Don Jazzy: "Sometime in November last year, D'Banj and the crew went for a wedding that had a lot of celebrities and artists in Dubai. And when they finished performing, they were set to come back to Lagos. At the airport, D'Banj was mistaken for Kanye West because of his dressing and swagger, especially the taxi drivers who were displaying their placards with different inscriptions indicating their love and support for Kanye. They rushed at D'Banj and shouted Mr. Kanye West, we love your music. He however made them realise he was not kanye but a singer from Nigeria. After the drama, D'Banj sensed that Kanye West was being expected at the airport which explained why the drivers were waiting for his arrival, so they decided to wait to see if they could talk to him.
When Kanye arrived, a member of D'Banj's entourage, Mr Bankole approached Kanye West in a very respectful manner and introduced himself as D'Banj's manager, one of the greatest artists in Africa and Kanye was willing to listen to what they had to say. D'Banj introduced himself and showered accolades on Kanye West. He played him some of his songs on ipad and told him he just finished an international collaboration with Snoop Dogg. After listening to the songs, Kanye was amazed that the songs were coming from Africa. Kanye asked for the producer of the songs and D'Banj told him it was Don Jazzy but Don Jazzy wasn't there with them in Dubai. Kanye asked D'Banj when he would be coming to the US and D'Banj told him we would be coming to shoot the video with Snoop. Kanye then told D'Banj to meet him in New York before the video shoot. The day we went to New York, we called his manager because Kanye does not use a phone and we met in Wyclef's studio called Platinum in NY around 6pm. We played Kanye more songs and he was really impressed. He proposed to buy us into his record label G.O.O.D Music but told us he would discuss with his management team and get back to us. After six months, we got the news on June 9 that myself and D'Banj have been signed.
Fair enough. Humility is sure the best way to the top!
ReplyDeleteI don't see any resemblance but all-the-same. GOOD for him! Kudos!!!
ReplyDeleteWay to go Mo hits
ReplyDeleted same story over & over & over its time we get over d euphoria and move on. btw nobody shud tink ds is bad belle talk
ReplyDeleted same story over & over & over its time we get over d euphoria and move on. btw nobody shud tink ds is bad belle talk
ReplyDeleteLol. I'm curious as to how much they sold their rights/publishing for...
ReplyDeleteAs to this verbage of we 'sealed the deal' na wa for slangs...
abeg which kind powder dey rub 4 am! haba
ReplyDeletelol, as i said, let's just wait and see.
ReplyDeletemore mo'hits and don jazzy stories to come, stay tuned guys!
very happy for them....
ReplyDeletelove him or hate him .... that guy got guts
ReplyDeleteTalk about being in the right place at the right time!
ReplyDeleteThat's sharp! Being aware of the opportunities around you and taking a chance. If he did nothing, he would not be where he is today. As much as I don't care much for D'Banj (personal reasons) I gotta give the man his props.
ReplyDeleteTuface... Now DBanj. Ok Now! Naija MUSIC IS Americanizing gradually! Very soon we will start bagging Grammy's. Keep flying the Naija Flag High!
ReplyDeletecongrats once again
ReplyDeleteam tired of reading this story over and over again, anyway, Goodluck to them!
ReplyDeleteWonderful story about hard work and dedication.
ReplyDeleteBut who in their right mind is confusing D'banj for Kanye West? lol...
as naija music becomes more and more americanized? are you serious? so we must sell out and lose our authenticity just to bang Grammys? why cant we as Africans come up with our own prestigious award ceremonies similar to the Grammys and stop waiting on the west to give us some sort of formal recognition? we do not need their stamp of approval to know our music is THE SHIT. there is a reason why i only listen to naija music these days.
ReplyDeleteso stop with that "the more our music becomes americanized" because that will be a big fail on our part. we dont have to sell out to make it big.
look at Fela, Bob Marley, and others like them. abeg!
Fela is poor sha. And mo hits paid $3mill so its really not a huge deal because they paid. Where did they get that kinda money from? (gej?)
ReplyDeleteoh so this is how the deal was sealed....it sure does pay to have good managers. :-)
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with you alicia. do they have to wait for the western people to recognize them before they feel special. Thank God d trend is already changing talking about Fela!
