Original subtitles

I made this film to explore how art and music

have the power to shift global perception and influence.

Because of streaming and globalization,

we've found so many different types of music

that the world would never have the opportunity to learn about.

And I think Wizkid, and everything he symbolizes,

is a perfect example of that.

When you see how far Africa has come...

...you cannot ignore the impact of Wizkid.

He's putting us first

before any other culture or tradition.

Wizzy! Wizzy! Wizzy! Wizzy!

If we are being honest...

the colonialists took away our soul.

So, most of Africa,

we either dream in Portuguese, French, or English.

And we speak these languages fluently,

and we have lost our own.

All my dreams are in English. All my thoughts are in English.

That means what has happened is...

my computerized brain

that is African has been taken away

and replaced with the English mentality.

But now we have to understand

things are beginning to change.

We have decided to promote our culture

and tradition through music.

Yes, we like The Beatles.

Yes, we like Michael Jackson, blah, blah.

Yes, we like-- we still play your music at our parties.

But the young people have decided

we are going to promote our own music first

before America or Europe.

Wizkid is a symbol of hope.

He gives young people hope that all is not lost.

Finally, the world is listening to Africa.

We have a very vibrant young generation.

Standing firm with confidence

saying, "Look, it's our time."

Listen to us now.

As I grew older is how I understood my power.

All right, let's go, go, go, please. Yeah.

I'm representing for my country,

representing for my continent.

Guys, stand back, please.

Mind your backs!

So, it was important for me

to show them the power that they have.

And the power that they can have.

London, make some noise!

The first Nigerian artist to hit...

The most awarded African artist of all time...

The Grammy-Award-winning

Nigerian pioneer of the Afrobeats...

People don't really understand

how much Wizkid actually means.

There's nothing else like it in the world.

# Eledumare bless you with body Oh, baby, oh #

# Starboy go bless you With money, oh, omoge, oh #

# Eledumare bless you with body Oh, baby, oh #

# Starboy go bless you With money, oh, omoge, oh #

# Oya, soco, soco Soco, soco, soco #

# Soco, soco, baby, oh #

# Soco, soco, soco Soco, soco, soco #

# Soco, soco, baby, oh #

# Soco, soco, soco, soco, so #

# Oya gbefu lokpu Lokpo, lokpo, lokpo #

# Oya gbefun, baby, oh Soco, soco, soco #

# Eledumare bless you with body Oh, baby, oh #

# Starboy go bless you With money, oh, omoge, oh #

# Eledumare bless you with body Oh, baby, oh #

# Starboy go bless you With money, oh, omoge, oh #

Now switch!

The most important thing in life

is to inspire, you know?

I carry myself with a lot of pride as an African.

My kids are kings.

Everybody from where I'm from are kings.

And that's what matters.

The way you see yourself.

Aw. Thanks.

Yeah, that was the shit. That was crazy, man.

When I make records,

I don't think about how big they'll get.

You can only hope to be a big source of inspiration

to the kids in the next generation,

and the generations to come.

Do you want to play the piano? I don't believe it.

I'm scared.

Tell Daddy what you said

that you wanna be when you're older.

- What do you wanna do? - A violiner.

- You wanna play violin? - Yeah.

That's crazy. I love that.

- Violinist. - Do you wanna go to...

Do you want to take classes?

Do you want Daddy to buy you one?

Yes.

- Yeah, I'll buy you one. - And a case.

I'll buy you one in a case.

Show daddy how you're gonna perform the violin.

Show him.

You're gonna be a star like your daddy.

It's very, very important to us to educate the world

about our culture.

I try as much as possible to put that out there in the world.

My name's Jada Pollock.

I am Wizkid's manager of eight years,

also his partner of six years.

You wear many hats, for me, anyway.

Just finding that balance of, you know,

who should I be today?

Should I be his girlfriend that's gonna hold his hand,

or should I be, you know,

his manager that's gonna walk, you know,

slightly behind him?

I love her so much, man.

You know, she's very hardworking.

She... She's hands-on,

very passionate, loyal about the work.

I just feel like women are just easy to work with.

Women have, like, mother instinct, right,

to hold stuff together.

Eight years. It's been a long journey.

Being a manager and understanding the industry,

it's been tough for African artists

to get respect.

I remember Live Nation calling me and saying,

"Tottenham have just turned their stadium

into a live space,

and they're gonna start having concerts."

"Think about it and let me know."

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

has been widely acclaimed

as the best football stadium in the world.

When Tottenham Stadium

actually opened...

...it was regarded as one of the most prestigious,

high-tech, state-of-the-art stadiums

in the whole of the UK.

The stadium actually seats over 60,000 people

right in the middle of Tottenham on the High Road.

One of the capital's top venues

for other sporting events and even concerts as well.

Before 2023, the only artists

that had performed there were Lady Gaga

and Guns N' Roses, which is insane.

And I remember, like,

coming off the phone and thinking to myself,

"A football stadium? That's a lot of pressure."

Uh, I don't know how I feel about that.

I'm Seni Saraki,

CEO and Editor-in-Chief of NATIVE Magazine.

