Afropolitan

WurlD went digging through his own royalty data and found somebody else's name sitting where his publisher should be. Three, four years of money had already moved. He only caught it because he knew what to look for.
Back in 2015 he started showing Nigerian producers how to register their records properly. IPI numbers, publishing splits, performing rights organizations, all of it. "I made some enemies in the process," he says, because he was walking into rooms telling people the person handling their paperwork was putting the records under their own name.
WurlD is Sadiq Onifade. Born in Lagos, studied computer science at Georgia State while sneaking into Atlanta studios at night, wrote records for Akon and B.o.B before anyone would sign him as an artist, co-wrote Davido and Chris Brown's Blow My Mind, and made I Love Girls With Trobul with Sarz. His new album Born To Win is on the way.
In this episode we get into the EP he pulled off every streaming platform, the two years he sat on a finished hit, the night he almost got stuck in Berlin filming COLORS as the world shut down, why he left clothes behind to fit his recording rig in a suitcase, and why he gave Blow My Mind away.
Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership)
Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
EPISODE SPONSORS
Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa.
CONVO BY AFROPOLITAN
Book 1:1 calls with Africa's boldest thinkers: https://convo.vip/
WHERE TO FIND WURLD
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisiswurld
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisiswurld
Twitter/X: https://x.com/thisisWurlD
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/thisiswurld
WURLD LIVE
Website: https://www.wurldlive.com/
Live in Atlanta at Terminal West, Sunday September 6. Doors 7:00 PM, show 8:45 PM. Full live band, new music.
Tickets: https://www.axs.com/events/1540218/wurld-tickets
AFROPOLITAN
Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast
Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 The producers he worked with were not registered
0:59 "We don't like it when it sounds too American"
1:21 Someone else put their name on his publishing
1:40 A quick word about that subscribe button
2:12 Lagos to Atlanta, and how the career started
2:29 The calling he had to hide from his parents
2:45 "People wanted songwriters more than African artists"
4:27 Writing for Akon and B.o.B
5:37 When labels wanted the artist instead of the writer
6:10 The EP he pulled off every streaming platform
6:38 A house record that blew up in Eastern Europe
7:04 The beat that became Show You Off
8:10 Do writing code and writing songs rhyme?
9:17 The Tiny Desk moment that explained songwriting
9:38 How the money actually moves
11:57 Coming home to a business run on vibes
12:37 The registrations that kept coming back blank
12:54 "I made some enemies in the process"
13:47 Producers with huge records still chasing credits
14:34 "If that can happen to someone like me that's informed"
15:14 Lagos-born, US-raised, and why that is the advantage
16:11 Quiet in life, loud in the music
16:41 Meeting Sarz in LA
18:49 Recording Mad in Lagos
19:01 The Room on Patreon
19:52 Sponsor: Zobo Money
20:38 Sitting on a hit for two years
21:41 Putting the producer's name on the front
22:46 Where the blue came from
24:55 Why he slowed the tempo down
27:28 "Trust your gut and the God feeling"
27:59 "Show You Off was not a trend"
29:21 The Afrobeats and Nigerian-American disconnect
30:54 "If you're going to speak Yoruba, speak it with the gut"
32:16 CDs to iTunes to streaming
33:51 The 2021 breakdown
34:50 Filming Ghost Town at COLORS as the world shut down
35:30 Almost stuck in Berlin and London
36:24 Making Lagos feel like home after 18 years away
37:12 He traded clothes for his recording gear
38:09 "The industry only loves you when you're on top"
39:03 "I'm moving on every song"
40:24 "Find your tribe and communicate"
41:44 "Don't sound like another WurlD"
42:11 Keeping Blow My Mind or giving it away
44:20 "More hype than actually great music"
47:06 The new album and what is coming
49:07 What AI is about to do to creatives
51:40 "I've heard more no's in my career than yes"
52:45 Where the name WurlD came from
54:08 Rapid fire
57:48 The producers he loves working with
1:01:13 What legacy looks like for WurlD
1:01:41 Who should be in this chair next

