Five Things You Didn't Know About Patoranking

Get to know the Nigerian reggae-dancehall singer a little better.

Patoranking is a Nigerian reggae-dancehall singer hailing from Lagos who has grown from an underground act in 2009 to become one of Nigeria’s most popular and fastest rising artists in the scene. After having collaborated with numerous acts and releasing singles on a variety of labels, he rose to prominence in 2014 thanks to his hit “Girlie O”. 2016 saw him release his debut album God Over Everything, with the first single off the album No Kissing Baby becoming another charting hit. Let’s look at a few facts you probably didn’t know about this Nigerian superstar.

His name means…

Patoranking is the name given to him by a Jamaican artist when he was still working as a street jam and carnival dancer. The name is a combination of Pato, a short version of his name Patrick and ranking, which is Jamaican slang for someone that is highly respected. With the success he has attained in his industry, he is most certainly living up to his name.

YSL

Although a lot of people thing his signature phrase is YSL he’s clarified that it’s actually WhaYaSay as in a contraction of ‘what do you say’. It’s understandable that lyrics and words are sometimes misheard, but this one is a bit funny. WhatYaSay?

Girlie O

While the track Girlie O got him a lot of attention, it was the remix featuring one of Nigeria’s biggest female singers, Tiwa Savage, that really went huge. It received multiple award nominations in 2014 and became one of that year’s biggest hits.

Music Videos

He has released almost as many music videos as he has singles, with 16 videos under his belt. Directed by some of Nigeria’s top talent such as Moe Musa, his video have been viewed received millions of views each, however the most popular by far is music video for the Girlie O remix which has been viewed more than 16 million times.

Humble beginnings

Apart breaking into music he was a dancer at street jams and carnivals. Before that he had even more humble beginnings, selling rat poison as well as working as a bricklayer to make ends meet.

Culled from Redbull.com