“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 be a manager of dem 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 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 comes to the studio. See he wasn’t an artiste coming to the studio to record but to catch cruise as you millennials and Gen Zss put hehehehe
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 told me 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.
Wow! 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 there finger tips.
You could be wondering how is it possible for a “studio cruise catcher” to be doing so well?
With Teamwork of the brain we won. I mean one of my secrete as a successful producer is to produce you with whatever you appear to be, I don’t try to change you.
I allowed him entertain with his cruise while I make melodious beats to make the cruise a vibe.
See, if I produce D’Banj again today, he would drop a hit cos I know and understand what to give him.
Peoplesmind
