When it comes to Nigeria’s biggest exports, one cannot deny the tremendous impact of Afrobeats, making global airwaves and influencing our rich culture, catchy, high-spirited, and evolving sounds from artists and producers. In the case of producers that have stood the test of time, Pheelz is one whose name is worthy of mention. Having been in the industry for about two decades, not only has he given some of the biggest Afrobeats songs, but has helped contribute to the evolving sounds of Afrobeats. From being an in-house producer for YBNL, in the days of Pheelz Mr. Producer, making hit records, to working with the likes of Usher, Diddy, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Teni, Davido, and a host of others, to releasing hit records as an artiste, Pheelz has earned a name for himself and doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.
So far so good, the singer-songwriter has had an incredible journey as an artist, shutting down shows, dropping songs that have become a national anthem, to performing on global stages, Pheelz has been one of the shining lights of the ‘Afrobeats to the World’ movement.
While his debut EP, ‘Hear Me Out’ gained moderate traction, his breakout as a solo artiste came with the release of Finesse featuring BNXN. The song propelled Pheelz artist to global stardom, in what was one of the greatest moments in Nigerian music history. What started as a snippet on TikTok, not only shut down the internet before its release earning over 100m streams, and becoming one of the most ‘shazamed’ songs of the year. During its release, Finesse didn’t just top the charts across space but debuted on Nigeria’s Spotify Top 50 chart at number one, global Apple Music Top 100 at number forty, and also was the most Shazamed song in the world on the 8th of March, 2022.
‘If I broke na my business’, the catchy chorus from the song was not just a national anthem but a global one at that, putting him on the stage of the BET pre-show award. Not forgetting his performance of Finesse at Davido’s O2 Arena concert. In a significant crossover moment, English Football Club, Chelsea announced the signing of a new player, Moises Caicedo using Pheelz’s hit single in a video. Only that was just a step further for the artist. Following the acceptance of the song, Pheelz aka Riidimakulayo, broke into the industry again with the Afropop song, Electricity featuring Davido. Electricity, the fourth track off his sophomore album, Pheelz Good was a blend of enchanting lyrics and catchy beats, and in no time garnered massive airplay.
In addition to his success as an artiste, Pheelz continues to flex his production skills, doing so notably on Bob Marley’s “Africa Unite” album where he produced the re-recorded ‘Jamming’. One of his standout tracks in the year 2023 is ‘Jéló,’ a single featuring long-time friend, artiste, and producer, Young Jonn. Pheelz also had a good year in line of live performance, where he delivered an electric and memorable performance at the 2023 Trace Award show, in Kigali, Rwanda. He performed his smash hit ‘Finesse’ and showcased his drumming skill while performing the summer tune ‘Jelo’. Aside from his performance and single release this year, Pheelz got to release his debut EP titled ‘Pheelz Good’ with Davido, and BNXN as guest artistes. The EP received positive reviews from listeners with it accumulating almost 200,000,000 streams on Spotify.
Apart from the music aspect, Pheelz has developed his alter ego “Rii Collection” which is involved with the creation of 3D art and animation, which shows the secret superpower of Pheelz himself. While he is evolving as a producer and as an artiste, safe to say Riidimakulayo isn’t slowing down and will be around to dominate the industry. In retrospect, one cannot deny Pheelz’s Musical Odyssey, but nevertheless, there seems to be a promising future for the act and more that he is prepared to give.
