Gradually, the aftershock of former
collaborators, D’banj and Don Jazzy’s bitter and unexpected split is wearing
off. The acrimony has thawed or so. Fans have taken sides. And their protégées
like Wande Coal, Dr. Sid, D’Prince, Special Ed, Ikechukwu and Kay Switch have
also pitched their tents where they believe the pasture is greener. Agreed, it
is still early in the day to start taking an inventory of what they have done
or conjecture how their careers would pan out eventually. But, in the last
three months since their separation, both have been on a stealthy but concerted
competition to outdo each other, especially as opinions are divided on who
would attain more success quicker, and without the other’s usual backing. The consensus
has been that D’banj, who has never laid any claim to being a talented singer,
is a beneficiary of his estranged partner’s production wizardry and that his
career would suffer without those beats. Another school of thought hypothesizes
that despite all Don Jazzy’s genius, he still needs D’banj, more than any other
artiste, to illuminate his works. Either way, there has been a separation, and
the competition is now on a steamroller. E-Punch examines how far they have
come in their post Mo’Hits odyssey, surmising that none of the parties, for
now, is having a whale of a time.
Don Jazzy
The acclaimed producer was the first to
hit the ground running, literally. Immediately after Mo’Hits was pronounced
dead, Don Jazzy unveiled his new record label, Mavin Records, with a formidable
line up of artistes including Dr Sid, Wande Coal, D’Prince and surprisingly, Tiwa
Savage. Subsequently, he released the Mavin Records’ collaborative album, Solar
Plexus.
If he thought the album would typically
send music fans dancing a storm, Don Jazzy must be rethinking its timing, which
has been panned and pilloried by critics as a hurriedly put together job. Not
even Wande Coal and Tiwa Savage’s combined talents could rejuvenate the album’s
stillbirth.
In view of the lukewarm reception Solar
Plexus received, the producer has been reaching out to fans by, on one
occasion, doling out money on twitter and visiting media houses in a sustained
publicity drive.
For a producer who has built a lot of
myth and reverence around his persona by evading the media, his visits to media
houses and clamour for interviews these days smack of desperation.
In the intervening period, he has
implied that his deal with Kanye West’s GOOD Music might no longer work out
because he can not give his 100 per cent to his contract.
“Kanye has over 100 per cent lined up at
his beck and call and it is not like I am priority. So, I will be spending a
lot of money staying in the United States when I can return home and be making
money as well as grooming more artistes. And it’s very easy these days, I can
work here and once I’m done, and feel it’s something that would suit Kanye
West, I’ll just email it to them.”
Things might be a bit bumpy now, but
without undermining Don Jazzy’s genius and mastery of street hop, there is no
doubt that he will still have his time in the sun. Whether he would still be as
revered and financially buoyant is what is now subject to conjectures. But, it
is just a matter of time.
D’banj
ne of the causes of the duo’s split in
D’banj’s reckoning was that his partner edged when there was an opening for
them to break into the international market. Now that the encumbrance of the
other guy has been cleared, the Kokomaster is solely committed to realising his
dreams of going international alone. And he has rapper, Ikechukwu, who has
subjugated his own career to help push D’banj’s, seemingly; bulky hype man,
Special ED and his younger brother, Kay Switch, to open up the frontiers of his
music. With a home in Atlanta and London, D’banj now shuttles between Nigeria
and these cities as he hopes to achieve what no Nigerian-bred artiste has –
fostering a flourishing international career.
He has been lucky. His single, Oliver
twist, has been such a cross-continental hit that its acceptance must have
humbled the successful entertainer. As an artiste on Kanye West’s Good Music
label, he has also been quite visible in the international showbiz circuit and
has covered a couple of international magazines.
However, history is not so much in
D’banj’s favour as even more talented acts like Majek Fashek (well, he did
himself in with drugs), Ras Kimono and Mike Okri, who all scampered abroad at
the height of their fame, are back home now with no breakthrough abroad and a
loss of homeground.
But the circumstances are indeed
different because D’banj has a deep pocket and he is still very much loved at
home. He has performed at several concerts and shows where Don Jazzy’s artistes
didn’t have a look-in; and even where they did, they were subsumed under
D’banj’s halo.
In order not to lose his fan base at
home perhaps, and with Don Jazzy gone, he recently signed producer, Jay Sleek,
who has worked with Tuface Idibia, Sound Sultan, Wizkid and Timaya among other
artistes, to his DB Records as in-house producer.
In just over five years, Jay Sleek has
gained considerable popularity for producing great music for these artistes and
many more. “This has been a long time coming so, we are really happy to see Jay
Sleek join the D’banj family. It’s exciting to be working with one of the best
in the game. Jay Sleek is a fantastic producer, hardworking, humble and
immensely creative. I’m so certain that he will carve a niche for himself here
and inspire us to even greater music,” D’banj says in a statement during the
week.
This has resulted in the release of the
single, O yato (The difference is clear). Unlike his last single, Oliver Twist,
O yato got mixed reviews. That the song trended worldwide on twitter on the day
of release was a pointer to people’s views about it. Many fans urged him to
return to Don Jazzy, lampooning what they perceived as the wateriness of the
lyrics.
In the midst of the conflicting and
critical reviews of O yato, D’banj sneaked in with a sterling feature on the
remix of Naeto C’s Tony Montana. And that swayed arguments again in his favour
once again. With Let’s Get the Party Started, a Tuface Idibia song, featuring
him, MI, Wizkid and Tiwa Savage, the entertainer rose to the challenge. He is
not leaving his flanks open for potshots. But the ultimate barometer to gauge
his post-Don Jazzy era would be the release of his album which had been in the
works before the split. If it tanked, woe betide his career; but if it became a
chartbuster, it would be a pointer to the fact that he knows what he is doing
after all.
As he trudges on, D’banj is especially
trying to launch KaySwitch’s career. The latter released a single, Sister Caro
featuring D’banj recently. It is not doing badly. It is indeed a good start for
the Covenant University dropout who never had a single to his name during his
years in Mo’Hits.
Culled from Vanguard
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