The Name You've Heard. The Story You Haven't.

This week, we sat down with a man who shaped the sound of a generation.

Two decades. One Dance. Come Closer. Bad Energy. Mona Lisa. Beat of Life.

Sarz isn't just a producer. He's an architect.

And this conversation broke something open.

"It made the Afrobeats community realize I'm unreachable. They were like, this guy's far gone. Let's start working with other people."

That's what Sarz told us about One Dance.

The biggest hit of his career. Platinum in America. Put Afrobeats on the global map. Made Drake a household name in Africa.

And it almost ended his career.

Nobody reached out. Nobody wanted to collaborate. The industry moved on without him.

So he had to evolve.

Most people see success as arrival. Sarz learned it was isolation. The very thing that proved his talent made him untouchable — in the worst way.

Twenty years later, he's still pushing the sound forward. Still evolving. Still giving.

"I don't see myself as an OG — I still have so much to give."

Here's what else Sarz shared:

On the broken economics of Nigerian music:

Sarz has never received a single naira in residual income from Nigeria. Not one. In the region where his music is consumed the most, he makes nothing.

"$3-5K per million streams in the US. $300-500 per million in Nigeria." Same song. Same artist. Fraction of the reward.

On explaining Nigeria:

"If you explain Nigeria to someone and they understand, you didn't do a good job."

On why Afrobeats can't scale:

Venues. Economy. Infrastructure. The ecosystem isn't built for artists to win at home. And that's why so many are leaving.

On his father:

His dad thought his late-night studio sessions meant he was in a robbery gang. Didn't believe music was real until he saw his son's name in a newspaper for winning an award.

On what success costs:

"If you play FIFA and see player stats — when you increase attack, pace drops. We don't have infinite maxed outs."

Success cost him relationships with family and friends. Made him introverted. Left him grieving the version of himself that used to be more welcoming.

On timeline grief:

There's a version of Sarz that was more open. More welcoming. More present. Success took that person. And he's still mourning him.

On COVID as a reset:

The pandemic forced him to slow down. To unlearn the habits that got him here. To ask what actually matters.

On the future:

Sarz Academy. The United Masters partnership. AI and music production. And why the reward for great work is always more work.

🎬Watch the full episode

Sarz breaks down two decades of building Afrobeats — from meeting Timbaland in the US, to the politics that kill collaborations, to what he'd pay for One Dance streaming rights today.

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What's your favourite Sarz production — and why?

We didn't record this episode to celebrate hits. We recorded it to tell the truth. Because the people who build the sound rarely get to tell their own story. Until now.

Warmly,
Chika & Eche
Co-Hosts, Afropolitan Podcast