Burning the Bridge: The Genesis of Nigerian Collaborations with International Artistes | BN Music

Nigeria is undoubtedly one of Africa’s biggest exports to the outside world in terms of Music. Recently, there have been more and more collaborations involving Nigerian artistes with foreign acts. A few notable examples include:

• Wizkid getting featured on Drake‘s “One Dance” (arguably last year’s biggest song) and then returning the favor by featuring Drake on his own hit track “Come Closer“. He also featured on Justine Skye‘s track titled “U Don’t Know“, also more recently featuring Chris Brown on “African Bad Gyal“
• Davido featuring Meek Mill on “Fans Mi“, Tinashe on “How Long” and most recently his collaboration “My Story” Jamaican superstar Popcaan as well as getting featured on Wale‘s “Fine Girl” alongside Olamide. He is also gearing up to release a mega collaboration with Yung Thug and Rae Sremmurd tomorrow.
• May D featuring American pop duo Rock City on “Row Ya Boat“
• Skales, Yung L & Chopstix featured on the afrosmash remix of Major Lazer‘s hit song “Run Up“. Skales also features PJ Morton of Maroon 5 on his new album “The Never Say Never Guy“

The list goes on and on. It is quite endless but it is also important to remember the the trailblazers who set up the stage for others to expand their horizons into the international music scene. Although before the, we have had artistes perform outside the shores of the country even perform on stage with international acts but they were the among the very first to out an international collaboration on record. In no particular order, we have compiled a short list of the very collaborations which paved the way for others to follow suit:

D’Banj – “Mr Endowed” (Remix) featuring Snoop Dogg

D’Banj’s “Mr Endowed” was already a massive hit before the remix was released. However, the “Kokomaster” and Don Jazzy pulled off a huge surprise when Snoop Dogg was featured on the remix which came with a music video that TV stations never got tired of playing for days on end.

P-Square – “Chop My Money” (Remix)  featuring Akon & May D, “Beautiful Onyinye” feat. Rick Ross

For a decade and a half now, P-Square have been consistent on the Nigerian music scene churning hit after hit. It was only a matter of time before they got noticed by the outside audience and they did that in style, snagging a deal with Akon’s Konvict Music in 2011. Then they dropped a mega remix to their hit song “Chop My Money” which featured Akon and May D who was signed on to Square Records at the time. Later on, they featured T.I (“Eje Ajo“) and Dave Scott (“Bring It On“) on their 2015 album “Double Trouble“.

Sound Sultan – “King Of My Country” featuring Wyclef Jean

Sound Sultan is undoubtedly one of the pioneers of modern hip-hop in Nigeria and has managed to stay relevant over the years even with the ever changing music trends. Shortly after featuring alongside 2Baba and Faze on Wyclef Jean’s “Welcome To Haiti: Creole 101” album, he worked on a couple of singles with Wyclef; “King Of My Country” & “People Bad“.

2Baba – “Rainbow” feat. T-Pain

It might have taken a while longer but 2Baba collaborating with international ac ts was certainly inevitable. Since the disbanding of Plantashun Boiz, he has been at the very top of the game dishing out hit after hit. He featured American superstar T-Pain on the remix of his hit single “Rainbow” as well as featuring Bridget Kelly on “Let Somebody Love You” off his “The Ascension” album.