"How we sealed the deal with Kanye West" - Don Jazzy | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

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Wednesday, 22 June 2011

"How we sealed the deal with Kanye West" - Don Jazzy

For those who ever wondered how they pulled it off, Don Jazzy explains in an interview with Rasheed Abubakar of Encomium mag.

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.

41 comments:

blcompere said...

Fair enough. Humility is sure the best way to the top!

alleny said...

I don't see any resemblance but all-the-same. GOOD for him! Kudos!!!

Anonymous said...

Way to go Mo hits

Anonymous said...

d same story over & over & over its time we get over d euphoria and move on. btw nobody shud tink ds is bad belle talk

Kunle said...

d same story over & over & over its time we get over d euphoria and move on. btw nobody shud tink ds is bad belle talk

Anonymous said...

Lol. I'm curious as to how much they sold their rights/publishing for...

As to this verbage of we 'sealed the deal' na wa for slangs...

Anonymous said...

abeg which kind powder dey rub 4 am! haba

Alicia says... said...

lol, as i said, let's just wait and see.
more mo'hits and don jazzy stories to come, stay tuned guys!

Anonymous said...

very happy for them....

Anonymous said...

love him or hate him .... that guy got guts

Fanstuff said...

Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

Anonymous said...

That'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.

NairaMan said...

Tuface... Now DBanj. Ok Now! Naija MUSIC IS Americanizing gradually! Very soon we will start bagging Grammy's. Keep flying the Naija Flag High!

doll (retired blogger) said...

congrats once again

Anonymous said...

am tired of reading this story over and over again, anyway, Goodluck to them!

Alayi Girl said...

Wonderful story about hard work and dedication.

But who in their right mind is confusing D'banj for Kanye West? lol...

Alicia says... said...

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.
so 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!

Anon said...

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?)

Justin said...

oh so this is how the deal was sealed....it sure does pay to have good managers. :-)

Kunle said...

I 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!

**sideeye** said...

Eesh, 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.

Anonymous said...

@ alicia n kunle its called going global not necessarily waiting for recognition as they're already recognized in africa!

Anonymous said...

is 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

Anonymous said...

well 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?

Anonymous said...

erm..kanye doesnt use a phone?!

Ch5335ng said...

Anon 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.

Anonymous said...

Hope they don't end up like jay sean

Alicia says... said...

thank you. the correct world would be global or more mainstream, but to say americanized? naaaaaaw! americanzed does NOT equal global.
:)

deeflamez said...

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.

laurel said...

famzing 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
world peeps should go and hug transformer gbam

Fm (08066920770) said...

Guys relax,

Many 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...

Anonymous said...

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.

mariamah said...

CONGRATULATIONS.
This will bring open the Nigerian music industry to new and international opportunities.

deeflamez said...

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

Yesco said...

Moral of the story: Faith is a verb !!!!
A 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.

Alicia says... said...

we should STFU? oh now, you first. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Groupie luv!

Anonymous said...

Nigerians are happy for you but... We hope you don't join the illuminati & bring it into our music industry

Unknown said...

Dbanj nd donjazzy should please join illuminati

Unknown said...

Pls bring illuminati o we nid it

Toby E said...

We 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...

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