READ : ''Forget Koko Garri, You’re Going Down Fast'' - Earth to D’banj

D’banj may still be raking in millions of naira, but the quality of his music is giving fans and pundits cause for concern. 

Let’s start with a simple question: When was the last time D’banj released a hit?

Exactly.

In the past two years of ‘silence’, the kokomaster has in fact released song after song. The problem? All have been uniformly dreadful.

A music manager who has worked with D’banj in the past, and asks to remain unnamed, puts it succinctly: “You know that there is a big problem when a musician begins to be known more for ‘kpo-kpo garri’ and his relationship with Genevieve or some desperate housewife in Atlanta, than for his music.”

Mr. Endowed

In February 2011, the remix of music superstar D’banj’s hit, Mr. Endowed burst onto the collective consciousness of Nigerians. In the accompanying video was his longtime collaborator, partner and friend, Don Jazzy, gently nodding and swaying, true to his style. Also present was ageless rap veteran and lackadaisical charmer, Snoop Dogg – who was christened OluwaSnoop – and who professed love for “my nephew D’banj from Nigeria”. Eja Nla (Yoruba for ‘big fish’), as the Nigerian would come to be known later, had landed himself a really big fish.

Everyone gushed about the alluring video vixen, the wad of dollar bills used as rolls of toilet paper and how good the trio looked together. It would go on to be the definitive moment for D’banj’s international career which blossomed after the release of Oliver Twist, the single that would go on to become a UK Top Ten hit the next summer.

D’banj eventually became the first home-based superstar. His success was a deviation from the model adopted by artistes such Asa and Nneka who migrated abroad to flourish, having been empowered by the enabling atmosphere of their new base. Here was a made-in-Naija boy who had grown in leaps and bounds, his success fuelled by the tenacity to survive the jungle that is the Nigerian music industry.

In June 2011, after months of speculations and rumours, rapper and agent provocateur Kanye West signed both Don Jazzy & D’banj to G.O.O.D Music. The latter featured in the label’s compilation EP, Cruel Summer, making a cameo appearance even in the video for Mercy, alongside fellow label mates Pusha T, Big Sean and of course West. Furthermore, fans were treated to a surprise appearance from Yeezy at the Koko concert in London. With the unprecedented success of the Oliver Twist single and the announcement of international deals, first with Mercury Island Records and then Sony Music, it seemed like D’banj had finally struck gold. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Or could it?

A G.O.O.D man’s worth

The kokomaster’s success had an expiry date, it seems. The magic that truly captivated everyone – from designer Giuseppe Zanotti who once sent him a custom-built pair of sneakers, to reality TV star Kenya Moore who allegedly paid $40,000 to have D’banj pose as her boyfriend – is withering away. His recent singles have not been as infectious as their predecessors were and since Oliver Twist, not one has been as big a hit as any of those released in the era of the defunct Mo’Hits. Even G.O.O.D Music, it seems, has parted ways with the flamboyant entertainer.

In his two years’ with the label, there was neither a tour with Kanye nor a major collaboration. There was the forgettable track with Big Sean and Pusha T who performed in Nigeria, the sub-par verses from Yeezy himself on the Scapegoat remix and vocal credits of a line or less on the Cruel Summer EP. Save for those and the Yeezy cameos – at the London Koko concert and in the Oliver Twist video – D’banj seemed to be on the label’s roster only in name.

Was the deal worth the hype? Should D’banj have listened to advice from partner Don Jazzy and strengthened his hold on the home front before attempting to break new grounds in the US?

“Looking back, it almost seems like it was a huge publicity stunt because there is really nothing to show for it”, argues Arinze Obikili, US-based blogger and founder of Jaguda.com. “When you compare it with 2face who collaborated with T-Pain, and featured on another song with him and Akon,” explains Arinze who is known in Nigerian social media circles as Aribaba, “and Wizkid who is rumored to be on a song with Young Jeezy and The Game, you see that D’banj pretty much wasted two good years with Kanye, going for something that he could have attempted by himself”.

After all the fanfare that greeted his G.O.O.D signing, what might have informed Kanye’s decision to drop him from the label; so soon and without any recognizable impact? Aribaba theorizes: “I think it was a business decision. Perhaps he thought that the US wasn’t ready for mainstream African music or that he had overestimated D’banj’s value. Seeing as most of the artistes signed to G.O.O.D Music have great singing or rapping skills, and D’banj has neither, he probably thought it wasn’t worth the effort trying to force him down the US audience’s throat or figure out what to do with him. What would’ve been ideal is if Don Jazzy stayed. In that case, Don Jazzy would’ve worked with D’banj, and the G.O.O.D Music brand would have been the package around what they would have done to sell to the US market”.