wizkid was born on 16 july 1990, in surulere, lagos. he grew up in an interfaith household with twelve female siblings. his mother is a pentecostal christian and his father practices islam. wizkid attended ijebu ode grammar school and grew up listening to king sunny ade, fela kuti and bob marley. in a radio interview with tim westwood in 2012, he said his father has three wives. in another interview with adesope of factory 78 tv, wizkid said he formed a group called the glorious five with a couple of his church friends. the group managed to release an album prior to disbanding. wizkid went by the stage name lil prinz until 2006. he later met ojb jezreel, a record producer who prevented him from recording for a year. while visiting ojb's point beat studios frequently, he watched 2 face idibia record songs for his "grass 2 grace" album. he was also present during the recording sessions for sound sultan's debut album "jagbajantis". he cited naeto c as one of the people who mentored and coached him when he was 15 years old. wizkid inked a record deal with empire mates entertainment in 2009. he co-wrote "omoge you too much", a song from banky w.'s "the w experience" album. he also worked with naeto c, ikechukwu and m.i while developing his craft. in mid-2009, he dropped out of lagos state university (lasu). he later attended lead city university, but dropped out after completing two sessions.