We've been covering Nigerian music

and the cultures that surround it

for the better part of the last decade.

There's an inextricable link

between Nigeria and the UK forever.

The UK is such a major factor in how Nigeria became a country

for better and for worse.

Nigeria was kind of split up very arbitrarily.

How, you know, the colonial rulers left it,

set the foundations for what we know Nigeria as today

in terms of this huge wealth gap.

So, this show would be symbolic being in London in a sense.

For Wizkid, he's like a man of few words.

He doesn't really say much.

But no matter how big he's gotten,

he's standing with us.

I think when I'm looking at this Tottenham Stadium show,

it's a celebration of Nigerian culture in London.

It is a form of rebellion

in terms of we are taking up space.

Oh, like, we're here.

And I remember telling Wiz about it.

I was like, "Look, you know, we've got to make a call on it."

This is a really tough decision.

There's, like, a conversation that people have

when it comes to artists.

Is it fair to place these social and political pressures on them

and expect them to be more than just artists?

I'm a very quiet human being.

I don't even like to express myself.

I try to just be a musician.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Whoo!

Yeah, yeah.

I just try to make the finest music that I can make

and the finest, you know, sound that I can make.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm a true artist before anything else,

and I'm a human being, so...

Just a little kid from Surulere, man.

Just trying to make music, yeah.

My name is Sunday Are.

I've worked with Wizkid starting from the beginning.

Wiz came from the hood.

From the ghetto.

I grew up in Surulere.

It's a very rough place.

Electricity is not 24 hours...

and I didn't have a lot of clothes growing up

when I was young.

That's my reality.

In that kind of place,

people have a different connection to music

after dealing with all of that stress.

Music is a...

it's just a powerful tool, man, to survive.

This is Fela Kuti I have tatted on me.

This is a musician that's from where I'm from.

So as a kid,

he was just a very big, big, big, big influence for me.

# No freedom, no justice no happiness, dem go, yeah #

- # Pansa, pansa, hey! # - # Pansa, pansa... #

I think it's 'cause of how much

he pushed the boundary musically.

It's an understatement to call Fela Kuti a pioneer

of Nigerian music. He changed everything.

Fela had one of the greatest bands ever.

Listening to that,

it just captivated me in ways I couldn't explain.

He was a big instrument into why I believed

I could really make music, you know?

I want you to look at me...

as something new...

that you do not have any knowledge about.

Because most, 99.9 percent,

of the information you get about Africa is wrong.

Fela was a once-in-a-lifetime artist.

It was something we'd never ever seen before.

If my father was not there,

there would be no Afrobeats.

But Fela was never mainstream.

After Fela, we didn't get an infrastructure

that was built to take all of these things

that he's shown and proved were possible

to create global artists.

Especially if you compare it to something like The Beatles.

This rock and roll group

has taken over as the kingpins of musical appreciation.

When you saw this influx of rock bands and music,

it just became an entire industry

from the blueprint of The Beatles.

But in Nigeria,

there just wasn't that same moment.

What we forget again

is there's an industry in America and Europe

where you go to school to learn music properly.

Where is the big academy in our Africa?

There was no backbone to propel this act,

to sustain this music.

Music just wasn't a viable option

for people to take as a career path.

There wasn't enough in it

for you to be able to take care of your family.

This is a little secret.

His parents doesn't want him to do music.

They want him to be maybe a lawyer,

to finish his school, and be maybe a doctor.

My mom definitely wanted us to stay in school,

but I had other plans.

I knew I was going to be a star, man.

I knew I had to take my family from that

into a different situation.

He was so close to his family,

especially his mother.

And I feel that that is the main reason

why he has that determination to make it out.

He was a young boy that wants to do big thing.

That was Wizkid for you.

Make some noise for Wizkid!

I came out when I was 19,

and there was no kid doing music when I came out.

# ...If you see me drive by #

# Holla at your boy #

# I get more swag #

# Holla at your boy #

# I pop more bottles #

# Holla at your boy #

# And I'm chillin' with models #

# Holla at your boy #

Make some noise for Wizkid.

There was no blueprint for me.

I think if you're a new artist in America,

you become part of this, kinda, cookie-cutter system.

They take you to the label.

They take you to radio. You're shooting music videos.

You wear certain clothes.

There will be a way in which you can succeed

because there are people, and businesses, and corporations

that have been around for so many years

that they know exactly what they're doing.

But Wizkid, he didn't get that in Nigeria.

I had to build a structure for myself.

I literally had to train and learn,

you know, how to do this shit.

# ...Ni ojuelegba #

# They know my story For Mo'Dogg's studio... #

His music, it was everywhere in Lagos.

For the masses, them, they look at it,

like, "Okay, we actually have somebody,

a voice representing us."

# ...Ni ojuelegba... #

I think that name, "Starboy,"

came from the streets,

being a young boy that became a star.

They started calling me "Starboy, Starboy."

And I just took it, man.

"Oh, Starboy, Starboy."

If Wizkid can break through from this,

we can also become somebody.

Yeah, make some noise!

