D’banj Is Losing At Home,How Can He Win Away?

I challenge D’banj to blaze the trail once more, and have me re-editing my already typed works.

 …D’banj is not a great Singer, but he is the most successful. Anybody that is complaining now is actually late ‘cuz if he were as bad as they say, he wouldn’t become as big as he is. …we know we cannot Rap. We know we cannot sing;  but we know we can entertain you in our own way.”

– Don Jazzy (Punch Newspaper, 8th October, 2011)

“Every Artiste’s work, unless he be a hermit, creating solely for his own satisfaction and with no need of sales, is to some extent socially conditioned; he depends upon the approval of his patrons.”
– Unknown

Music is a tool for change. Music is everything. Music is a panacea, and above all can buffer the pressures from the many bustling of our daily pursuits. To ignore the power of music would be akin to unmasking an ancestral spirit.
Since the D’banj-Jazzy imbroglio, I have tried hard to detach myself from subjective stands. I have watched and observed both parties keenly and I think it’s safe to write on my analyses thus far. The summary of my discourse is that D’banj is waning.

Now, let’s get down to brass tacks, for it appears the Koko master isn’t (or has found it impossible) recording anymore great songs, without his erstwhile team mate- Don Jazzy, and anyone who saw their matchless combination before now would be as worried as I am. Banga Lee isn’t recording anymore major pop/street anthems, as he used to, yet he continues to feed on his past glory; by still managing to sell out shows and cover magazines. Can we safely say then, that his musical career is loitering on the brink of a collapse? As much as I am amongst the pro Mo’hits vanguards, having faulted the D’banj-Jazzy break up forcefully and objectively, especially in respect to their dwindled musical representations subsequently, let me make two things clear: First, Don Jazzy has quite succeeded in delivering major, attention-grabbing materials; even without D’banj, and I can count from top of my head 7-8 major hits he has scored, to substantiate.

Secondly, my criticisms are borne out of my concerns for good music and formidable entertainment empires – empires that can quake the nation and go on to stun the world. Nothing more. I have nothing whatsoever against D’banj personally, but the fact that ‘Oliver Twist’ is still his biggest single since he parted ways with Jazzy is thought-provoking. How can an old Jazzy-produced single be bigger than the entire D’banj post Mo’hits album? I am worried. You should be. It should disturb real D’banj fans and music pundits in general. He is not hoisting his flag (on same musical high as before), he stays playing into the hands of Don Jazzy faithfuls, who believe strongly that Jazzy is the muse behind his music.

In the light of this, I implore D’banj to please wake up and clear rife doubts. There is no better time than the present, considering his track record, and I suppose; his understanding of the yearnings of teeming fans, supporters and critics.

D’banj is NOT Denrele, Uti Nwachukwu or Saka. Stage performances are only a sequel to good songs. Performances should feed off and complement wonderful studio projects. He is a self-acclaimed entertainer, and I have not a drop of doubt about that; but what is his entire ‘acting’ and ‘theatrics’ and shirt-pulling-bragadaccio without some heavy club/pop anthems for the people to nod to? If, like an Obi Asika for instance, I don’t fancy being outdoors much, does it imply I’d never get to connect with a talent in D’banj’s mould, because I would have to wait for him to make up; on stage, for lapses on his tape? This illustration is an aside, by the way.

I don’t know the terms of the G.O.O.D Music deal with D’banj but I know that it will never serve to position his career fully, if he doesn’t deliver to his patrons; his home-based patrons. The fans and listeners at home are his major patrons. International recognition and acceptability only flow from hits -multiple hits- that must have been endorsed by the industry pundits, fans and critics at home; at least to a large extent if not in its entirety.

Another option before us is hoping D’banj switches styles and goes completely international in his pattern of music. But there are pitfalls. He can’t switch styles today and get around with the American genres tomorrow. D’banj is not the best singer or rapper or dancer. He would hardly scratch any surface there, with or without G.O.O.D Music. Even a Banky W, Bez, Dare or an MI Abaga, with their much seemingly up-to-foreign-standards deliveries wouldn’t dare go that route; that would be the musical equivalence of taking coals to Newcastle.

Godwon won Eminem’s freestyle battle, he hasn’t achieved anything in the American Industry afterwards. Matter of fact, he is struggling to find balance in our industry, and until his recent annihilation of Sauce Kid, was going on with a just-about-average name in Nigeria. Well, except in Hip-hop circles, which is a relatively small chunk of our ‘listenership’ base. Craig David -in his heyday- tried it, he left Southampton and went ahead to test new waters in America. He is still licking his wounds.

