Few producers have mastered the art of being both a silent architect and a loud cultural force quite like Sarz. For over a decade, his fingerprints have shaped the direction of Afrobeats, from underground classics to global anthems. With his debut album, Protect Sarz At All Costs, he steps into a space that is both personal manifesto and communal celebration. One of its standout moments comes with “Getting Paid,” a record that embodies the album’s spirit of collaboration and global resonance.
The track gathers three distinct voices: Asake, Lagos’ street-pop transformer; Wizkid, Afrobeats’ perennial superstar; and Skillibeng, Jamaica’s dancehall firebrand. Each of them arrives with a sonic identity of their own, and Sarz molds these identities into a seamless groove, balancing Afrobeats’ warmth, reggae’s grit, and dancehall’s edge.
The song’s very title, “Getting Paid,” speaks to Lagos and beyond,; its ambition, its hustle, and its unrelenting push for survival and success. In the way only Sarz can, the production doesn’t just underscore the theme; it embodies it. Heavy drums pulse like Lagos traffic, synths glide like neon lights bouncing off wet streets, and the riddim stretches wide enough to hold three worlds at once.
Asake glides in first, his cadence urgent yet melodic, wrapping Yoruba inflections around Sarz’s percussive base. Wizkid enters with calm precision—effortlessly smoothing the edges, his voice like Lagos nightlife distilled: laid-back yet intoxicating. Then Skillibeng punctures the track with his raw patois energy, injecting grit and urgency, a reminder that “getting paid” isn’t just celebration but also struggle and grind.
Placed as the third track on Protect Sarz At All Costs, “Getting Paid” feels like a mission statement for the entire album. It’s Lagos speaking to Kingston, London, and beyond. It’s Afrobeats expanding its vocabulary without losing its core. And it’s Sarz once again reminding us why he must be protected; because he is not just curating sound but shaping the architecture of modern African music.
Already, the track has made waves: debuting at #1 on Apple Music Nigeria’s Top Songs and racking up nearly a million streams on Spotify in its first day. But beyond numbers, it’s the intentionality that stands out. This is not just a hit—it’s a carefully sculpted meeting of worlds, a groove that feels inevitable yet fresh, Lagos in conversation with the globe.
At under five minutes, “Getting Paid” is both an anthem and a statement of direction. With Asake, Wizkid, and Skillibeng, Sarz gives us not just a song but a moment, a groove that belongs to Lagos but resonates far beyond its borders.
