September 24, 2026

A GLOBAL LETTER TO UPCOMING ARTISTS By Mixta Marquez

A GLOBAL LETTER TO UPCOMING ARTISTS By Mixta Marquez

 

 

 

There is no definitive test that can predict how your career will ultimately turn out.

Talent matters. Hard work matters. Opportunity matters. Timing matters. Luck can matter too.

But before you chase fame, there are three questions every upcoming artist should ask:

Do I genuinely have the passion for this?

Am I developing a style and identity of my own, or am I simply imitating artists who have already succeeded?

When the difficult years come, can I honestly say I am prepared to give this career everything it requires?

The answers may save you years of frustration. The world is full of talented artists. The difficult part is not becoming talented; it is turning talent into a career.

There are no guaranteed rules for becoming a star. But there are habits and principles that can improve your chances of building something that lasts.

KNOW YOURSELF AND KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

You do not have to be the most technically gifted singer to build a successful career. You need to understand what makes you different.

Taylor Swift built her identity around songwriting and personal storytelling. Adele built hers around her voice and emotionally direct songs. Eminem built his around writing, delivery and lyrical persona. Beyoncé built hers around performance, discipline and reinvention.

Their careers are very different. That is precisely the point. There is more than one way to become successful.

Do not ask only, “How can I become like them?” Ask instead, “What can I learn from them while remaining myself?”

Your accent, appearance, culture and voice may be different. Those differences may become your greatest advantage. The world does not need another version of somebody who already exists. It needs another original voice.

DO NOT EXPECT YOUR CAREER TO GROW BY ACCIDENT.

You may hear that a great song will “blow up organically”. It can happen. But a career should not depend entirely on luck.

The modern music industry is built around networks. Artists work with producers, filmmakers, photographers, DJs, content creators, journalists and other artists. A song can become popular because someone uses it in a video. A collaboration can take you into a market you have never entered before.

Your responsibility is not to control every outcome. It is to create opportunities for good outcomes to happen. Do not sit in your room waiting for the world to discover you. Put the work where people can find it.

STUDY THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY BUILT GLOBAL CAREERS.

Study Michael Jackson’s attention to performance and presentation. Study Madonna’s ability to reinvent her image. Study Beyoncé’s discipline. Study Rihanna’s understanding of brand-building beyond music. Study Drake’s ability to move between audiences. Study Bad Bunny’s international success without abandoning Spanish. Study BTS and how a Korean-language group built a worldwide audience. Study Shakira’s movement between Spanish and English markets.

Study them. Do not become them. The purpose of studying successful people is not imitation. It is education.

YOUR FIRST AUDIENCE IS NOT YOUR FINAL AUDIENCE.

Perhaps only your neighbourhood knows your work. Perhaps your country knows you, but the rest of the world does not. That is simply where you are now.

Bad Bunny showed that you do not need to abandon your native language to build an enormous international audience. BTS demonstrated that music does not have to be in English to cross borders. Stromae built international recognition while creating predominantly in French.

The lesson is simple: ‘global’ does not have to mean ‘culturally anonymous’. Your identity can travel with you.

BE PATIENT, BUT DO NOT BE PASSIVE

You are probably not going to become a global superstar overnight. You may release a song nobody notices. You may perform to a small audience. You may send your work to people who never reply.

This is part of the journey. The public sees the breakthrough and forgets the years that came before it. Before she became a global superstar, Adele was an emerging singer developing her craft. Before Eminem became one of the world’s most recognised rappers, he was an artist trying to establish himself.

Do not compare your beginning with somebody else’s breakthrough. Build your catalogue, your confidence and your audience.

But understand the difference between patience and passivity. Patience means continuing to work while growth takes time. Passivity means doing nothing while hoping someone will rescue your career.

BUILD A TEAM AND BE PROFESSIONAL.

You may begin alone. That is normal. But as your career grows, you will need help — a manager, a lawyer, a publicist, a producer and people who understand publishing and distribution.

Choose your people carefully. A bad team can create problems that talent cannot solve.

Also, make it easy for opportunity to find you. If someone in another country discovers your music and wants to work with you, can they find you? Is there an official page? Are your professional contacts available? Is your catalogue organised?

In a global industry, professionalism is part of your reputation.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA, BUT DO NOT LET IT DEFINE YOU

Social media is one of the most powerful tools available to an emerging artist. You can release music without a traditional gatekeeper and build a community before a major label ever calls.

But there is a danger. A million views is attention. It is not necessarily loyalty. A million followers is reached. It is not necessarily a sustainable career.

Trends change. Algorithms change. Platforms change. Your ability to create something meaningful should survive all three.

PROTECT YOUR WORK AND DO NOT CONFUSE FAME WITH SUCCESS

As your career grows, understand the business. Read contracts. Understand ownership, publishing, royalties and distribution. Keep proper records. Seek qualified legal advice when you need it.

