How Wizkid honoured Fela with one of the best performances of his career

“After this song, I will leave the stage, and Wizkid would come out,” he said. There was pride in his voice, the like a good father giving his children a treat of a lifetime.

But he was wrong. Wizkid’s appearance didn’t happen immediately he went off stage. Instead we got the electrifying Burna Boy, who held the crowd for a few minutes with his hit songs. For many who were already screaming Starboy’s name, it was an eternity. But generally, people enjoyed Burna Boy. He danced, sang and smoked a blunt on stage, and walked away with his head held high, and his dreads dancing.

The lights went dim. The DJ took over with some tunes to drown out the noise and keep the concert ticking. But standing right in front of the stage, you get a full view of activities. Band members rushed to tune the instruments, the sound engineers where placed on high alert and everybody was cleared off. DJ Spinall, showed up too, to provide plugged support.

“Leave the stage! Everybody who has no business on stage should leave!” co-hosts Olisa Adibua and Omobaba yelled. Music royalty was on its way, and peasants don’t share loiter when the king is making an appearance.

There was a slight hum, as everything got ready. And then it began. Special effect smoke was released, and the stage fires were lit. The band went into overdrive as Wizkid was announced. The crowd lost it. It was almost magical watching the reaction to Wizkid’s voice from backstage.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, and the crowd responded with a matching shout of approval. This performance had taken a long time coming. At the end of 2016, after his global push and collaborations with Drake, Wizzy had planned two homecoming concerts in Lagos. The New Afrika Shrine was one of the planned venues. The show was promoted as a gesture of gratitude for the city that had been unrelenting in their support for the young musician.

But the unthinkable happened; Wizkid’s travels around the world took a toll on him, and his doctors told him to cancel. Many were heartbroken. Starboy was not going to bless the shrine.

But it was happening now, and on a symbolic date. This was Felabration. It is the annual celebration of the life and legacy of Fela Kuti, the pioneer of Afrobeat. Wizkid loves Fela. He embodies the man in his lifestyle, dips into his sound to create contemporary records, and calls himself the young Fela.

Wizkid’s success as the best pop performer in Africa, and his efforts to spread the music to non-traditional markets have made him a legend to a many Nigerians. Many have even compared him to Fela. Such is the level of his greatness, that he is being compared to the greatest.

It was Fela’s music home that Wizkid was performing now, and the gravity of the occasion was not lost on everyone involved. The leader of the new generation was paying homage to the leader of the past. Wizkid and Fela Kuti, for once can be comfortably uttered in one sentence. The band cued in ‘Sweet love’, an Afrobeat record that Fela would be proud of.

“Arararara,” Wizkid shouted the Afrobeat chant, and the crowd responded with matching vim: “Orororororo.”

From there it went uphill. Fela’s son, Femi Kuti hit the stage with his saxophone, and together they created a live performance of ‘Jaiye Jaiye’. Magic was happening in front of us all. Wizkid bent down and shook outstretched hands of fans as he performed his old-time classics ‘No lele’.

“Dem say dem no no how, dis scum boy come from gutter make am. See, I go be number one, as a born champion no lele.”

Lagos was receiving their homecoming king. Their champion of the art and he was basking in that worship, that adulation, that adoration. He was an idol for the night. And his worshippers numbered in thousands.

There was space for Starboy affiliate, L.A.X to perform ‘Caro’, ‘Ginger’ and ‘Run away’. He didn’t do badly.

Wizkid returned, with a gift in hand. A random fan screamed his name loudest, and he dipped his hand into his pocket, where he pulled a fat wad of cash and handed it to that fan. But onstage, another fan was in the zone. During his performance of ‘Pullover’, his 2013 single with Kcee, a physically challenged crippled fan was onstage, dancing and soaking up the moment. Wizkid simply dipped his hand into his pocket, grabbed another fat wad of cash, and let it rain on that fan who was moved to tears.

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It was a touching moment, where the blessings of music are shared. And for that fan who simply wanted to experience Wizkid live, he got a financial bonus. Christmas came in October.

“See this guy,” Wizkid said, pointing to the crippled fan. “When I comot for here, I get something very special for you. Very very special. This one na small money. Dash them for crowd, I get something special for you,” he told the fan. The hall erupted with shouts of praise. Wizkid wasn’t just touching lives with the music. His money was speaking too.

“Are you ready for the national anthem?” Wizkid asks. "Are you ready for the national anthem?” He implores the crowd, who were practically eating out of his hand, or in this case, his art. "If you get your Igbo (marijuana), light it now," he advises. He's the king of African music, and when he hands you the licence to set fire to weed, you have a moral obligation to hit the blunt.

With the blunts, in the air, bodies swaying to his sound, and voices singing his every word, he launches into 'Ojuelegba', the biggest song of his career which he crafted for the city, and put Drake on. This was the Lagos Wizkid, the homecoming Wizkid, a local hero who has the heart and unreserved love of the people. When he sang “20 man shall fall that day, if they cross my lane...” the reverberations shook the foundations of the shrine. Such was the power of the moment. One that will not be forgotten by all who witnessed it.

It has been 20 years since the death of Fela Kuti, but his legacy continues to live on. His labour of love has yielded many fruits. These fruits mostly show up as Wizkid. They appear all around us in the sounds that we consume. But in that moment, if you ask anyone in that hall, what Fela’s greatest gift to Nigeria is, they wouldn’t be faulted for calling on Wizkid as a worthy successor.