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How an April Fool's Day prank about Jay Z's new album featuring Olamide and Sarkodie went viral

Motolani Alake

April 2, 2021 7:14 AM

Ascension was said to feature African stars like Olamide, Sarkodie, Femi Kuti, and Nasty C.

April Fool's Day - Jay Z's album, 'Ascension.' (Twitter/ChartData)

April 1 is famed to be a day for pranksters and far-reaching pranks. But on April 1, 2021, a rumour adequately permeated Twitter NG with ease. In the early hours of the day, news that legendary American rapper and Billionaire, Jay Z was set to release an Africa-themed album titled, 'Ascension' began to make the rounds.

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Word was that the album would be inspired by his wife, Beyonce's act to feature African superstars like Wizkid, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Bankulli, Tekno, Mr. Eazi, Busiswa, Salatiel and more her album, The Lion King: The Gift.

Ascension was said to feature African stars like Olamide, Sarkodie, Femi Kuti, and Nasty C. Other featured acts on the album were said to be Beyoncé, Rick Ross, H.E.R, and the duo of Lighthouse family. By 9 am that morning, it became obvious that it was an April Fool's Day prank.

But in the spirit of the day, Nigerian social media users and media platforms jumped on the news. The greatest trait of the day was how everybody sold the news by congratulating Olamide and Sarkodie in the spirit of sarcasm.

By 12 pm, Jay Z was the number one trending topic in Nigeria. Nonetheless, some Nigerian platforms actually published the news like it was valid when it wasn't.