Your music is not only art. It is also intellectual property.

And remember: fame is visibility. Success is more complicated. An artist can be famous and financially unstable. Another artist may have a smaller audience but a sustainable career and loyal fan base.

Do not chase fame so blindly that you forget to build a life that can survive it.

FINAL WORD

You may begin in a small room. Your work may eventually reach a stadium. You may create in a language that most of the world does not speak. Your work may eventually cross borders you have never crossed yourself.

Build. Learn. Create. Collaborate. Invest. Promote. Protect your work.

The world has enough copies. Find your voice. The world has enough people chasing attention. Create something worth remembering.

Because fame can introduce you. Only the work can make people stay.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mixta Marquez (Emeka Ogwu) is a Nigerian media personality, talk-show host and writer whose work spans television broadcasting, entertainment journalism and music-industry commentary. He has hosted entertainment programming on MITV, a Nigerian television network, including the Top Ten Music Video Countdown.

As a writer and media commentator, Marquez has contributed to and been featured across Nigerian media platforms, with his work also appearing in Ovation International Magazine. His writing focuses on entertainment, music, emerging artists and issues shaping Nigeria’s creative industry.

June 11, 2026

From Featuring on NTA National TV at Age 5 in Enugu as a Dancer, to Counting Thousands of Streams on Spotify: Meet Neon Chinze

From Featuring on NTA National TV at Age 5 in Enugu as a Dancer, to Counting Thousands of Streams on Spotify: Meet Neon Chinze

 


 

If you have not heard the name Neon Chinze yet, consider this your introduction. The Enugu-born Afro Alternative singer, guitarist, and self-built music producer has been making quiet but consistent moves in Nigeria’s independent music space. The press is starting to take notice, as they all spotlight the 22-year-old Lagos-based artist as one of the most intentional emerging voices in the alternative music conversation, with features describing him as the guitarist-producer who decided his own story was too important to keep giving away to other artists. What makes Neon Chinze’s journey different from the typical origin story is how early and how genuinely it started. This is a man who appeared on NTA National Television as a child performer from Enugu, long before he ever stepped into a recording studio, and that foundation shows in everything he puts out.

His debut studio album Sun Flare dropped independently on November 6, 2020, and it has been building a quiet but loyal following on Spotify ever since. The record is guitar-driven, warm, and rooted in themes of love, philosophy, God, and the kind of moral clarity that feels increasingly rare in an industry that mostly rewards the loudest voice in the room. Singles Grace and I’ll Be Right There have been added to that catalogue, and he plans a debut EP that is currently in production with a live show planned alongside it. Neon Chinze plays guitar, sings alto, and writes every lyric himself. He spent years producing music underground for other artists before putting his own name on a record, and that behind-the-scenes formation is audible in the quality and coherence of everything he has released.

The story of a child performer from Enugu who danced on national television, taught himself production in silence, and then built a Spotify catalogue from scratch without a label or a co-sign is exactly the kind of story that Nigerian music was built on before the industry started convincing artists they needed permission to begin. Neon Chinze did not wait for permission. He just kept going. And if the press attention of the last few months is anything to go by, the wider conversation about who is doing something genuinely different in Nigerian alternative music is about to have a new name at the centre of it. Find him at @neon_chinze__ on Instagram and stream his catalogue on Spotify.

June 6, 2026

Meet the Man Who Turned Hype Into a Science: Emmy Blaq, Nigeria’s G.O.A.T. of Hype

Meet the Man Who Turned Hype Into a Science: Emmy Blaq, Nigeria’s G.O.A.T. of Hype



If you have ever been at a Nigerian event and found yourself on your feet before the main act even stepped on stage, there is a good chance a hype man was responsible. But not just any hype man. Emmy Blaq, born Ikechukwu Emmanuel Chima and raised in Auchi, Edo State, has spent the last few years quietly becoming the most talked-about name in that profession, and the Nigerian press has taken notice. Punch, Vanguard, The Guardian Nigeria, The Nation, and Independent Newspaper have all sat down with him, and every conversation leads back to the same thing: this man does not just make noise; he makes moments.


What makes Emmy Blaq different is the journey behind the energy. Before the stages, the collaborations with Waje on her “Waje 2.0” album, DJ Consequence, and DJ Kaywise on the massively streamed “Joor Party Mix” series, he was repairing generators, cutting hair, and sewing clothes in Auchi. His first professional hype gig happened at a local fast food spot called Valchi, and the crowd response that night changed everything. He told The Nation directly: “My passion for entertainment and desire to make people happy led me into the craft.” Punch also captured his bigger mission when he said that hype men deserve more than what they currently earn, a statement that sparked a real conversation across Nigerian entertainment circles.


