ONE of the first things you notice upon meeting Asake is his name-all five letters of the Nigerian singer's stage moniker are tattooed in big, unmissable ink across his neck.
For another entertainer, this might imply bold vanity and solipsism; for the 29-year-old artist, it symbolizes determination. "In Nigeria, if you have a tattoo on your neck, you can't work anywhere," Asake explains. "I can't work for any company. I can't sell anything." Asake got the tattoo at a time when he felt especially discouraged, beaten down, and unsure about this music thing. "I was tired," he recalls. "I felt like, I don't want to keep trying." His response to those feelings of doubt? To double down and give himself no other option. To get the tattoo as he was still becoming the Asake we know now-the chart-topping Afrobeats singer poised to be the genre's next big crossover star-was to essentially lock himself into staying the course, and conquering. There could be no other move.
Much has been made of Asake's so-called meteoric rise, how he burst onto the Afrobeats scene with his debut album, 2022's Mr. Money With the Vibe, and hasn't stopped climbing to new heights since. It didn't feel so quick to Asake. "You have to understand: I got there in two years, but I've been working for years," he says. "People are counting the days you're successful. They don't count the days you've been working toward it. Nobody gives a fuck about that."
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April - May 2024 من GQ US.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April - May 2024 من GQ US.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
SHABOOZEY THE BIG SHA BANG
Shaboozey spent months at the tippy-top of the charts with a hit song about dealing with hard times the easy way: by hitting the bar. He sang on a couple songs with Beyoncé too. So we asked the one and only SHANIA TWAIN to help country's biggest new star make sense of his explosive year.
HANNAH EINBINDER BORN STANDING UP
With her star turn on Hacks, the comic turned actor has established herself as one of Hollywood's most exciting young talents-much to her own surprise.
Katt Williams The Man Who Opened The Portal
In January, the comic delivered an instantly iconic podcast interview that threw pop culture into crisis-and seemed to predict all manner of messy celebrity gossip to come. At home on his farm, Williams explains why he said what he said— and why he'd do it again, and again, and again....
JOHN DAVID & MALCOLM WASHINGTON A NEW HOLLYWOOD DYNASTY
The Washington brothers built their careers apart—until an irresistible project drew them together. In The Piano Lesson, they tackle a father's thorny legacy.
FUTURE & METRO BOOMIN'S HISTORIC Hit STREAK
What happens when the best rapper alive reunites with the hottest producer of the moment? You get a back-to-back-to-back run unlike any since the Beatles.
PHARRELL WILLIAMS Designer of the Year
Riding along from Paris to Hollywood to New York with the Louis Vuitton *men's creative director, whose prolific and often prophetic contributions to fashion, film, and music have once again thrust him to the center of the pop culture Venn diagram.
JOHN MULANEY. KID GORGEOUS GROWS UP
After immortalizing the whirlwind of the past four yearsrelapse, intervention, recovery-in his awardwinning standup special, John Mulaney has emerged as one of the most popular comedians on earth. For his next trick, he's embracing his surprising new role as a suburban dad.
DWAYNE JOHNSON THE WORLD'S BIGGEST Actor
It's hard for Dwayne Johnson to hide. Wherever he goes, there he is― as conspicuous out in the world as he is on the silver screen. But after two decades of playing a version of himself in huge movies, suddenly Dwayne Johnson is ready to do something entirely new: vanish.
How the WNBA Became the Most Fun, Complicated, and Exciting League in Sports
Caitlin Clark! A'ja Wilson! Angel Reese! This year, women's hoops emerged as a dominant popcultural force. But the road to sports-league supremacy has been long and winding. This is the inside story of how the W finally broke through.
A Companion for Your Wrist
Audemars Piguet's new release with artist Brian Donnelly, a.k.a. KAWS, brings high-art hype to the world of pop-watch collabs.
