Do you think
D'Banj is a fool? Well, I don't think he is a fool, but a lot of people seem to think he is. A lot of people seem to think he is a fool for parting ways with his friend/business partner, and going on a quest for world dominance. Why would he leave a formula that is already working, and try the unknown? Why did man develop the auto-mobile instead of just walking or riding horses? Because of growth. Reading most of the myopic comments concerning
D'Banj's move didn't surprise me, it just reminded of the reason why we are so backward in Africa. We let the fear of the unknown stop us from growing. We don't want to try anything new; we don't want to invent the wheel, but would rather look at those who do as being stupid.
D'Banj and
Don Jazzy founded Mohits Records in 2004. They started with
D,Banj as the sole artist on the label, and churned out hit after hit.
Don Jazzy was the genius behind the captivating production which D,Banj put his energy and enthusiasm on. The duo made magic. They expanded by signing other artists, including
D Banj's brother (
K-Switch) and
Don Jazzy's bother (
D'Prince). By the late 2000s, they were the hottest clique in Nigeria; dropping hit after hit, after hit after hit. Then, after 7 years of conquering the Nigerian music scene,
D'Banj got tired of the same routine (which any sane man would), and wanted to expand his coverage.
By June 2011,
D'Banj and
Don Jazzy were signed to Kanye's
G.O.O.D Music label;
D'Banj as an artist, and
Don Jazzy as a producer. Things were looking great for the duo in the new territory they planned to conquer (the U.S). But, as we would get to learn after the break-up,
Don Jazzy never felt comfortable with the move to America. He believed-
why go and start all over again in America when we are already kings in Nigeria. And within 9 months of signing with G.O.O.D Music, the dynamic duo announced to the world that they were going separate ways. Mohit Records died, and birthed Don Jazzy's
Mavin Records (consisting of Don Jazzy himself,
Wande Coal, Dr. Sid, and
Da Prince), and D'Banj started his DB Records (with him and his brother,
K-Switch being the two artists on the label).
Don Jazzy continued to do what he knows how to do best- producing banging beats. Because
D'Banj had always managed the financial side of their business venture while they were together at Mohits,
Jazzy had to start working on other ways of generating money outside making music. And in 2012, he signed a multi-million Naira endorsement deal with
Loya Milk. D'Banj took the last song he and Don Jazzy had worked on together, and promoted it like his life depended on it. He shot a video for the song, with cameos from
Big Sean, Pusha T, Mannie Fresh, and
Kanye West. The result? The song exploded in Europe. Through 2012, it gained a lot of airplay on radio stations all over Europe, and was being played in clubs too. The song charted at No. 9 on U.K national songs chart, and No.2 on UK R&B chart. It also charted on song charts of many other European country; including No.10 in Belgium and No.1 in Romania. The video to the song has gotten viewed over 20,000,000 times on Youtube (the highest for any African musician).
While he was enjoying the European love, some Nigerians felt he had done a terrible thing by leaving his old label and going international. They felt he was abandoning the people that made him. The love he had while with
Don Jazzy turned to hate, and people didn't even wait to listen any of his new songs before proclaiming it horrible. Anything without
Don Jazzy was trash to them. With just a few months of living his comfort zone, they expected 'heaven and earth' from him; forgetting that the young man was starting all over, and he nolonger had the genius,
Don Jazzy by his side. But, one thing that
D'Banj has that a lot of the other Nigerian artist lack is
energy and
enthusiasm. He has confidence in the '
D'Banj' brand, and believed he had a shot at the international scene. One thing people need to understand is that talent is never enough.
D'Banj never claimed to be the most talented or lyrical, he just proclaimed himself the best entertainer there is, and he has
hits to show for that. So, has he achieved what he set out to achieve? No? But he is pretty close. His main goal was to break into the American music scene (the gold mine). He wasn't able to do that with
Oliver Twist, but he succeeded in gaining a lot of exposure in Europe. He had people singing his song that weren't Nigerians in Diaspora. I don't think any Nigerian musician has done that in a long time. I mean a Nigerian that makes Nigerian style of music, and resides in Nigeria. He went on to sign his
DB Records to Sony Africa, for distributing all over Africa through RCA. He also signed DB Records to Universal Music Group for world wide distribution.
The
DB Records compilation album,
DKM (which has songs from
D'Banj, J.Sol and
K-Switch) was released yesterday (June 23rd), during his
DKM (D Kings Men) Concert. And on the album, there is a song that will get
D'Banj closer to his ultimate goal. He recorded a song with
Big Sean and
Snoop Lion called
Blame It On The Money. A video is in the works, and this will definitely be his ticket to the American market. How do I know? Legendary American DJ,
Funk Master Flex premièred the song on his website, Inflexwetrust.com;
JD also put it up on his site, Global14.com. I also saw the song on a couple of other American websites I regularly visit like
Rapradar.com, Realtalkny.uproxxy.com, and
Vibe.com. And to top it up, most of the comments were positive. Some said he needed to work on his voice, but most of the people (not Nigerians) that commented said they loved the hook and the song overall. By the time he shoots the video, he would gain some exposure in America, and he can then drop a song that has just him on it for the American market.
He delivered must of his verse on
Blame It On The Money in his native dialect (Yoruba), so he would be exporting our kind of music (
Afrobeat) to the world. No one has done that in the last couple of decades. I am not talking of people trying to be
Usher, or people doing the whole Caribbean dancehall music, which is not original Nigerian. I am talking of someone doing that
Afrobeat music, and selling it to the world. I think he needs to be applauded. And to those who feel he is a fool for having parted ways with
Don Jazzy, I'd ask this- would you rather sell water in pure water sachet for 5bucks, or sell the same water in a bottle for 100bucks. Or, take it a notch higher and sell that same water in an environment (like a 5 star hotel) where people are ready to pay a thousand bucks for the same amount of water?