I still live with those memories every day of my life till today,

so it's... uh, it's crazy.

Now, we just touched down in London.

I'm looking forward to it. A lot of people have been

showing me love, you know. People saw me at the airport,

like, they were taking pictures.

I was just enjoying being an artist

and just learning and being accepted.

It was just a great time in my life, baby.

Around this time,

the internet has become a widespread tool.

More and more people were streaming music.

You could listen to anything from anyone,

anywhere in the world.

By 2012, Spotify had 15 million users.

And by 2016, it was over 100 million.

It created the perfect storm for Wizkid

and African music to explode.

The popular music genre...

...exported from Africa is now burning up the charts.

Africa has burst onto the global music scene.

The biggest artists in the world realized

in order to expand their reach and their audiences,

they needed to tap in with local artists

in those communities.

When "One Dance" came out,

it became the most streamed song of all time

with over a billion streams within one year of its release.

What's that like, seeing that stage?

And the winner is Wizkid!

And the award goes to "Essence," Wizkid.

# ...dey mess up your mind #

# And na me Dey make you free up your mind #

# Say your body Talk to me nice #

# Say na my love You dey need for your life #

# Yeah, our love no be lie #

# See, yeah, we dey together Yeah, day and night #

# Yeah if I leave you go kpai Yeah if you leave I go kpai #

# I'm strokin' your body, Baby... #

Certain collaborations pushed him

to be arguably one of the most famous Nigerian people

to the global audience.

# " FT. JUSTIN BIEBER & TEMS PLAYING) #

Wizkid!

Wizkid has made the headlines

on the international fashion scene.

And the Grammy goes to...

- Wizkid! - Wizkid!

- Wizkid! - Wizkid!

Even though Nigerian pop music

has just continued to transcend...

it's been a battle against perception abroad.

You know, I've traveled around the world.

And I've had to have very ignorant conversations,

you know, with people.

You have to school them about what Africa is.

It's not just kids with flies on their faces

on television and shit.

I think when we look at the perceptions

of the Western world to Africa,

it really goes further than music.

Even on the map of the world,

it shows Africa is way smaller than it actually is.

It's a fact that you can fit three versions of Canada

into Africa, but if you looked at the map,

you would never be able to see that.

Those type of things, like, they seem, like, subtle,

but they're type of things

that are very much entrenched in people's minds.

And I think it really affects and really shows them

how a lot of Western companies

and, like, global corporations treat not just music culture,

but the way they look at African culture as a whole.

Afrobeats, if you were,

sort of, trying to define it,

as I'm struggling to do now, you might struggle.

When Wizkid and everyone started becoming more popular,

the UK created the term "Afrobeats"

as a catch-all genre.

That essentially means Nigerian pop music.

That's what it means for all intents and purposes.

- Afrobeats. - Afrobeats.

- Afrobeats. - If you think about blues,

R&B, hip-hop, country music,

there would be no version of reality

where someone would look at America and say,

"We're just gonna call that 'America beats.'"

There's a level of respect that we give to each of those things

because we understand where they come from,

because we're taught the history of them,

and because, I guess, we care to find out.

So, it's like,

if you're not knowledgeable enough to understand life

and to understand that there's different types of music

in the world and people make different types

of shit, that's on you, dog. Like, I'm not gonna sit

here and... ...describe what I am.

You're the ignorant one, not me, you know.

It was so easy for someone abroad to be like,

"Oh, yeah, this Nigerian music, we need a term for it,

'Afrobeats,' call it 'Afrobeats,'

just add an 'S' to that thing Fela was doing, yeah, great."

The term feels like

just yet another lazy attempt to define something

that wasn't even theirs to define in the first place.

"Afrobeat," like, without the "S"

is the genre that Fela Kuti created.

There's a sound to it,

in the same way country music sounds a type of way.

The ingredients are jazz and a lot of African folk songs.

And on the sax,

it's my first son, Femi Anikulapo-Kuti.

My father became very ideological,

uh, revolutionary with his music.

Music is a spiritual thing. You don't play with music.

If you play with music, you will die young.

See, because when the higher forces

give you a gift of music, musicianship,

it must be well used for the good of humanity.

Goes to America, meets the Black Panthers,

and he comes back, and he is inspired by,

and wants to change Africa with his music.

As far as Africa is concerned, music cannot be for enjoyment.

Music has to be for revolution.

When I started going to know more about his life

and, you know, how he lived his life, it was just like...

# At that time, this was a man

that was really speaking his truth.

We have to understand that Africa

had just come out of slavery and colonization.

Africa had just gained its independence.

Nigeria, for instance, had just even come out of the civil war.

And so many external forces were there

suppressing the African mind. And so they saw Fela as a threat

because Fela was exposing corruption.

# All of us To the first election #

# And the second election All in Nigeria #

# And the second election That you all see pass... #

He didn't really care

the repercussions of the things he was dealing with,

he was locked up, his house was burned.

When you are a revolutionary...

and you talk the truth...

...people will come and slap you down.

You could say he was a warrior, and his instruments,

his compositions, were his weapons.

