The duo of Ikenna ‘IK’ Nwagboso and Camillo Doregos were seasoned music executives before coming together to start Hi-Way 89. They’d worked on label services and management, respectively, within the emPawa record label, positioning artists like Mr. Eazi and Joeboy for the careers they'd later have. Individually, their clients make up a fine collective of established figures within the entertainment scene, making their alliance quite complementary.

“Once I was done with emPawa towards the end of last year, Doregos and I had that conversation that it's now time to come together and do something official," Ikenna recounts to OkayAfrica. "We both live in Canada, and we just saw the opportunity here and figured that it made sense.”

For the duo, the large number of artists in Canada without a label structure made it essential for them to step into that space. “We [wanted to] provide our services and our expertise to develop acts and bring successful talents out of them,” Doregos explains to OkayAfrica.

It’s well-documented how African acts tend to favor the UK and US scenes when promoting internationally, with decades-long infrastructures influencing that decision. Making Canada an attractive destination for Black artists and brands is a long-term goal.

“Canada is still very pop, country music, and just like sprinkles of r&b,” Ikenna says about the market’s tastes. “So Black music is still very much lacking, and it’s something that we wanted to put our mark on. It just takes a company like ours to start things.”

Doregos reiterates their competence. “For me and IK, being execs that’ve been able to navigate the key markets of the world and now finding ourselves in Canada, it’s just like starting again and doing what we know how to do best — break and develop talents,” he says. “We know that there’s a huge influx of the diaspora coming in, Black music, Black culture coming into Canada now, more talents coming into Canada, but fewer executives in the market that understand the music business and the scene. So we’re looking to position ourselves and develop and grow.”

So far, Hi-Way 89 has commenced its undertaking of the cross-cultural vision. One of their flagship artists is Chrissy Spratt, an artist whose roots are shared between Canada, Armenia, and Lebanon. “One of her strongest suits is just being able to dabble into different cultural sounds,” says Ikenna, “and she’s been able to understand how to do that within the Afrobeats space while maintaining her originality of pop and r&b.”

They’ve also taken on the Nigerian act Siraheem and the Indian Canadian artist Enchantika, both of whom are joining Spratt as artists currently on the Hi-Way roster. “For us, it’s not just about the talent alone; we also look at people backing them on their side as well,” says Doregos. “Siraheem is a young kid, and people kind of doubt him. So he has a point to prove that he fits in the game. Even Davido said that when he started back then, people didn’t believe in him that much, thinking he’s from a rich background and the alte scene, but at the end of the day, he became an outlier.”

These stories shape up the Hi-Way journey quite interestingly, and it is worth watching the process unfold. Last month’s “In Too Deep” showcases Spratt’s seamless ability to move between tonal registers, as she crafts a vulnerable tale of submission and seduction. Although her delivery incorporates the softness of R&B, the underlying drums have an Afro element. Siraheem’s “Bad B*tch Syndrome” pays homage to the Lagos rave culture while sampling one of P-Square’s most beloved classics.

The coming months promise to be eventful for Hi-Way 89, with Spratt set to release her debut EP in August. The release will build on the enthusiastic reception her covers have received from African music circles online. Her latest single, "Call On Me," features Serotonin and Nonso Amadi, a Canada-based artist who has garnered significant attention. Additionally, the label is finalizing a release date for Enchantika, an eclectic act that blends Punjabi music with amapiano.

Given their diverse and promising roster, a reflection of their years of experience in the music industry, I was curious to hear Ikenna and Doregos' perspectives on what makes an artist marketable.

“It’s definitely not one thing,” says Ikenna, “but I would just say their tenacity, how willing they are to grow and develop their sound over time. With music, you can still be true to yourself; you do not have to conform to what you think the global scene wants from you. We see artists like Asake, Burna Boy, Diamond Platnumz, doing well on a global stage, and they’re not compromising their sound, they’re really pushing their culture.”

Doregos adds, “You have to understand that the African and Black diaspora is between 200 and 300 million people outside of Africa, in every city across the world. And being able to sell our music to our people in the diaspora means going global. Being able to have your song played, and that’s what is happening now. You release a song today in Nigeria, and within the next one to two days, or almost the same day, the song becomes a hit in London, France, the Netherlands, or Australia. That is what global means right now.”

This is the mark High-Way 89 has set for itself.