"Legalize" is a song by Nigerian singer

Mr Eazi Oluwatosin Ajibade (born 19 July 1991), better known by his stage name Mr Eazi, is a Nigerian-born, Ghana-based singer. He is a pioneer of Banku music, a fusion of sound he describes as a mixture of Ghanaian highlife and Nigerian chord progressio ...

, released on 10 June 2022, through

emPawa Africa emPawa Africa (pronounced emPower Africa), headquartered in Lagos, is an African talent incubation enterprise, known for nurturing and supporting up-and-coming artistes. It offers mentorship to 100 African artistes yearly, with a $3,000 (dollars) ...

. "Legalize" was written by Mr Eazi and produced by emPawa head of music, and record producer E-Kelly,

Michael Brun Michael Brun (born 19 May 1992) is a Haitian DJ and record producer based in New York, known for blending electronic music with traditional Haitian styles such as kompa and rara. He released his debut EP ''Gravity'' in 2013 and founded the recor ...

, and

Nonso Amadi Nonso Amadi (born September 1, 1995) is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and music producer. He is a self-taught songwriter and music producer who embarked on his music career in 2012, while at Covenant University, where he studied chemical engineeri ...

. The music video, was shot by Federico Mazzarisi in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and released the same day, with a cameo appearance from the Nigerian actress

Temi Otedola Temiloluwa Elizabeth Otedola (born 20 March 1996) is a Nigerian actress and also a blogger. She is known for playing the role of Moremi Oluwa in the 2020 film ''Citation''. Early life and education Otedola (born 20 March 1996). She studied A ...

Background

On 10 April,

got engaged to

. In a press release, he said “I started the song in

’s house on some edibles, freestyling, and later went to London and listened to what I’d recorded, and realized what the song was about. I’ve been thinking of asking Temi to marry me for a long time, so I guess it was in my subconscious” During the press, he said: “It’s more like this song is for me, after arranging to shoot the song video in Venice and purchasing an engagement ring, I felt the set would be the ideal location to propose.” and added, “No one on set knew what was going to happen.”

Documentary

Behind-the-scenes photos were released through

BellaNaija ''BellaNaija'' is a lifestyle, entertainment and fashion website in Africa. headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. History BellaNaija was founded by Uche Eze in 2006 as a media startup which later metamorphosed into BellaNaija.com while studying for ...

on 8 June 2022. The cover image, is an artwork painted by the Beninese artist Patricorel, which also features in "Legalize: The Art Experience" a short film, starring Mr Eazi, Patricorel, Liya, Joey Akan, Wadude, Rukky Ojukoko, Tochi Louis, Minz, Zuwa, and Fidel. The documentary was produced by A Family Picture in Cotonou and released on 9 June.

Commercial performance

On 19 June 2022, "Legalize" debuted at number 13 on the UK Official Afrobeats Single Top 20 Chart. On 20 June 2022, "Legalize" debuted at number 31, on Nigeria

TurnTable Top 50 chart The ''TurnTable'' Top 100 (also known as ''TurnTable'' Nigeria Top 100) is the music industry standard record chart in Nigeria for songs, published weekly by '' TurnTable'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on airplay (radio and tv) and online ...

. On 22 June 2022, "Legalize" debuted on at number 30 on TurnTable Top 50 Airplay, and number 38 on TurnTable Top 50 Streaming Songs.

Music video

On 10 June 2022, Mr Eazi released the music video for "Legalize", through

. The visual features a cameo appearance from his finance

. The visual was directed by Federico Mazzarisi in

Personnel

* Oluwatosin Ajibade - Primary artist, writer, executive producer *Production **E-Kelly - Co-producer, co-executive producer **

- Co-producer **

- Co-producer *

- Cameo appearance

Documentary cast

*Patricorel *Liya *Joey Akan *Wadude *Rukky Ojukoko *Tochi Louis *Minz *Zuwa *Fidela

Charts

Weekly charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2022 songs 2022 singles Mr Eazi songs Nigerian afropop songs