With Wizkid, he knows Fela's story.

He has an ideological mind.

He's an inspiration. He's a big inspiration to me.

Music is the weapon.

Music is the thing of the future.

Music is the weapon of the future.

I think it's fitting

that that's what we're seeing now.

Wizkid, he's almost taking up that mantle,

not on a, like, necessarily activist level,

'cause Fela was very much a full-time activist,

but he's consistently pushing the boundaries

as to what people even view Nigeria as.

That's a very crazy position to be in.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Yes!

Yes!

For Wizkid, he has to figure out

how to navigate being this person

that people look up to.

It almost feels like Wizkid has to perform at Tottenham.

They look at him as this beacon of hope.

This Tottenham moment is bigger than music

and, you know, me.

It's something bigger for the culture as a whole.

I'm the first African artist going to Tottenham

to perform, right, and it's like...

It really helps push the culture forward,

you know, and in a great light.

Music is the weapon of the future.

Wizzy! Wizzy! Wizzy!

Of course I'll do it.

From when I was 15 years old,

I started calling myself "Starboy" after Wizkid.

I've been a die-hard fan.

I fix cars, I ride bikes, and I drift cars too.

As a kid growing up in Nigeria, it was tough.

The chances of getting jobs is actually really, really low.

There are too many youths out there,

unemployed, roaming around the streets.

# Turn up your body Make you feel all right #

# Flyin' the kele Wey go cool my mind #

# I wan' do anythin' I want tonight... #

Afrobeats is part of our lifestyle.

# ...Turn up your body Make you feel all right... #

Remove music from your life,

bro, you're empty.

You get it, 'cause there's nothing

to keep you going.

Listening to Wizkid's music...

I felt really, really connected for it,

'cause looking at his background,

where he comes from, Surulere,

it was really, really inspirational.

It gives more Nigerian youth hope because they're like,

"Yes, he has gone through it too."

"If he can do it, there's still hope.

There's still hope for the future."

Whenever I see that they announce a live concert,

I always look for means to stream it

so that I don't feel left out.

But this one that he's performing

in one of the biggest stadiums in the world,

this is a one-lifetime experience.

If I was to make this trip to London,

I would be the happiest man in the world, for real.

I believe I can do it.

In another giant stride

for Nigerian music and Afrobeat...

One of Afrobeats' biggest names,

Wizkid, taking to the stage.

The pop star has been visiting Tottenham Stadium

ahead of a landmark gig at the venue next month.

We had the offer on the table for a few weeks.

And before you know it, you're like a month out.

We'll bring you out to the center of that pitch.

There's gonna be more photos and more videography.

For, like, the past week, I've been telling him,

I'm like, "I've got really bad anxiety."

You've been covered in the Evening Standard,

which goes around the whole of London,

8 million papers are getting sold out.

So, big numbers, man.

He doesn't show much emotion.

I don't know if that's a good thing

or a bad thing.

This is the first time that we're doing a stadium show.

When you walk out there and you see the seating,

it feels more intense.

I'm like, "Fuck, this is big."

Seeing how much we have to do in such a short space of time,

this is gonna be really hard.

She's gonna be doing the interview with you.

And this is gonna go out on Friday, mate,

this is gonna go straight out to all of London.

- This is Alison. - Hi, Alison from the BBC.

Nice to meet you. If you'd like to come...

Now, with the 60,000 capacity here

at Tottenham, do you feel any pressure to be Wizkid?

I've always just felt

there's this insane amount of pressure on him.

We're going straight over for the photos

here, mate. I'm just gonna lead you back across, okay?

From the industry, from the audience,

from just Nigeria as a whole...

for him to be the flag bearer, for him to be the forefather...

he's like the national hero.

He's, like, one of the biggest ambassadors for Nigeria.

So I'm gonna brief him in what you're gonna do, right?

Let's just get a picture of you holding it, Wiz.

And I don't know that the biggest American rappers

or artists can even relate to that sort of pressure.

If an American rapper comes to Lagos

and their show doesn't go well,

they don't have millions of people at home

feeling embarrassed and betrayed.

It's an unbelievable amount

of scrutiny to have to deal with.

It has to go well...

for him and for Nigeria.

I used to reply his stories.

I wished him happy birthday back in, uh, 2019.

And this was when I used this sound.

Yeah, this was my favorite song,

"Blessed," I told you about, like...

You get. I used on this one too.

You see. So...

Big Wiz has been a very big motivation to me.

To be a star boy,

I have to stand out, do things differently.

# P... #

In my crew, the Lagos BMX crew...

I have some really, really amazing guys.

The most times when you riding, you need to, like,

listen to something that will keep you going.

My crew really loves Wizkid.

# ...Omo na You be my business, o #

# I know you wanting All my talk... #

We'll just be jamming, popping tricks, just grooving.

I usually listen to him all the time.

# ...And you no dey shock Me pass the money, my baby, o #

# If I wan dey love I wan dey love you, my baby, o #

Yeah!

BMX CREW MEMBER 1:

Hopefully, hopefully it work.

