Legendary music producer and Mavin Records boss, Michael Collins Ajereh, better known as Don Jazzy, has sent shockwaves through the Nigerian music industry in what many considered a bombshell revelation with a provocative claim about his former Mo’Hits partner, Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo, well-known as D’Banj.
According to the music industry, heavyweight, D’Banj’s phenomenal success was not solely due to his artistic prowess, but rather his exceptional showmanship and charisma as an entertainer. This candid admission has sparked a heated debate about the nature of artistry, entertainment, and D’Banj’s enduring legacy in Nigerian music.
According to him, “Wayback, before the instinct of being a don came about; I used to work as a commissioner in a local fast food joint in the U.K as a side hustle to being a manager of JJC and 419 Squad. We would spend time in the studio cooking beats and voicing records.
“I wasn’t big then, just a normal Naija boy doing his thing in London. Then Dapo (D’Banj) started coming around our record studio. He was that funny guy who would come around and cause that positive spark with his jokes.”
“We started feeling his vibes every day he came to the studio. He wasn’t an artiste coming to the studio to record but to catch cruise as you millennials and Gen Zs put. We got used to his presence as he was already becoming part of the family.
“On this fateful day, he told me he can sing. He said Don Jazzy, you will record me. Let me tell them The Koko. I paused and marvelled to understand The Koko. He tried to explain how The Koko should appear. He said, “I will be the playboy, and you will be the pimp, that mafia boss with the walking stick with few words,” he added.
Don Jazzy continued: “Instantly I understood The Koko as an entertainment visioneer and entrepreneur with visions on putting Afrobeats on the world map. This was exactly what I wanted! A big gig! Something that would put the name of the Don on the lips of many Nigerians because at that time, Keke, D1, and Obi Asika were the top dogs; I needed a huge breakthrough and here it was.”
