According to The Punch, Billboards’ Chief Executive
Officer/Chairman, Tunji Balogun, made this known in a statement, hailing Gold
for his songwriting, artistry, vocals and showmanship.
“I’ve been following Adekunle Gold since I first heard his
record ‘Sade’ in 2016,” he said. “Over the years, everything in AG’s world has
elevated — his songwriting has refined, the scope of his artistry has widened,
his vocals have strengthened, his approach to fashion is more distinct, and his
showmanship and performance ability have grown exponentially,”
“He’s stepped into stardom on his own terms and is
completely comfortable being his true self.
Balogun also revealed that he had been nursing plans to
bring Def Jam label into the Afrobeats space as soon as he started working at
the label in 2022.
“Adekunle felt like the perfect fit – he’d already done so
much work on his own to build a base, but I knew that we could scale his
audience to an even bigger level if we combined our energies and worked
together,” he continued.
“He understands it,” Gold said. “So signing to Tunji makes
sense. He’s like my studio buddy that just comes everywhere I go. The day he
doesn’t have time to be there, I know he must’ve been like stupidly busy. He’s
great.
“The track record is there. The history is there. They break
artists, and they have niche, unique artists like me, so I think it’s the right
move for me. All of the things that I’ve done for myself already, they know
already and that’s why they’re on board.”
Def Jam Recordings is owned by Universal Music Group and
boasts of superstar alumni like Jay Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West.
Gold broke into the Nigerian music scene with his debut hit,
“Sade”, in 2015. He signed his first record label deal with YBNL Nation in the
same year, and released his debut studio album, “Gold”, in 2017.
Two years after the deal expired, the father of one started
his own label, Afro Urban Records. He thereafter released two albums, “About
30” in 2018 and “Catch Me If You can” in 2022.
He is set to release a new album under Def Jam in June,
2023.
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