Before he became one of Nigeria’s hottest new music stars, Joeboy was an aspiring singer posting covers of popular songs onto his Instagram account. It was after he posted a version of Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You in 2017 that self-made music mogul Mr Eazi—who’d started an initiative called emPawa Africa to help budding musicians—slid into Joeboy’s direct messages (DMs).
“He sent his number, and he was, like, ‘I like your sound, hit me up,’” Joeboy recalls. Eazi encouraged the singer to sign up for his emPawa Africa talent incubator. It set the then-20-year-old singer on track to becoming one of the continent’s most exciting young artists. Soon after, Joeboy signed to Eazi’s Banku Music, which has a licensing deal with Universal Music Africa, and, earlier this year, released his full-length debut album, titled Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic.