Zinoleesky is now a label boss. The Marlian Music graduate turned solo act announced on October 1 that his own imprint, Zinodict Music, has signed its first act: Lagos street-pop artist Waziyung, whose debut single under the label, “Fuji Vibe,” landed October 2.
From Marlian artist to label owner
Zinoleesky (Oniyide Azeez) signed to Marlian Records on 23 December 2019, one of four artists Naira Marley brought onto the label that night. He went on to build a real catalogue there, from “Ma Pariwo” and “Kilofeshe” off his 2020 debut project Chrome Eccentric, to the Adekunle Gold collaboration “Party No Dey Stop,” which Rolling Stone later named one of the best Afropop songs of 2023.
He quietly parted ways with Marlian earlier in 2026 and released “Nostalgia” as his first single under his own name, Zinodict Music, a label he has said is named after his fanbase. The exit was never dramatized the way some label departures get in Nigerian music, but Wikipedia’s own artist page now lists Marlian Music as a former label and Zinodict Music as current, which is about as quiet a confirmation as these things get.
Announcing the Waziyung signing, Zinoleesky wrote on social media: “Zinodict Music are proud to announce our first artist under my new label. The young and gifted @_waziyung Fuji Vibe out tomorrow 02/10/26.”
Who is Waziyung
Waziyung is a Lagos-based act working the Afrosounds/street-pop lane, carrying the “Waziwave” tag and ties to the NBV Squad collective. His catalogue includes “FESTIVO,” “Olomi” (featuring Lil Shappi), “My Life,” “Happiness” and the 2023 project Determination And Focus, with past collaborators including Little Zino and Billirano. He has passed two million plays on Audiomack, the kind of mid-tier streaming number that made street-pop acts attractive signings for labels like Marlian a few years ago.
That is the real subtext of this signing: Zinoleesky is not just releasing music as a solo artist anymore, he is trying to run the same talent-discovery pipeline that built Marlian’s roster, just under his own name instead of Naira Marley’s.
Why one signing is worth a story
Nigeria’s street-pop economy runs on a fairly predictable cycle. A young artist breaks out off freestyles or skits, gets picked up by an established imprint, builds a name and a catalogue over a few years, then either goes independent or starts signing the next wave themselves. Marlian Records is the clearest case study of that cycle in the current generation, having introduced several street-pop artists to mainstream audiences over the past six years, with some of those artist-label relationships eventually winding down, publicly in some cases and quietly in others, like Zinoleesky’s.
Watching Zinoleesky move from “artist managed by a label” to “label signing an artist” is a small but concrete data point on where ownership in Nigerian street-pop actually sits right now. It is not major labels or even mid-size independents doing all the scouting. It is graduate artists with enough social reach and streaming history turning around and building their own farm systems, often starting with exactly one signing and a single to prove the model works.
There’s a distribution angle underneath this too. A one-artist, one-signing label like Zinodict doesn’t have the leverage to negotiate the kind of advance or marketing spend a major or an established independent can offer. What it can offer instead is direct-to-DSP speed and a founder who already understands how Boomplay and Audiomack move numbers for street-pop records, because he lived through it as an artist. That’s a different pitch to a new signee than “join our roster,” and it’s one a growing number of Nigerian artists-turned-executives are making.
What to watch next
- Whether “Fuji Vibe” gets any real Boomplay or Audiomack chart movement in its first week, the first test of Zinodict Music’s promotional reach without Marlian’s old machine behind it.
- Whether Zinoleesky signs a second or third act in the coming months, which would confirm Zinodict is building an actual roster rather than a one-off signing built around a friend.
- Whether Naira Marley or Marlian Records says anything publicly about the split, given how low-key Zinoleesky’s own exit was earlier this year.
None of this took a major distributor or a six-figure advance to get moving. The barrier to starting a label in Lagos’ street-pop scene right now is a phone, a studio session and an artist who already has real numbers behind him, and Zinoleesky has all three. Whether Zinodict Music turns into an actual business beyond his own catalogue, or just stays a vehicle for it, is the thing worth watching into next year.