With over 1.7 million TikTok followers, 23.6 million TikTok likes, a viral “Wife Material” challenge that landed on Pulse Nigeria’s top ten social media moments of 2021, and an international performance at the Cameroon International Music Festival that Cameroonian media described as electrifying, Emmy Blaq is not building toward something. He is already there. The G.O.A.T. of Hype is not a title he gave himself and hoped would stick. It is one the rooms keep confirming every single time he grabs the mic.

March 18, 2026

Daniel Strongman, the Lagos-Born, Atlanta-Based Artist You Should Already Know

Daniel Strongman, the Lagos-Born, Atlanta-Based Artist You Should Already Know

 



When both This Day Live and Vanguard flag the same name in the same week, that is not a coincidence. That is confirmation. Daniel Strongman, born Daniel Nwadike in Surulere, Lagos, on November 22, is the artist both publications have spotlighted as one to watch in 2026 and for very good reason. Raised in a household shaped by Nigerian entertainment (his father is a film producer), he built his foundation the hard way: behind a drum kit as a child, then in a church choir, then as the frontman of a university band he founded called The Embassy, all before earning a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Southern University in 2020. Yes, the man can wire circuits and write bars, and he applies the same precision to both. Now based in Atlanta, Georgia, he is operating under a philosophy he calls DSM: Dreams Shape Men, and every record, every performance, and every move in his career is a calculated step in that direction. His 2023 single “Big Brudda” was his introduction to the world, and it spread organically across Atlanta’s Afro-diaspora community and straight back to Lagos ears without a label pushing it, which tells you everything you need to know about the quality of what he is creating.


What This Day Live described as a compelling case in modern Afrobeats, Vanguard echoed as the sound of the Lagos-to-Atlanta wave done right, and if you stream his catalogue, you will hear exactly what they mean. Strongman’s  music moves between Afrobeats, Afrofusion, Alte, and Afro hip-hop like a man who was born speaking all four languages at once, drawing on Fela Kuti’s defiance, M.I Abaga’s pen, Burna Boy’s global reach, and the raw grit of Kendrick Lamar and Wu-Tang in the same breath. His releases: from “On Me” (2022) through “Handle It,” “PREE,” “Koma Roll,” “Never Change,” and the fresh-out-of-the-oven “I’m OK” (2026), read less like a young artist finding his feet and more like a seasoned craftsman sharpening tools he has been holding for years. He carries a dual persona: Daniel Strongman, the disciplined architect building for the long game, and Da Big Brudda, the magnetic, unbothered stage presence that has been selling out Atlanta shows at FUSA Live, Bantu Festival, and MyAfrobeat Nights and walking off stage to encore calls every single time. His forthcoming EP, Beauty in the Beast, is already being described as a defining moment, a duality-driven project that sits both identities in honest conversation and refuses to flatten modern Black masculinity into something easy to package. The blogs are talking. The papers have been written. Now the music needs to be in your ears. Find Daniel Strongman before anyone else claims they knew him first.

He Lost Every Recording From His Best Creative Period, Then Released It Anyway. Meet Tusabi

He Lost Every Recording From His Best Creative Period, Then Released It Anyway. Meet Tusabi

 


There is a point in every real artist’s journey where the industry tests whether they actually mean what they say about their  music. For Tusabi: the Lagos-born, Paris-based Afrobeats artist whose full name is Oghenetchouwe Adegor, that test came when the hard drive failed. Every session from one of the most creatively alive periods of his life, gone. Recorded inside a villa with an in-home studio, surrounded by artists feeding each other’s energy and freestyling late into the night, those recordings were never supposed to disappear, but they did. And what he did next is the reason you need to know his name: he released them anyway, unmastered, unpolished, exactly as they were, and called the project Lost Tapes: Unmastered.

Music & Audio


What makes Tusabi different from most artists you’ll come across in the Afrobeats space right now is not just the story, it’s the process. He doesn’t write his lyrics. Not a single line. Every song he has ever released started as a freestyle, born entirely from whatever emotion was sitting in his chest the moment the beat dropped. That’s how Lost Tapes was made. That’s how his 2024 EP Motion Detector was made. That’s how hits like “Good Energy,” “Touching Clouds,” and “Another Level” found their way to listeners across Germany, the United States, and beyond. He has said it himself: “Music is therapy for those in need," and when you hear his catalog, you believe it, because nothing in it sounds rehearsed. It sounds live.


With his debut studio album Fighting For Survival, now in the works and a new single, “Get Open”, on the way, Tusabi is building toward something that feels less like a career move and more like a culmination. This is a man who started from scratch in a foreign country, built an international audience without a major label machine behind him, and refused to let even a hard drive failure stop him from sharing his truth.



Stream Lost Tapes: Unmastered now on Spotify, Apple  Music, Audiomack, Boomplay, and SoundCloud; and follow @Tusabiflow on Instagram to stay locked in for what is coming next. Trust us, you don’t want to be late to this one.


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