A Landmark for Afrobeats in Motion

When Wizkid’s documentary Wizkid: Long Live Lagos slated for release on December 11, 2025 hits screens under HBO’s “Music Box” banner, it won’t just be a fan-service piece or a glorified biography.

It’s shaping up to be a cultural statement: an audiovisual testament to how Afrobeats has outgrown clubs and playlists, and is now staking its claim in the global cultural archive.

Directed by Karam Gill, the same filmmaker behind the well-received documentary on Lil Baby—the film traces Wizkid’s journey from the dusty streets of Surulere, Lagos to headlining the monumental Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London: a feat no African artist had accomplished before.

However, beyond the flash and spectacle, the documentary doubles as a nuanced portrayal of identity, diaspora longing, and cultural reclamation. It’s an attempt to show the world that

Afrobeats isn’t just about party rhythms—it’s a complex, emerging art form, rooted in history and real experiences.

Faces of the Film: Beyond the Starboy

What makes “Long Live Lagos” more than just a highlight reel is its inclusion of voices that frame Wizkid’s journey in broader social, historical, and personal contexts. Among those featured:

• Femi Anikulapo‑Kuti: a living Afrobeat legend whose presence connects today’s Afrobeats with its ancestral lineage. His reflections add gravity, bridging generational divides.
• Jada Pollock: Wizkid's partner and long-time manager, offering a glimpse of the business, emotional and relational scaffolding behind the global superstar.
• Julie Adenuga: a prominent media voice in Afrobeats’ rise on the global stage, representing the diaspora and bridging London-Lagos cultural circuits.
• Seni Saraki: co-producer of the documentary, whose involvement signals an intent to treat the film not just as a promo, but as cultural documentation.

Other long-time associates like Sunday Are and other collaborators whose stories provide a ground-level view of the sweat, sacrifice, and hustle behind fame.

Through these voices, friends, family, cultural elders, and industry players, the documentary promises to sketch a fuller, richer portrait. Not just of Wizkid the celebrity, but of Wizkid the son of Lagos, the navigator of global fame, the cultural ambassador carrying the weight of expectations and pride.

Why the World Might Embrace It and Why It Matters

Validation of Afrobeats as Global Culture

By premiering on HBO and streaming globally, “Long Live Lagos” does more than spotlight Wizkid: it broadcasts Afrobeats’ legitimacy as a worldwide movement. For too long, African music has been boxed as “world music”— exotic, niche, peripheral. This documentary reframes that narrative: Afrobeats is now part of the global mainstream, worthy of intimate storytelling and cinematic treatment.

Reclamation of Narrative and Identity

The film isn’t just about music. It digs at the colonial past, the lingering stereotypes, and challenges audience preconceptions. As the synopsis of the documentary suggests. It “explores how art and music have the power to shift global perception and awareness” through Wizkid’s story.

In an era where Western media often frames Africa through narrow lenses, this is cultural reclamation. A chance for Lagos (and by extension Nigeria/Africa) to tell its story on its own terms.

Inspiration for the Next Generation

Young African artists especially in places like Lagos, Ibadan, Accra, and beyond will see in Wizkid’s story that global reach doesn’t demand erasing who you are. It demands excellence, hustle, and authenticity. “Long Live Lagos” could become a blueprint for the next wave of creatives who don’t want to chase Western ideals, but rather globalize African truths through their craft.

Consolidation of Afrobeats’ Place in Film & Media

Music documentaries have often focused on Western stars and now, one of Africa’s biggest artists is getting the same treatment. As the first major Afrobeats documentary on a platform like HBO, it could open the door for more African stories, more investment in African creatives, more documentaries that don’t just look at music, but at culture, society, migrations, identity.

What to Watch Out For and What Could Go Wrong

I’m optimistic but not blind. A few things could temper the impact, depending on execution:

• Over-glamorization: There’s always a risk that in telling “the rise of a superstar,” the film glosses over structural problems in the Nigerian music industry such as unfair pay, lack of infrastructure, pressure on artists, the diaspora-industry disconnect. If the doc skips that, it may feel hollow to some insiders.
• Western gaze vulnerabilities: While being on HBO gives global reach, it also means editing, storytelling, and framing may cater to western sensibilities. The danger: turning an African story into something palatable for a Western audience at the cost of nuance or authenticity.
• Raising expectations too high: For fans and the industry, the doc might become a “defining moment” for Afrobeats. If nothing else follows such as more support for artists, fairer structures, better representation, then it risks being just nostalgic applause rather than a step toward real structural change.

Final Thoughts: More Than a Documentary, a Statement of Arrival

“Wizkid: Long Live Lagos” isn’t just a film about hits, sold-out shows, and Afrobeats rising. It’s a statement: African sound is no longer a footnote in global music history. It’s a headline.

If the documentary delivers on its promise which is an honest, layered, unfiltered portrait of culture, hustle, identity, and legacy then it could mark a turning point. Not just for Wizkid, but for an entire generation of artistes, creatives, and culture-makers across the continent.

And ultimately, for people like me including other critics, writers, and storytellers, it offers a deeper language to talk about Afrobeats.

Not just as catchy beats or dance trends, but as a movement, a legacy, a global force with roots in Lagos and branches across the world.