She spent $225,000 of her own money on a brand that hadn't sold a single bottle yet.
Before that, she priced her first fragrance at $250 and the internet came for her. "Who do you think you are? You're not Gucci. You're not Creed." Her team told her the price is the price. She sold out, did over a million dollars in six months, and people started reselling the bottles on eBay for $600.
Funmi Monet is the founder and CEO of Influxious, the fragrance brand that launched exclusively at Sephora. She was a licensed therapist first. Then she trained at ISIPCA in Versailles, joined the Sephora Squad, and built an audience of more than 500,000 people who trust her nose.
In this episode we get into where the $225,000 went and why she doesn't regret a cent, the standard founder advice she ignored on purpose, the VC who told her a million dollars was too small a check to write, how she studied the Ami Colé shutdown so she wouldn't repeat it, why niche fragrance brands don't pay creators, and the de-auntie era that started with one rude comment about her wig.
Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership)
Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
EPISODE SPONSORS
Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa.
CONVO BY AFROPOLITAN
Book 1:1 calls with Africa's boldest thinkers: https://convo.vip/
WHERE TO FIND FUNMI MONET
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/funmimonet/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@funmimonet
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@funmimonet
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/funmi-monet-68613363/
INFLUXIOUS
Website: https://influxious.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/influxious.co/
Shop at Sephora: https://www.sephora.com/brand/influxious
AFROPOLITAN
Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast
Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 "You're not Gucci. You're not Creed."
1:15 Quick favor before we start
1:31 The biggest misconception about the fragrance industry
3:12 You don't need a wall of perfume, you need an audience
4:23 The question she wishes people would ask her
5:57 Why that perfume smells different on you
7:40 Charging $250 and the backlash that followed
9:05 Sold out, then resold on eBay for $600
10:15 From Clubhouse to a Sephora shelf
11:54 The founder advice she deliberately ignored
13:34 Raising a $1M pre-seed with $7 in her account
15:15 What she needs from angel investors right now
17:45 The Room: inside the Afropolitan private membership
18:28 Sponsor: Zobo Money
19:13 How her ambition actually changed
20:27 Why scaling too fast kills good brands
22:00 Where the $225,000 of her own money went
23:29 What fragrance houses do to new brands with no money
26:41 Perfume school in Versailles
27:43 Cutting out the middleman on packaging
28:32 How she's avoiding the Ami Colé situation
31:11 Saying no to money she badly needed
32:50 The therapist chapter
33:10 The Dr. Cheyenne Bryant licensing debate
36:35 High functioning vs high value men
37:38 The therapy session that started all of this
39:39 Why she'll probably never hit a million followers
41:19 Nigeria to Oklahoma
42:53 Losing Yoruba and her biggest regret
45:24 The Nigerian parents who let her take art class
46:34 Influxious was a high school art project
47:35 Her mother's perfume and special occasions
49:38 Choosing yourself on the days you don't want to
50:05 The de-auntie era
51:43 Turning 30 with none of the plan intact
54:30 When your parents redirect the prayer
58:36 Dating while launching a business
59:52 Why niche fragrance brands don't pay creators
1:01:56 Lean into your personality and build a series
1:04:51 Building the Influxious Insiders community
1:06:13 "You are the niche"
1:09:38 The lesson that cost her the most
1:11:27 For the woman who thinks her thing is too small
1:13:17 What her clients taught her about what people really want
1:14:48 The stranger who recognized her in Istanbul
1:15:38 One year out, five years out
1:18:24 The delulu number
1:19:51 Rapid fire
1:26:56 Who should be in this chair next

Everyone believes power in Lagos belongs to one man, that he holds it, transfers it at his pleasure, and there's nothing anybody can do about that. GRV has spent three years trying to prove that's a myth.

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (GRV) is an architect, activist, and the ADC's gubernatorial candidate for Lagos State, one of the most recognizable political figures of his generation. He took his 2023 election petition all the way to the Supreme Court, and he's back with a harder, more organized run at 2027.

