The Dark Side of Afrobeats Nobody Talks About - WurlD

WurlD went digging through his own royalty data and found somebody else's name sitting where his publisher should be. Three, four years of money had already moved. He only caught it because he knew what to look for. Back in 2015 he started showing Nigerian producers how to register their records properly. IPI numbers, publishing splits, performing rights organizations, all of it. "I made some enemies in the process," he says, because he was walking into rooms telling people the person handling their paperwork was putting the records under their own name. WurlD is Sadiq Onifade. Born in Lagos, studied computer science at Georgia State while sneaking into Atlanta studios at night, wrote records for Akon and B.o.B before anyone would sign him as an artist, co-wrote Davido and Chris Brown's Blow My Mind, and made I Love Girls With Trobul with Sarz. His new album Born To Win is on the way. In this episode we get into the EP he pulled off every streaming platform, the two years he sat on a finished hit, the night he almost got stuck in Berlin filming COLORS as the world shut down, why he left clothes behind to fit his recording rig in a suitcase, and why he gave Blow My Mind away. Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership) Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast EPISODE SPONSORS Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa. CONVO BY AFROPOLITAN Book 1:1 calls with Africa's boldest thinkers: https://convo.vip/ WHERE TO FIND WURLD Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisiswurld TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisiswurld Twitter/X: https://x.com/thisisWurlD YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/thisiswurld WURLD LIVE Website: https://www.wurldlive.com/ Live in Atlanta at Terminal West, Sunday September 6. Doors 7:00 PM, show 8:45 PM. Full live band, new music. Tickets: https://www.axs.com/events/1540218/wurld-tickets AFROPOLITAN Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast TIMESTAMPS 0:00 The producers he worked with were not registered 0:59 "We don't like it when it sounds too American" 1:21 Someone else put their name on his publishing 1:40 A quick word about that subscribe button 2:12 Lagos to Atlanta, and how the career started 2:29 The calling he had to hide from his parents 2:45 "People wanted songwriters more than African artists" 4:27 Writing for Akon and B.o.B 5:37 When labels wanted the artist instead of the writer 6:10 The EP he pulled off every streaming platform 6:38 A house record that blew up in Eastern Europe 7:04 The beat that became Show You Off 8:10 Do writing code and writing songs rhyme? 9:17 The Tiny Desk moment that explained songwriting 9:38 How the money actually moves 11:57 Coming home to a business run on vibes 12:37 The registrations that kept coming back blank 12:54 "I made some enemies in the process" 13:47 Producers with huge records still chasing credits 14:34 "If that can happen to someone like me that's informed" 15:14 Lagos-born, US-raised, and why that is the advantage 16:11 Quiet in life, loud in the music 16:41 Meeting Sarz in LA 18:49 Recording Mad in Lagos 19:01 The Room on Patreon 19:52 Sponsor: Zobo Money 20:38 Sitting on a hit for two years 21:41 Putting the producer's name on the front 22:46 Where the blue came from 24:55 Why he slowed the tempo down 27:28 "Trust your gut and the God feeling" 27:59 "Show You Off was not a trend" 29:21 The Afrobeats and Nigerian-American disconnect 30:54 "If you're going to speak Yoruba, speak it with the gut" 32:16 CDs to iTunes to streaming 33:51 The 2021 breakdown 34:50 Filming Ghost Town at COLORS as the world shut down 35:30 Almost stuck in Berlin and London 36:24 Making Lagos feel like home after 18 years away 37:12 He traded clothes for his recording gear 38:09 "The industry only loves you when you're on top" 39:03 "I'm moving on every song" 40:24 "Find your tribe and communicate" 41:44 "Don't sound like another WurlD" 42:11 Keeping Blow My Mind or giving it away 44:20 "More hype than actually great music" 47:06 The new album and what is coming 49:07 What AI is about to do to creatives 51:40 "I've heard more no's in my career than yes" 52:45 Where the name WurlD came from 54:08 Rapid fire 57:48 The producers he loves working with 1:01:13 What legacy looks like for WurlD 1:01:41 Who should be in this chair next