In 2012, a tense first meeting with Olamide led to a defining moment for Afrobeats in the UK. What began in a hall in Barking became a stress test for culture, infrastructure, and visibility. This is the story of how friction, scrutiny, and deliberate scale helped move street-rooted Afrobeats from community halls to institutional stages.

In 2013, I promoted Davido’s first major UK show at London’s INDIGO2 — my first solo concert without partners. Afrobeats was still emerging in the UK, and touring outside London was a risk. The show sold out. The tour travelled. Demand was not just discovered, it was created.

In 2024, backstage at The O2 Arena after Davido’s sold-out show, he reminded the room that SMADE did his first UK concert “when the year nobody wanted to.” That moment showed how far Afrobeats has come — and how belief compounds over time.