Nigerian artistes dominate Beyonce’s Lion Heart album

The social media has been in frenzy in the past few days since the release of Beyonce’s album, The Lion King: The Gift. The reason is not far to seek as top Nigerian artistes dominated the album in what appeared to be a confirmation of the acceptance of the country’s popular afro-pop.

The album, aside having Beyonce on it, showed a vibrant mixture in the tracklist, with some Afrobeat greats from Nigeria all featuring in the 14-song tracklist with the likes of Mr Eazi, Tekno, Wizkid, Yemi Alade, Tiwa Savage and Burna Boy.

Beyonce was said to have been impressed by the Afro-pop genre, and she decided to feature Nigerian artistes on it.

Beyonce said she wanted to make sure best African talents featured on the album to tell the African story and display its rich culture.

Speaking in an interview with ABC Special, the American superstar said she found the best talent from Africa, adding that she didn’t just want to use some of the sound, she also wanted it to be well interpreted by acts from the continent.

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Not many people saw the collaboration coming as it defied the norm which usually would have seen Nigerian artistes struggling to feature international acts in their songs to gain some popularity on the international scene.

The tracklist has Wizkid on a song entitled, ‘Brown Skin Girl,’ alongside Beyonce’s first child, Blue Ivy Carter, Beyonce and Saint Jhn. Tiwa Savage and Mr Eazi featuring independently on ‘Keys To The Kingdom.’ while Tekno, Yemi Alade and Mr Eazi feature independently on ‘Don’t Jealous Me.’ Burna Boy features independently on ‘Ja Ara E.’

Other African acts on the album include South African acts, Busiswa and Moonchild Sanelly. Ghanaian act, Shatta Wale also features on the project.