by Ifeoluwa Ettu
Essence is a viral global sensation buoyed by the label backing of Wizkid and the outstanding performance by Tems, but Ckay’s “Love Nwantiti” isn’t far behind. The song is number one in 18 countries on Apple Music and is charting in 167 countries on Apple music! What is even more remarkable is that none of his senior peers who have released music in recent times has managed such success for a song except Wizkid.
You might be tempted to ask “Who the f*** is Ckay?!”, as a “top” music reporter did in 2017. In an interview with rapper and Chocolate City (Ckay’s then-record label) executive M.I Abaga, popular music reporter and critic Osagie Alonge seemingly talked down on the then-upcoming singer. He never would have guessed in his wildest dreams that the same artist would one day debut on Billboard’s Hot 100 or have the most searched song in the world.
Ckay’s full name is Chukwuka Ekweani, born July 16 1995 to “middle class” Igbo parents in the northern state of Kaduna, Nigeria. He was introduced to music from as early as age 3 and learnt how to play the piano at age 7. His father, a choirmaster at a church in Kaduna, often invited him to sing when playing the piano at home. In a few years, he would go on to learn music theory and knew classical music notes from the likes of Beethoven and by age 13 was already producing and writing music in a Christian group. After graduating secondary school, he formed a group called Cre8tive music with 2 of his friends and got his first taste of the limelight and commercial success when they organized a concert and sold out all the tickets.
Taking A Leap Of Faith
This early success opened Ckay’s eyes to the revenue-generating possibilities in music and would spur him to save up for 9 months and run away from his home in 2014, aged 18. He believed in his talents so much, that he took a leap of faith by moving to Lagos. His parents didn’t support a music career after several conversations and he just figured to leave, anticipating that they’ll mend fences when they see the results of his actions (he would later reconcile with his family a few months later and since then they’ve shown him love and support). After arriving in Lagos, a friend introduced him to Chocolate City’s A&R at the time “Moti Cakes” who was excited about the music he heard from Ckay. He couldn’t get a deal immediately as Loopy music had just merged with Chocolate City and they had quite a number of artists on their roster. Ckay would however go to the studio occasionally to produce, write songs and sit in during sessions leading him to produce and write for a lot of artists under Chocolate City such as Dice Ailes, Koker, Pryse, Milli and Ice Prince among others. He had the opportunity to meet ace rapper M.I a few months later after the latter indicated interest in one of the beats he made. A producer contract would later materialize and a subsequent artist contract a year later in 2016.
In 2017, the aforementioned interview would go viral becoming one of the top trends on Twitter and Ckay responded by releasing a mixtape called “Who the F*** is Ckay” tapping into the hype raised by the interview. He however wouldn’t have his major hit till “Container” a year later. Container put Ckay in the full glare of the public, gaining heavy rotation across the country and was the right re-introduction and a seemingly perfect reply to the question “Who the f*** is Ckay”. He would later release a remix with then trending indigenous rapper Zlatan and South African sensation Moonchild Sanelly, further extending his influence and acceptance.
2019 and The Rise of Ckay
His first proper project, the EP “Ckay the first” came a year later in 2019 and “Love Nwantiti (ah ah ah)” would go on to become a viral sensation even back then. Chocolate City had just signed a partnership deal with Warner Music who offered financial support and global distribution and promotion and this further contributed to the success and popularity of the project.
The success of Love Nwantiti led to a remix with viral Nigerian pop sensation Joeboy and Ghanian fast rising act Kuami Eugene. The remix would go on to achieve global mainstream success, and in hindsight, must have inspired Ckay and the label to release strategic remixes with various successful acts in different regions of the world. There were East African, North African, South African, Spanish, German and French remixes. This strategic move would blow the song out of the stratosphere and have it surging through various charts worldwide, albeit aided by its hugely popular virality on social media app TikTok. The remixes made the song so popular that different DJ versions, covers and remixes started popping up and Ckay had to release another remix with DJ Yo and Axel after their slowed down version achieved critical acclaim. He would also do an acoustic version of the song and upload it to both Youtube and Tiktok to show that he was indeed the one behind the smash hit. The acoustic version has since garnered 44 million views on Tiktok and 21 million views on Youtube with more being added daily.
Love Nwantiti: A Global Hit
Love Nwantiti has become a global sensation breaking various records and topping various charts worldwide. His deal with Warner Music under their South African imprint “Warner Music SA” in November after leaving Chocolate City, could’ve been a catalyst to the resurgence of the single. It recently debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming the second Nigerian to do so after Wizkid and the first to do so with a solo single. It was also the most discovered song in the world on popular music discovery app Shazam, as well as edging out Wizkid’s “Essence” to be the most Shazamed song in the United States. At some point, two versions of the song were the top 2 most Shazamed songs globally. It went NO 1 in 40 countries on Apple Music and was charting in 167. It was no 1 in 23 countries on Youtube and was charting in 75. These are some of the more popular records set by the song with everything being too much to mention. With more still to come, all these successes are even more commendable because more popular African artists haven’t been able to achieve the same feat even with major international label backing.
Ckay used to call his genre Afro-fusion, but has now fully refined his sound and calls it Emo-Afrobeats because he considers his music filled with emotion. He also calls himself Africa’s Boyfriend and his latest EP, released on the 12th of February 2021, is actually titled “Boyfriend”. He says he calls himself that because he believes the major theme of his music is love and he tries to document his love experiences which have been filled with “joy and pain” in his songs. Regardless of his inspirations, his music has definitely been giving joy to a lot of people and two singles of his recent EP namely “Felony” and “Kiss me like you miss me” have gone on to be hugely popular. Ckay is further pushing Afrobeats to new boundaries following the steps of greats before him like Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido to name a few. Whether it’s due to Tiktok’s popularity, the strategic remixes, a better label, insane talent, a stroke of luck or a combination of one or more of these factors, Ckay is finally finding a home on the charts and we’re loving it.