Hmm. Hmm.

Amen.

Thank you.

Karen is our creative director.

She understands Wiz, which I think is key,

especially when you're dealing with an artist

that already has a vision of how he wants things.

My job is to push whatever image possible

that's going out there with Wiz

that I'm involved in to be inspirational.

Karen is like...

...she's like mother, man.

Just reminds me of my mom.

I love her so much. I love her too much.

She's done this for years too.

For Made in Lagos, the album cover.

I didn't look at him as an African man.

I looked at him as a man.

I didn't look at him as an African artist.

I looked at him as an artist, not an African musician,

a musician first who happens to be African,

because I am not interested in hearing music that profound

and putting him in a category.

When I was showing all of these images to him,

I said, "You know, you could be like the Black Marlon Brando

in Streetcar Named Desire.

Stella!

Or the Black James Dean.

What'd you do that for?

And it's not that he had to be them,

but he was able to represent

to his generation what they did.

It shows his strength and power, but also his vulnerability.

I feel that Wiz performing in Tottenham...

is going to upset quite a few people.

Too bad.

Get used to it, get ready.

I want you to try...

He needs to show the power of the new genre of music

that has been introduced to the world globally.

It's more than one sound, it's more than one color,

it's more than one category.

Today we've come for a site visit.

We have come to structure out

how we're gonna be laying out the stage.

So, before we sign off

on the actual layout of the show,

just come here to physically feel it.

We really want to make sure

that everything is going to come together in time.

There's a lot on Wiz's shoulders.

I can't even imagine where your mind is at

when you're about to do a show

and you're having to deal with that news.

This is not about entertainment anymore.

This is not about success. This is about your loved one.

In African family structures, especially when it comes to mom,

it's a very special bond and relationship.

When the news broke,

we just believed it was canceled.

You know, you were just waiting for an email to say

it wasn't happening anymore.

That does something to you.

He wanted to quit a lot. So...

Yeah.

It was a time where I felt like he was forced to reflect.

But Wiz realizes that this show will open so many doors

for artists coming up under Wiz,

for executives to understand the reach of the sound.

And for every kid back home

that is dreaming of becoming Wiz,

it's going to give them a dream

to know that it's possible to get there.

Yeah, exactly.

- That's right. - I swear.

Got it.

Oh, boy.

S King has never left Nigeria before.

Most people never get the opportunity

to leave Nigeria.

Getting a visa to travel out of this country is...

it's very hard.

When you get to the embassy, you get interviewed.

Put together documents and the things required.

By the end, some get turned down.

Those that colonized us,

now giving us hard time for us to go visit them.

For Big Wiz,

the more successful he is in his career

all over the world,

the more successful view we get as Africans.

There's this underlying audacity

that comes from the Western world

and from the people

who essentially destroyed countries

in the way that they choose

to show those countries after they've destroyed it.

On the road now, the troops have reached their first objective.

The Nigerian War specifically

being one of the first wars that was ever televised.

When Wiz has success,

the perception of Nigeria, the perception of Africa,

starts to shift ever so slightly.

For a region of the world

that has so much potential, the impact is transformative.

It shouldn't take for people to like a song,

for them to feel that there is an entire country,

an entire continent, of people that are worth investing in

to see what they can do

and to see what else they can bring to the world,

to bring to art, to media, to anything outside of that.

But at the same time,

it takes for one thing to make you feel comfortable,

to make you see someone in a different way,

for you to believe that they are worth your time,

for you to believe that maybe

it's worth me finding out what else they can do,

what else they have to offer.

Somebody like me, who has grown up

from my father's struggling times,

my generation,

seeing how we have been trying to break this door open.

This is where Africa needs to now put its foot down.

We're not just about music.

Africa was never just about music.

This is the time for us to have electricity in Nigeria.

This is time for us to build our rules.

This is the time for us

to make Africa the envy of the world.

But, like, the play-- you play the...

- Hi-hat. - ...hi-hat is where I want you to be cleaner.

So, we'll try it.

Sorry. Slow, slow. That was melodic.

Here gotta feel right.

Because if it doesn't feel right,

we're gonna lose the energy of the music too, so...

I'm a very hands-on person.

Like, I want to see everybody doing their job.

Every... Every section of my work,

I want to see all of that moving at the same pace.

We are one week out.

We're having a huge problem with our visuals.

What I'm saying is that can't be the only look

because it's not sexy.

You want to feel that you are... you are the Nigerian on stage.

Like, you want to feel their power.

We're not getting any of that with those images.

When you put it next to the song,

it's got nothing to do with the song.

So, my job is to make sure the production side,

the staging, that we're not following,

we're leading.

This is deep. This is Tottenham.

This is bigger than Madison Square Garden.

Can't play games.

Everything's got to look considered.

But we just look like we're crazy.

Like we're children,

and we don't know how to do a show.

What? You can't do that, not with Wiz.

This is a test.

I wonder if he realizes how big of a deal it really is.

Hopefully he doesn't feel that weight,

because that can infiltrate his performance,

infiltrate his creativity, and he could be sidetracked.

The chances of getting the visa

is actually really, really low.

It's a big stress.

It's a very, very big stress.

Happiness is actually free.

You just have to start with what you have,

where you are and what you have access to.

That's all it takes for you to be happy.

Yo! Yo!

"Your travel document and supporting document

are now ready for collection."

I say yes, come on!

Yes! Come on!

I don't even know what I'm saying.

Come on.

We thank you for the provision of this food,

and thank you for everything going on.

Real good. We thank you for... You've blessed this food for us.

Thank you, and in Jesus name we pray, Amen.

This is the week into the show,

so sleep is secondary.

Like, we'll sleep the day after the show,

but we've literally been doing, um,

rehearsal from 4:00 p.m. till maybe 2:00 a.m.

Musically, we've got some ground to make.

We've had some additions to our musical setup.

This is Benjamin.

The one half of Cavemen, him and his brother Kingsley.

They are joining me for this show.

They're artists themselves.

The Cavemen are now musical-directing the show.

So, they're gonna handle the musical direction

and be a part of the band.

From the music point of view,

we're maybe two weeks behind where we should actually be.

My main concern at the moment

is just the flow between the band and Wiz,

running the show from top to bottom.

No, just shutting that, uh, outro part.

So, you sort of, I think it was eight bars before,

let's keep it at four bars.

And I haven't heard the full setlist just yet,

played out in one go.

Stop it right there, yeah, that's great, yeah.

Then there was kind of this idea to do different texturing,

but to kind of have all these women's bodies.

And then this hawk that, like,

looks like it's kind of coming out of the 3D billboard

and then kind of, like, lots of fire.

And then this idea

that we thought could be really beautiful for "Essence."

Mm-hmm.

This is cool.

But it feels like more of an-- This is the strongest one.

This one?

We were thinking it would be cool in the middle of the box.

Yeah, my only problem with... with that is,

like, how much space I have to perform in the front.

So, this is right in the center.

- Right here? - Yeah.

It needs to be, like, you know, that's what I was saying,

the video from the rehearsal space,

they all need to be with me in the front.

This part, like, we need to do that.

Oh...

You mean the fact that you don't have much space?

Yeah. I don't have much space at all.

I think we're very limited in space in that respect

because we've already hung all the steel for that.

So, things can't move between now and show.

It's just not enough space for me to perform in.

There's problems with moving

pretty much anything around at this point

since we're so late in the game.

Permitting is a big thing. Barricades is a big thing.

No, nothing is moving.

I'm saying we just need to create the space here.

Like, even if we pull out the riser right here, like...

I really wanted to be here weeks before,

so if I wanted to change shit, I could change shit.

You know what I mean? Like, this is the problem.

The biggest problem right now

is me performing, like, you know...

With your band. Like, out there.

Out here, and it just feels tight,

you know, sensual, sexy.

Yeah, it's got soul.

Musical soul, like, it's not, like... You know what I mean?

Because once you start doing all of this other stuff,

it takes away from this essence

and the substance of, like, you know, real music.

Wiz is a perfectionist.

Wiz always wants his fans to feel

like they're coming to see a whole new person.

- Cavemen's drums. - Yeah?

Uh, are we sorting that, what's the situation?

If Cavemen are playing out here, for their set...

Mm-hmm.

...and then they're playing back here

- for Wiz's set. - Yeah. Yeah.

We can't have... We have to have two different kits.

His focus on attention to detail is borderline scary

when it gets to things like this.

Somebody told them

that Wiz wants everybody to move in

and out with wireless.

They want the DJ down at the B stage

and in the center of the stage and in the box.

Wait, wait, wait...

I'm tired. I'm overwhelmed.

I'm very, very anxious.

Just get us on the call.

Nobody's pointing fingers.

Nobody's calling you out. Nobody's blaming you.

We just want solutions.

At the end of the day, we can, like, nitpick it,

but we don't have enough time.

I'm so excited to see Wizkid in London.

The view I have of London...

I don't know what my expectations are.

I used to be worried that,

"Wait, what if I want to go to this place?

What would my movement be like?"

Now having the opportunity to even see my guy

on stage live, bro, damn.

It's really, really exciting.

I keep my expectations high for the show

because magic will actually happen there.

I know. I know already.

London, here I come.

We are one day out.

Internally we are trying to pull together

to make everything happen.

But we should try and run it as a show...

- As a show... - ... from top to bottom.

The fact that Wiz is headlining Tottenham Stadium,

as a Black man, it just hits different for me.

I couldn't have seen this growing up as a kid.

There were a lot of Africans at that time

who weren't proud to say they were African.

I didn't see a world where Afrobeats,

Black music being made in the diaspora,

could headline any stadium in the UK.

Especially for me, being someone who grew up

in, uh, inner London in the '90s.

Like, racism definitely existed.

Saw it firsthand.

There were definitely moments of racial tension.

Clashes at an anti-racist march

in southeast London.

If there's a big gang of Black boys, yeah,

police always think robbery.

That's why... That's why you can't walk in the mass.

That's why all us lot come here one by one or two by two.