In this episode, we get into how Lagos government actually works from the ward level up, the ₦160 million generator hidden in the state budget, carrying a five-generation Lagos family legacy, the Funsho Williams murder that still shapes Lagos politics today, the diaspora land scam that still haunts him, why he calls integrity "expensive," and his unfiltered message to Nigerians abroad thinking about coming home.

WHERE TO FIND GBADEBO RHODES-VIVOUR (GRV)
Campaign Website: https://grvlagos.com/
X/Twitter: https://x.com/GRVlagos
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grvlagos/
X/Twitter (Media): https://x.com/grvlagosmedia
Instagram (Media): https://www.instagram.com/grvlagosmedia/

Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership)
Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast

EPISODE SPONSORS
Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa.

CONVO BY AFROPOLITAN
Book 1:1 calls with Africa's boldest thinkers: https://convo.vip/

AFROPOLITAN
Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast
Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast

Timestamps:

0:00 – The Biggest Myth About Power in Lagos
1:41 – Quick Ask Before We Go Deeper (Subscribe to the Afropolitan Family)
2:03 – Is Lagos Really a Six-Horse Race?
4:19 – Why 2027 Feels Different From 2023
5:48 – "The Worst Experience in 20 Years": How Bad Governance Broke the Naira
6:59 – Divide and Rule: How Tribal Politics Kept Nigerians Fighting Each Other
9:39 – What Happens When Voters Finally Wake Up
10:26 – Breaking Down the Six-Horse Race
12:28 – How Lagos Government Actually Works, Ward to State
17:23 – What a Governor Controls That the President Can't Touch
19:04 – The IGR Number Every Diaspora Nigerian Should Know
20:40 – Where Do Lagos's Trillions Actually Go?
23:03 – The ₦160 Million Generator: Inside Lagos's Budget Padding
26:37 – Carrying a Five-Generation Lagos Legacy
27:22 – How Fighting GMOs Turned Into a Political Career
28:38 – The Grand-Uncle Who Died Bombing Nazi Germany
29:46 – "Integrity Is Expensive": Why Not Everyone Can Afford to Stand
32:55 – Zobo Money: How GRV Sends Money Home
33:35 – Why Nigeria's Elite Have Failed the Country
34:04 – From "The Giant of Africa" to Where We Are Now
41:15 – Philosopher Kings vs. Rulers: What Real Leadership Looks Like
45:19 – The Murder That Still Haunts Lagos Politics (Funsho Williams)
48:56 – What a Singapore Minister's Salary Taught Him About Corruption
51:58 – Why Nigerians Sell Their Votes, and Why He Won't Judge Them
53:48 – How a Clean Politician Gets Compromised From the Inside
55:16 – "A Part of Me Died After the Election Cycle"
58:19 – Going to the Supreme Court and Losing
1:01:46 – His Honest Message to Nigerians in the Diaspora
1:07:23 – The Diaspora Land Scam That Still Haunts Him
1:09:04 – "Why Are These Things Unthinkable?": Naming What We Normalize
1:10:51 – We Glamorize Our Suffering, and He's Tired of It
1:14:14 – The Demolition, the Tear Gas, and the Man Beaten in Front of Him
1:16:21 – Anthony Joshua's Emergency and What It Says About All of Us
1:19:20 – The Direct Question: Can He Actually Win?
1:22:01 – Why He Left the Coalition Talks and Joined the ADC
1:24:06 – Building a 50-Year Plan for Black People
1:28:59 – "We Should Be Like Wakanda": On Africa's Vulnerability
1:33:47 – Why Africa Needs Leaders Who Plan in Secret
1:37:51 – The Federalist Papers Quote That Explains Africa's Struggle
1:41:31 – What Lee Kuan Yew Understood That Nigeria's Leaders Don't
1:43:27 – "I Will Not Go to Court": His Line in the Sand
1:46:35 – Rapid Fire: Food, Cities, Songs and Regrets
1:47:59 – The Man He Calls His Hero
1:48:52 – The Unpopular Decision That Cost Him Support
1:53:38 – His Real Plan to Win Lagos
1:55:05 – What Power Does to People Who Were Never Ready for It

