Nigerian singer Adedamola Adefolahan, better known as Fireboy DML, has identified Wande Coal and Wizkid as the artists that shaped Afropop.

He said Wande Coal, particularly, is the “root” of the genre.

He stated this on the Afrobeats Podcast hosted by Shopsydoo.

According to Fireboy: “Wande [Coal] and Wiz [Kid] are the two artistes that shaped what we know as Afropop today; they took that Afrobeat Fela sound that was brought down to 2Face and D’banj and shaped it into that ‘feel good pop’ afrobeats, and Wande then brought ‘soul’. You know, all these soulful things that me, CKay, all of us are doing now, Wande is the root.”

The ‘Peru’ crooner, who described Wande Coal as “the god of afrobeats,” admitted the “Bumper to Bumper” singer was his mentor.