lagos, was released in October 2020, to wide commercial success and acclaim. The album includes the single "Essence", which became the first song from a Nigerian artist to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
Check out some of the footage and performance from his performance here:
*All photos and video by C. Zawadi Morris for BK Reader
BRIC is a leading arts and media institution anchored in Downtown Brooklyn whose work spans contemporary visual and performing arts, media, and civic action.
For over forty years, BRIC has shaped Brooklyn's cultural and media landscape by presenting and incubating artists, creators, students, and media makers. As a creative catalyst for their community, BRIC ignites learning in people of all ages and centralizes diverse voices that take risks and drive culture forward. BRIC is building Brooklyn's creative future.