ReplyDeleteEesh, when will this self loathing of ours stop? For once I agree with Alicia, our music Americanized? Just as we found our voice too! SMH, what a damn shame.
ReplyDelete@ alicia n kunle its called going global not necessarily waiting for recognition as they're already recognized in africa!
ReplyDeleteis it me or these dudes (D banj and don jazzy) talk too damn much...geez shut the funk up and go record some albums. i wonder when they are in the studio to record anyting if they are in front of the media all the time running verbal diarrhea
ReplyDeletewell gud for them! am just looking out to see if there'll be a fusion in their music...Or will there be a mixture of Yoruba and Enlglish on a global scale?
ReplyDeleteerm..kanye doesnt use a phone?!
ReplyDeleteAnon June 23, 2011 9:30 AM; i can actually believe that he doesn't use a phone. Isn't it Oprah that said she's never used a computer? Their lackeys are there to help them out and screen their calls.
ReplyDeleteHope they don't end up like jay sean
ReplyDeletethank you. the correct world would be global or more mainstream, but to say americanized? naaaaaaw! americanzed does NOT equal global.
ReplyDelete:)
Dumb ass commentators. Pls tell me,how many of you have actually attempted to sit down here in Naija to make life better by purposely attending public schools even thogh you can afford much better private ones,doing your Masters here even when you can afford studying abroad etc. Let us face it,we all look for greener pastures and that dosent mean flushing out our originality. How many Doctors and nurses have been trained abroad and prefered to come down to work in Naija for meagre pay. Even Fela studied abroad and developed his music using both African,Western and contemporary to create Afrobeat --- just incae you don't know,his music was inspired from Jazz and the instruments aint even 'African'. So let us stop deceiving ourselves. Dbanj will still be doing his kind of music but exploring deeper into the international horizon. G.O.O.D is basically a clique as well as a record...so pls guys chill out and let them be.
ReplyDeletefamzing is the way oh. way to go guyz the future is bright for Mohits records. Donjazzy is the man of the music industry of our time n is so raising the bar very high........and to the upcoming shadows make sure you famzy with brain''''' lol
ReplyDeleteworld peeps should go and hug transformer gbam
Guys relax,
ReplyDeleteMany of you talk about americanizing, thats is a lie..you know that Nigerian Instrumentation (music production) as some "flavour" that a foreigner will never resist?..why is it that they love Fela's music?..cuz of the African flavour/rhythim. Kanye west knows he's sure going to gain a lot from them....More so D'Banj too needs the American market, so it a two way thing...
I like this.D'banj is a very bad sharp guy.That's the spirit of a real Naija hustler.I am so happy for the Mo hits crew.One luv.Emma Abiodun.
ReplyDeleteCONGRATULATIONS.
ReplyDeleteThis will bring open the Nigerian music industry to new and international opportunities.
U won't expect the dude to start rapping or singing like Nate-Dogg...he'll be doing his thing while they do theirs,then they collaborate to make something unique and penetrate Africa while Mo'hits penetrates the Western World. Next thing you see is they will be jamming Naija songs in their clubs and carnivals over there. Yous guys really need to look at the BIG PICTURE. Mind you,D'banj was one of the first Nigerians to make Naija songs dominate our clubs,back then all we danced to was 50cent,Pdiddy,Sean Paul,Kevin Lyttle & so on...am sure you all agree. Thanks...now STFU
ReplyDeleteMoral of the story: Faith is a verb !!!!
ReplyDeleteA doing word its not a sleeping word rara....this story makes me respect Dbanj gan and loyalty wey hin show Don J ..not a fan of his music per se but i admire and respect him !!!
May the Almighty continue to bless you and your music..
P.s My best friend says if he saw micheal jackson he will just say hi and walk off but that if he sees DBANJ he will prostrate and probably faint...thats life.
we should STFU? oh now, you first. ;-)
ReplyDeleteGroupie luv!
ReplyDeleteNigerians are happy for you but... We hope you don't join the illuminati & bring it into our music industry
ReplyDeleteDbanj nd donjazzy should please join illuminati
ReplyDeletePls bring illuminati o we nid it
ReplyDeleteWe shine brighter than a comet...i rap Enigma cos i want to get big in my pocket...tell Don Jazzy that am on my way with a rocket...not to shoot cos he will never kick bucket...
ReplyDelete