The artist who once built an entire debut album without a single guest verse now has a Jamaican dancehall heavyweight sitting third on his tracklist.
Fireboy DML has released ZUKO!, his fifth studio album, and Masicka shows up early on a track called “CLAAT!” It’s a long way from 2019, when Fireboy made a point of carrying a whole record by himself.
That debut, Laughter, Tears and Goosebumps, still gives him an unusual claim. He remains the only Nigerian artist with a debut album that has no features at all. Seven years and four albums later, the guest list on ZUKO! stretches across three countries.
The project runs 13 tracks and arrives through YBNL Nation and EMPIRE. Alongside Masicka, Fireboy brings in fellow Nigerians Lojay and Judah Earl, plus South African acts JAZZWRLD and Thukuthela.
Judah Earl opens the album on “Dear Father,” which hands over to “By Fire!” before the Masicka collaboration lands.
Lojay appears on “GODDESS,” while JAZZWRLD and Thukuthela join him on “IMALI.” The rest of the record belongs to Fireboy on his own: “C’EST LA VIE,” “ONE MAN REGIMENT,” “KILOWI,” “ONAZO!,” “S.L.U.T (SEX LOVE UNDERSTANDING TRUST),” “LIGHT OF DAWN,” “MIMI NAWE” and “FIGHTING.” The titles alone pull from French, Zulu and Swahili, which hints at how wide he’s casting the net this time.
There are two ways to read the shift. Fans who fell for the solo debut might see a crowded features list as Fireboy stepping away from what made him stand out in the first place.
Others will hear an artist who has already proven he can hold a record alone, and now wants to test his sound against dancehall and South African energy.
The Masicka link is the one that will get people talking outside Nigeria. Afrobeats and Jamaican dancehall have traded influence for years, but a straight collaboration on a major Nigerian album still lands as a statement.
Placing it third, right after the opening pair, suggests Fireboy wanted listeners to hit it early rather than bury it deep in the tracklist.
ZUKO! comes two years after Adedamola, the 2024 album that leaned into his given name and a more personal identity.
Before that came APOLLO in 2020 and Playboy in 2022. Each record has pushed him into a different persona, and this one reads as another reinvention.
He didn’t leave fans guessing about the concept either. Ahead of release, Fireboy posted THE RED COUCH SESSION: ZUKO! on YouTube, walking through the rollout and explaining the theme and title behind the album. For anyone wondering where the name comes from, that video is the place to start.
The album is out now on streaming platforms. The real test is how “CLAAT!” travels once it reaches dancehall audiences in Jamaica and beyond.