Tonye Cole co-founder of Sahara sit down with Eche Emole and Chika Uwazie, one of Africa's largest energy conglomerates, and a Nigerian politician who walked away from the comfort of the private sector to run for office. An architect by training who started out making models for cash in his university years, he went bankrupt overnight when a new administration cancelled every contract his young company had and rebuilt.
In this episode we get into why power trumps money every single time, the trick he and his partners used to get around Nigeria's expatriate bias in the '90s, why politics in Nigeria functions like a lottery ticket, what he learned processing the 2023 election, the three reasons business partnerships collapse, 43 years of compounding and why he says he can't go broke, the difference between outward humility and inward pride, and how his wife's housemanship salary kept the family alive while he built the company. Also: mental health, grief, and the year his mother died. A long, unhurried conversation about power, faith, and building something that outlasts you.
Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership) Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
EPISODE SPONSORS Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan
BONUS OFFER:
Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa.
AFROPOLITAN Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast

Preston Ideh is the co-founder and CEO of Stears, the company building the data infrastructure for African markets (think Crunchbase meets the Bloomberg Terminal, built for Africa). A UK-qualified lawyer who walked away from big law, moved back to Nigeria, and bet everything on one idea: information is power, and Africa is dangerously under-documented.
In this episode we get into why data is "structured history," how investors quietly hold the edge over founders, the real difference between PE and VC money, why the next wave of African wealth is hiding in boring businesses, what the AI shift means for builders, and a rare, personal story about learning grief far too young. One of our sharpest conversations yet on money, power, and what it actually takes to build.
Become a Member of The Room (Afropolitan Private Membership)
Join our private community for deeper insights and exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
EPISODE SPONSORS
Zobo Money — Zobo is a money transfer app built for Africans in the diaspora. It lets you send money from the US, UK, and Europe to countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and more. https://www.zobo.money/afropolitan
BONUS OFFER: Use code AFROPOLITAN and get a $10 bonus when you sign up, complete your KYC, and send $50 or more to Africa.
CONVO BY AFROPOLITAN
Book 1:1 calls with Africa's boldest thinkers: https://convo.vip/
WHERE TO FIND PRESTON IDEH
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/preston-timeyin-ideh-06484775
X/Twitter: https://x.com/TimeyinPI
Stears (website): https://www.stears.co
Stears on X/Twitter: https://x.com/StearsInsights
Stears on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stearsco
Stears on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stears
AFROPOLITAN
Twitter/X: https://x.com/afropolitan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afropolitanpodcast
Newsletter: https://www.afropolitan.io/newsletter
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/Afropolitanpodcast
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Cold open
0:41 – The #1 thing you need to build in Nigeria
1:42 – Building a network from scratch (Twitter DMs & Saturday breakfasts)
3:58 – From UK lawyer to founder: the pivot home
6:01 – Nigerian law school, wig and tie
6:50 – "Data is a form of power"
8:03 – Why data is structured history
9:02 – The investor's edge founders don't have
10:17 – Why Nigeria didn't rebase its GDP for 20 years
14:41 – What Opay & Moneypoint reveal about the informal economy
16:36 – Inside The Room (Patreon)
17:29 – A word from Zobo Money
18:12 – The cultural reasons Africans won't share data
23:21 – What Stears actually is
25:02 – PE vs VC: how the money really works
28:51 – Boring businesses that make money
30:40 – Growth vs profitability: what investors want now
33:24 – The unsexy businesses that will build wealth
35:02 – Logistics, cold storage & agriculture
40:04 – Creative industries as a dollar export
42:25 – The $10 trillion succession problem
44:10 – Why Nigerian family businesses don't sell
49:09 – Franchises: iFitness, Chicken Republic & the PE playbook
55:07 – AI, data, and the future of Stears
56:29 – Why people are the real friction with AI
1:00:34 – Advice to founders who just raised: slow down
1:01:34 – The Loyola plane crash & learning grief young
1:05:27 – What legacy means in the age of AI
1:08:29 – Rapid fire
1:09:45 – Due diligence, culture & "remote intelligence"
1:12:22 – Who needs to be on this couch next?