Fast-rising Afrobeats talent, Victony, has spoken about the importance of collaboration within the industry and how it enhances the Afrobeats brand.
In an interview on the Afrobeats podcast recently, he stated that African musicians must continue to work together just as Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, and other performers in the pop and RnB genres linked up with one another.
“Collaboration doesn’t take anything from anybody; rather, it strengthens the movement. Afrobeats is a fresh genre, and I feel like we need more collaboration at this time to push it forward. I think young artistes have that idea, and I think that is what strengthens our relationship,” he said.
Born Anthony Ebuka Victor, the 23-year-old is best known for his acoustically rich single Soweto released in November 2022 featuring Nigerian record producer, Tempoe.
In November 2023, he dropped another rhythm-tiled Ohema featuring 14 different Afrobeats artistes. The list included Ayra Starr, Rema, Lojay, Bloody Civilian, Bella Shmurda, Magixx.
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Referring to that project, he said the joint production was hectic, but also praised his peers for their contributions to the song.
“The various artistes did what they had to do to speed up the process, everybody was pretty supportive, and it wasn’t so much of a hassle. In my mind, I was thinking it would probably take like a month or two, but we did it in about two weeks,” he noted.
Victony’s music career kicked off at the university, where he studied petrochemical engineering.
“I started building a fanbase in school. We started putting out our music, and I started as a rapper,” he explained.
His first EP, titled Saturn, he said, pushed him into the Afrobeats space. He got his biggest break in October 2021 when he teamed up with Mayorkun on the song Holy Father.
The song was number one on Apple Music Nigeria and peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Top Triller Global charts in December 2021.
In 2022, Victony released Soweto featuring Tempoe as the debut single off his Outlaw Ep. The song gained traction on TikTok, and a remix featuring Rema and Don Toliver charted in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Canada.
He has since dropped other singles and had several collaborations, including Burna Boy on the song Different Size on the Love, Damini album.
On April 21, 2021, Victony was involved in a fatal car crash that claimed the life of one of his friends. He remained in a wheelchair after surgery but stood to perform for the first time alongside Davido and Mayorkun on December 24, 2021.