I've been searched loads of times, yeah.

People beaten up, stabbed, what have you.

Would you like being called British?

No, I'm not British.

It's not my fault that I was born in England.

We've been brought over here, and we're bottom of the table.

We've been treated bad.

I'm not going to say, "Yeah, I come from that place."

That I've been tr... been treated bad in.

What did slavery do?

Slavery took our identity.

What did colonization do?

Colonization replaced it.

We want to impress Europe. We want to impress America.

What about our own impression of ourselves?

How many of us dream in our languages?

How many of us think in our languages?

How many of us implement our culture in our daily lives?

That is the effect of colonization.

As much as I've sounded pessimistic,

I'm very optimistic.

And I see a lot of good things.

I would say Wizkid is one of them.

Now, with, like, my son and his age mates,

just seeing how proud they are to be African,

it's... it's incredible.

And Wizkid and the Afrobeats movement as a whole,

I think, has sort of been at the fore of this change

in sort of sentiment towards where you're from as an African.

There's that pride there, especially being in the diaspora.

Sometimes you get lost in the middle.

With Afrobeats, it's kind of brought us all together.

Bless.

Wizkid, Wizkid. Wizkid, bro. Everywhere, bro, you see?

I grew up listening to African music.

Starting from the legend himself,

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

Seeing where African culture is now...

it's like, "Yes, we did this together."

Africa is evolving.

This is not where we were 20 years ago,

and this is not where we were about ten years ago,

and now things are getting better and better

and better every time.

You can easily get access to stuff

via social media, via your phone.

That's what you see when out there,

people all over the world listening to our songs,

jamming to it.

As long as you have internet, the world is yours.

Big Wiz, he's there, up there.

Representing Africans.

Huh?

No, mesmerized.

All right.

Long day.

My mom is the love of my life.

She holds everything together in my family.

She's the glue to, like, all our lives.

The last few days have been heavy.

Wizkid's real name is Ayo.

He comes home being Ayo.

But then, you know, he leaves the house being Big Wiz.

And I don't ever see when Wiz has fears.

So, we should actually be okay for...

We're gonna walk in five.

All right, let's go, go, go, please. Yeah.

Guys, stand back, please.

All right, please, security.

Mind your backs!

After Wiz, check everyone's wristbands.

Has he got his mic? Is the band in position?

Come on!

London, make some noise!

# Dem inna, inna Inna, inna, inna #

# I know sey dem Go pray on my downfall #

# I'm still a winner, winner Winner, winner, winner #

# Me never let them play On my banjo #

# Dem inna, inna Inna, inna, inna, oh, na-na #

# Don't know why they pray On my downfall #

# Born winner dem Go play on my banjo #

# Never #

Let's go!

# No console Now everybody dancin' for me #

# I'm on the move, no be Keke Now everybody askin' for me #

# I dey go collect wetin baba God dey destin' for me #

# What's lost now found #

# So we can sing Amazing Grace Amazing Grace, all night #

London!

London!

Let's go!

# Ni ojuelegba #

# They know my story For Mo'Dogg's studio #

# I been hustle to work, eh Ni ojuelegba, oh #

# Me and Silly For Mo'Dogg's studio #

# We been hustle to work, eh Ni ojuelegba, oh #

# They know my story For Mo'Dogg's studio #

# We been hustle to work See eh, e kira fun mummy mi o #

# Ojojumo lo n s'adura #

# Mon jaiye Mi won ni wan soro ju #

# Won ni, won ni, won ni Won soro ju #

- # Feeling good tonight # - # Feeling good tonight #

# This thing got me Thanking God for life #

# Thanking God for life #

# I can't explain #

# I can't explain #

Listen!

Music is very, very powerful.

It's amazing to touch people positively.

# Oh, oh, oh... #

Let's go, let's go.

# Starboy dey for you #

# Baby girl You fine you set, oh #

# Girl, you make My eye dey red, oh #

# Anytime you no dey Close to me #

# Yeah, yeah... #

Let's go, sing!

# ...Burn that spliff Be your Romeo #

# Wa lomi, oh, ragabomi, oh #

# Got your back, wa sun bi, oh Ja sungba, oh, omo jupa, oh #

# Touch me I touch as e dey, oh #

# Oya so mi so, ka l'ole, oh Chop, me I chop anoti, oh #

# Je, je, je... #

I represent for a... a culture that is very beautiful.

# ...Ma ko je bi ogbono Ma bo je bi jollof #

# Tell me what I cannot do For your love #

# Olopa go carry all of us #

# If they carried deuces, I don't wan talk #

# I no go respond... #

Let me hear you say, "Yeah, yeah."

# Mhmm, hmm, hmm #

# Wey come cooli my body Eh, eh #

# Whoa, I'm in the big mood #

# Girl, I dey feel you #

# Something wey come Cooli my body #

# Tell me will you do #

# I'm in the big mood #

# Girl, I dey feel you #

# Something wey come Cooli my body #

# Tell me will you do #

Let's go!

