Any artiste from Nigeria can be our breakout star in 2017

Last year was very unlikely in the Nigerian music scene. We got our official breakout star from Ghana.

Recently, there has been some uproar over Mr Eazi’s affiliation with the country that influenced his music the most. The star who schooled in Ghana, got his performance and recording inspiration and influence from Ghana, and last year crossed over into the Nigerian space.

This is almost impossible. Nigerians, hate to admit that Ghana has any influence over their music. But in 2016, the most absurd year in recent memory, Ghana gave us a star.  And as it has been the case through the years, we have popularized that star and now claim full ownership.

That’s the way of Naija. That’s the way we roll. Whatever we steal from Ghana is ours. We own it, tweak it to fit us, and then run with it.

We ran with Mr Eazi, and created a new brand in the music industry. He is one of the hottest in the market right now, and has projects lined up for the rest of the year.

But all that happened in 2016. It’s 2017 now, and we have another 12 months to find and celebrate a breakout star. By December 2017, there ought to be that one new artiste that would stand taller than the rest, and infect our playlist with some of the best music that has ever been released.

Although it is our collective responsibility to accept this person, the man has to find us first with his music. Mr Eazi found us first with ‘Skin tight’. In 2015, Kiss Daniel and Adekunle Gold perfected their art, and hit us with the magic. Patoranking and Runtown were kings in 2014. Sean Tizzle won 2013 with Sho lee.

We embraced and celebrated them all. But they came to us with the music from somewhere. Kiss Daniel snuck in with ‘Woju’ from Emperor Geezy who has worked many years in the game. Adekunle Gold brought on highlife, and played at a level that we never did have.

Runtown was king of melodies, who came via Phyno. Patoranking had Timaya bring him up in the way of the hits, and that has not changed. Sean Tizzle, who fought with Sound Sultan, blew and later began to struggle.

But what next? Up until last year, we have had more traditional ways of breaking artistes through to mainstream. But last year showed that we are no longer bound by conventions. This is the all-or-nothing age, the now-age, the internet-and-everything-age.

Whose stars will align in the heavens and send him down to lord over the people of Nigeria? No one knows. But the lesson for artistes who work through various mediums is that it can happen to you.

Both the guy who gets a shout out on Davido’s Instagram, and the one who uploads their content on Soundcloud. The guy who tweets aggressively, and the one who goes offline and hands it out at street corners all have a fair chance at blowing.

The last one came from Ghana. Why can’t the next one come from Brass? Or Mushin? Or Zurich?

But there’s a caveat. You have to be putting in the work. To win at any game, you have to be playing. You have to roll up your sleeves, and get to work. Record, create content, improve and market at the level that you can. You can blow from anywhere.