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 will come around and cause that positive spark with his jokes.”
“We started feeling his vibes everyday 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 marveled 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.”
“The whole picture of who I wanted to be was beginning to fall in place. We got into the Nigerian market with the London money and swag as D’Banj and Don Jazzy which caused my first industry fever of love on the Don brand.”
“Many fans who have loved me for almost 20years now started from those days I used to appear as that mobstar of the Mo’Hits cartel with my walking stick and fallen eyes from a piece of Macanu cigars hanging in my mouth! D’Banj imagined all these.
“A studio ‘cruise catcher’ who caught a studio fever was becoming one of the hottest stars in Nigeria, winning awards and was rated alongside 2Baba, P-Square who had held the market down at their finger-tips. You could be wondering how it is possible for a ‘studio cruise catcher’ to be doing so well.
“With teamwork of the brain we won. I mean one of my secrets as a successful producer is to produce you with whatever you appear to be; I don’t try to change you. I allowed him to entertain with his cruise while I made melodious beats to make the cruise a vibe. See, if I produce D’Banj again today, he would drop a hit because I know and understand what to give him,” Don Jazzy concluded.
Peoplesmind