The home turf is any artiste’s bedrock, he mustn’t screw with it. It is his best bet and must be served right. If he loses at home, he will never win away, this is not Premiership or Champions League. See, prolific and seasoned entertainment writer, Jon Caramanica, struggled to write a piece on ‘D Kings Men’. He wrote a paltry work on NY Times, like he was lost for words or he was paying for each alphabet with his blood. I was tired. D’banj is our own, they don’t know him like we do. They never will.

Amidst all these though, Banga Lee has a strongpoint, and we must admit. He commands respect and captivates a titanic audience. He is still killing it, I must also add. Only thing is he can only go so far if he doesn’t begin to coal the fire. Whilst I’m not saying Don Jazzy is the beginning and the end of his career, I’m saying he is giving critics plenty reasons to posit thus.

‘Oyato’ -obviously hastily done, in a bid to announce that he was still in charge- was a terribly weak song. The ridicule in its wake was just as sick. I got it online the day it was released, I had been chilling for a post Mo’hits material from the Koko master. I played it a couple of times on that cold evening. I was outdoors, my headphones on. At some point, I flung my head back and laughed aloud. It was a bitter laugh, the type that could make a passer-by stop and stare. My expectations were dashed.

Some one year plus after, nothing has changed, save for ‘Top of The World’, and perhaps ‘Cash Flow’ and ‘Bachelor’. The Koko master stays releasing music that leaves much to be desired. And gradually, his arsenal is depleting, his monster hits thinning out, his fire smothering and our musical cravings ebbing. My outlook of his career, at present, is positively dispirited.

On ‘Scape Goat’ Remix, his GOOD Music benefactor, Kanye West, spat some of his most insipid lines ever. I was nearly teary-eyed upon hearing those. I wonder if that says anything about what value Mr. West places on his huge Nigerian signing. I truly wonder. Fally Ipupa lends further credence to my suspicions of D’banj’s nosedive on the ‘D Kings Men’ Project. ‘Nous Les Meilleurs (We The Best)’ was one helluva fiasco, it reeked of nothing but rambling sounds. I am also thinking something is wrong on the parts of his A&R team, otherwise that song had no business on the album.

I might have been opinionated all article long. Let me share with you what Ayomide Tayo, a music critic, wrote in his review of ‘D Kings Men’: “…Fans wouldn’t give D’banj’s new songs half a chance because they lack Don Baba Jay’s magic touch. D’banj is aware of this and fights back on several tracks on DKM.”

My question now is, have these fight backs delivered the goods? Are there major hits as a result of the fight backs?

Ayomide writes further: “…On DKM there are no huge pop anthems like the ones crafted by Don Jazzy in the Mo’hits period. What we have on this compilation are strong pop songs hinged on D’banj’s personality and amazing instrumentals.”

At this point, I’d implore us all to minutely dissect Ayomide Tayo’s postulations vis-a-vis my aforementioned analyses, then figure if the Koko Master is still breaking grounds (musically). As we digest these words in silence, can we also ask that the real Koko master stands up? By ‘stand up’ I mean rise up and take the lead, as it was.

I understand and respect that D’banj has great fortunes (possibly than he knows what to do with them). It is musically that he is (almost becoming) destitute, and any true supporter would be pained. This is what necessitates my writing. I want some carefully done and structured songs, I need him to orchestrate hits upon hits like we used to have, monster hits like Wizkid, Olamide and Ice Prince have done in the last 10-12 months. I want no more of his forceful, hasty attempts at foisting his music upon us.

In any case, I don’t expect Banga Lee to read this and bite his thumb nail (I know that he does bite his nails and stuff) and lose sleep, with his mind hovering over problems of how to conduct his music so as to establish proof of his genius (with or without Jazzy).

I also do not intend to excoriate his brand and person, in the least. Candidly.

But I believe that this piece will have served its end, should it succeed in the minimal task of rousing the Koko master from his pseudo-American dream, into a reality where he takes on the mantle, as one of Nigeria’s biggest music exports of the 21st century, and churn out works that should have oppositions bowing in awe.

I challenge D’banj to blaze the trail once more, and have me re-editing my already typed works. I need him to clear my doubts so I can probably beg a few of my closest, kindest friends; to help me into a state of temporary oblivion, by shutting my door, whilst I sedate myself with a measured doze of Gin and Juice, as I fade slowly with R. Kelly’s ‘Turn Back The Hands of Time’ playing quietly in my background. I am waiting. I know a million people who also are.