The Benefits Of Collaborating With International Artists

It's a no-brainer to understand the reasons why artists feature artists beyond their horizons these days. Lately, we've had different collaborations of Nigerian artists with international artists - the major push for the "Afrobeats To The World" agenda.

A good sample is Peru & Essence. Peru by Fireboy was already a perfect song yet immediately it featured Ed Sheeran, it started doing crazy numbers and bagged different certifications in the UK & USA.

Essence by Wizkid, a global hit and what we could call the "Biggest afrobeat song" presently didn't win the BETs award but the remix with Justin Bieber did. Here's why: There's something called "reach" in music. A working-class white person from the southern US knows Ed Sheeran and not Fireboy. His Streaming Platform of Choice is curated so that he may never have listened to Fireboy's songs, the same way we don't hear Arabian songs in Nigeria. Artists within the same continent also use the "reach" method to permeate a region where their music suffers recognition.

Case study: Black Sheriff penetrated the already saturated music clime in Nigeria by featuring Burna Boy and the rest is history.

Here's a list of the five biggest collaborations by Nigerian Artists featuring International artists:

1. Davido ft Meek Mill – Fans Mi

Davido skyrocketed his career, deals and made headlines after he featured the American rapper on his hit single Fans Mi in 2015. Arguably one of Davido’s biggest features so far and undoubtedly one of the biggest in Nigeria's music industry also.

2. P-Square Ft Rick Ross – Beautiful Onyinye (Remix)

P-Square, one of the African biggest duo musician's songs, Beautiful Onyinye ft Rick Ross was also another superb and worldwide collaboration between the versatile P-Square group featuring an A-list international artiste.

3. Wizkid ft Drake & Skepta – Ojuelegba Remix

Wizkid's sound crossed to the other side immediately after the success of "Ojuelegba" in his album Ayo in 2014, but after Wizkid dropped a remix to Ojuelegba featuring Drake, and British-Nigerian rapper Skepta. The collaboration became widespread and one of the biggest afrobeat songs ever.

4. Wizkid ft Justin Bieber & Tems – Essence Remix

Wizkid’s Essence featuring the Canadian R&B singer, Justin Bieber and Nigerian Singer Tems was the song of the summer in 2021. Albeit, the song was a success after its release, the collaboration propelled the song to the different horizons of the world. It will be in history as one of the biggest collaborations by a Nigerian featuring a foreign artist.

5. P-Square ft Dave Scott – Bring It On

P-Square teamed up with Atlanta singer David Scott in 2014 and concocted a spiritually, magical and inspirational single ‘Bring It On’ in the studio with the big success of 17M YouTube views. No lies, one of the biggest collaborations by a Nigerian Artist featuring international artists.

In conclusion, it's undebatable that the essence of the whole collaboration & recognition is also a financial benefit, for the artist and even the label, because it opens doors for nominations & global brand deals.