From Travis Scott to Pacers Star Pascal Siakam, Rising ‘Afro Pluto’ Star Shallipopi is in Everybody’s Orbit
The “Laho” singer is Billboard’s African Rookie of the Month for May.
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union stopped classifying Pluto as our solar system’s ninth planet and demoted its status to “dwarf planet.” But 17 years later, Nigerian singer Shallipopi tells Billboard he’s “claiming it now” as his own domain.
He’s intimately familiar with that level of sovereignty, as Shallipopi – born Crown Uzama in Benin City, Edo, Nigeria – descends from a line of kingmakers, the Uzamas, who are the highest-ranking chiefs in the Benin Kingdom who appoint the new Obas, or traditional Edo rulers. And even though the 1994 Taiwanese kung fu comedy film Shaolin Popey that he grew up watching at home inspired his stage name, his self-appointed nickname Pluto Presido speaks more to his prestige — and the rule he has over his fans, the Plutomanians.
He’s even labeled his musical style “Afro Pluto,” a rousing fusion of Nigerian street-pop, Afropop, hip-hop and amapiano that’s littered with local slang with an infinite number of meanings and guided by a cadence that’s closer to talking than singing. And in just a few short years, it’s helped Shallipopi grow into one of the most in-demand up-and-comers from the continent. He says South African DJ/producer Tyler ICU texted him to hop on the remix of “Mnike,” the biggest amapiano record of 2023 that Rihanna claimed was one of her favorite songs that year. A week before the “Mnike” remix’s release, Shallipopi tag-teamed with Rema on their hometown hit “Benin Boys,” the first single from the latter’s Grammy-nominated album Heis. He’s also linked up with a range of other emerging and established Afrobeats acts like ODUMODUBLVCK on the chant-worthy club banger “Cast” and YBNL boss Olamide on “Order.”
And two years after his 2023 breakout hit “Elon Musk” in honor of “the richest man in the world,” he says, Shallipopi strives for that level of astronomical wealth on his biggest hit to date “Laho,” which means please in the Edo language of Bini. While he name checks Italian footballer Mario Balotelli to prove the kind of prosperous company he keeps, “Laho” has attracted plenty of ballers in real life.
A month after the song’s release, Indiana Pacers power forward Pascal Siakam explained how he adopted the viral “Laho” dance, featuring pointed fingers and shuffling feet, to celebrate the team’s three-point shots in an interview with ESPN. “I just be playing it, and the guys, I think JJ [James Johnson] is the first one that saw me do it. And he was like, ‘Nah, I like that for a three-point celebration,’” said the Cameroonian basketball player, who added that he and his teammates “gon’ pull it out for sure in the playoffs.”
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