Davido's Nigerian playlist – Wizkid, Fela Kuti, D'Banj and more

Fela Kuti – Upside Down

This speaks to me: I love the message of the song. To me, my country is the best country in the whole wide world, but we’re transitioning into a new government and everything takes time – there are a lot of things being cleaned up right now, so this record speaks to me about my country at the moment. I love the instrumentation and the way the song is delivered. I love the diversity of the rhythm and the melodies.

I wouldn’t say I grew up listening to Fela, but when I did get into music he was definitely one of the people who inspired me. He’s the pioneer of Afrobeat and I can hear his influences in music today. Apart from being a singer, Fela was an instrumentalist; every Fela record has his input in an instrumental section or in the melodies or the general feel of the song.

2face Idibia – African Queen

I grew up listening to him. This was the first song I remember seeing on MTV. It brought so much hope to our lives and let us know we could also be on MTV one day, or that we could win an MTV award one day. It was just huge. Both artist and song were definitely part of me wanting to start making music: he made it clear Nigeria can do things internationally. It’s crazy how that song mixes genres but sounds universal.

D’Banj – Oliver Twist

This song was huge. Like 2face, D’Banj is another person who made it to the charts worldwide. It’s a great record – it was one you heard everywhere you went. He’s signed to Kanye West’s label Good music and Kanye’s in the Oliver Twist video, which to me was a sign that Afrobeats could go international. When you have someone like Kanye West in your video it’s because he sees shit before it’s happening, man. He looks into the future, so he could see it coming. The internet also makes it so easy for people from different countries to discover new music.

Davido – Aye

If you ask me, after African Queen, Aye is the biggest song ever to come out of Africa. It was a huge record and even now people still go crazy for it. It’s had more than 30m views on YouTube, which is the most I’ve had. I don’t know why people connected to it like they did – God just blessed me with it. It’s original – there’s no jewellery in the video, no naked girls, no cars, it’s just authentic, if you know what I mean. When I make my records, I make them naturally and it just depends what mood I’m in. I didn’t really have any motives with this song.

Wizkid – Ojuelegba

It’s another big record. If you ask me, these songs are the biggest five tracks to come out of Africa. Drake was on a remix of this record as well, so that really pushed it out internationally. Again, it’s like the Kanye West situation – somebody who saw something before it broke and saw the potential to help move it on. Skepta appears on that remix, too, which I think is just evidence of how things happen nowadays. There’s no formula. There are no geographical boundaries. The song’s about Wizkid’s struggles at the start of his career and every artist goes through something like that. You just need that phrase “I told you so”. To be honest, people don’t believe in you until you make it. That’s the truth of life.