# Make we go dey sempe #

# Pour some liquor Dey do me jeje #

# Get somethings wey dey Bother my head, I swear #

CREW MEMBER 1:

CREW MEMBER 2:

Let's go, sing this shit. Let's go!

London Town!

# Juls baby #

# My days When I'm not with you, baby #

Say what?

# Oh, your love keeps me warm #

# Unconditional prisoner Number one #

# Your love give me Somethin' I want #

# Your love give me Somethin' to feel #

# Your love give me Something that's real... #

CREW MEMBER 3:

We all have, um, things we have in our head.

"Yeah, I want to be this, I want to be that."

But at the end of the day...

people decide what they want to see you as.

What you stand for.

That's what matters.

The generation before us got bullied so much.

I felt it. I felt it in my heart.

I... I felt the pain of our parents.

They didn't understand their power.

I'm looking forward to a great show.

Flight was good.

I'm with my people. I feel loved, you know?

I know what I did for that generation.

I changed the perception

of just how parents in Africa see kids in music.

CREW MEMBER 1:

Wiz realizes that...

this show isn't about what he's wearing.

This show isn't about what the production looks like.

What his show is going to mean...

...to Africa...

is hope.

Whoo! Whoo!

# Say I wanna leave you In the mornin' #

# But I need you now Yeah, yeah #

# I find you I give you all you're needing #

# I know you what you like #

# What you like #

# I feel it comin' #

# Time is of the essence #

# Whoa, whoa, whoa #

# I tried to teach you #

# Say I need some lessons #

# I need to give it all #

# I tried to leave but I can't #

# I don't know why You're the one #

# Turn me out of my mind #

London, sing that shit. Let's go!

# You don't need no other body #

# Yeah, yeah #

# You don't need no other body #

# Whoa, whoa, whoa #

# Only you fi hold my body #

# Only you fi hold my body #

# You don't need no other body #

# Say na me dey Mess up your mind #

# And na me dey Make you free up your mind #

# Say your body Talk to me nice #

# See yeah we dey together Yeah, day and night #

# Yeah, if I leave you go kpai Yeah, if I leave... #

# I'm stroking your body, baby Loving your body, baby #

# As you're whinin' your body Baby, so crazy #

# Lovin' your body, baby Gyal iwo ni temi #

# I just wanna let you know #

London, sing it with me, let's go!

# Give me all you need Give you all you need #

# Gave you all Make ah give you all you need #

# Give you all you need Gave you all #

# Make ah give you All you need #

# Every touch you need Give you all #

# Make ah give you all You need #

Let's go, sing it.

# You don't need No other body #

# Yeah, yeah #

# You don't need no other body #

# Whoa, whoa, whoa #

# Only you fi hold my body #

# Only you fi hold my body #

# Whoa, whoa, whoa #

# You don't need no other body #

# Baby, I want you there Yes, I want you there #

# Promise to treat Your love fair #

# Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa #

# When we touch How we connect... #

# You don't need no other body #

# You don't need no other body #

# Only you fi Hold my body, girl #

# Only you fi hold my body #

# Whoa, whoa, whoa You don't need no #

# Yeah, yeah #

# Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah #

# Oh, yeah #

I fucking love you, London.

Yo, that was amazing! Damn, bro.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, darling.

I flew in specifically just for this,

and I'm flying out tomorrow.

That's how much of an important, uh, moment it is.

And I've come here with my mom as well and my sister.

Like, I brought the family as well, you know?

So, yeah, it's beautiful,

it's really beautiful to witness. Hello, Mama.

Songs like "Ojuelegba." He brought back memories,

and he's still... I'm so glad he's still there.

He's still... He's getting better and better.

Essential personnel only, please.

Essential personnel only.

I've been watching him since I was really young.

And to see him come this far is just amazing.

Honestly, I felt so emotional, especially that ending.

...like old African musicians like Fela.

They couldn't do this. So, if we...

if, in our generation, were able to do this,

I would say,

awesome, you got to be proud, do you know what I mean?

Because then the future is bright for African music.

The legacy... tomorrow, they will talk about him.

He lead, and the rest follow.

Man, I feel blessed working with amazing people,

the whole team.

Playing these venues, man. I feel blessed.

Can't even put the words to it right now, you know?

We did it.

It lets people know you have the opportunity

to come and do something as big as this.

So, the future of Afrobeats-- We're doing stadiums now.

One billion UK streams. Wow.

Thank you, thank you, guys, I appreciate it.

Uh, I feel blessed.

Wiz has taught me,

at times when you want to give up, you don't.

He's a fighter, and he's made me into a fighter.

I believe

you're a product of your environment.

That's why it's just so important for me

to always fly high.

Fly in the highest colors that I can, you know?

I'm representing for my people.

And just shining light

to the most amazing things that happen out there.

There is deeper stuff in Africa.

Just as a moment in general. It's just an amazing time.

Just to be Black.

Because this generation understands the power we have.

That's why you see a lot of creative energy

going around this generation.

His rise has been really, really inspirational.

The moment you think you can do something,

you definitely can do it. As long as you take action.

The future is bright for Africa.

This is definitely just the beginning.