Omo Baba Olowo.
Considering all he has done since he joined the music industry just nine years ago, one might forget that Davido is still in his twenties. David Adedeji Adeleke will turn 28 on November 21, 2020. Did you know that?
When the muse calls, you’ve got to listen.
Davido was in his sophomore year as a Business Administration student at Oakwood University, Atlanta, when he decided to risk it all for a full-time career in music.
In an interview with GQ, he mentioned his father’s disapproval of this move.
“No African parent really wants [their child to be a musician] at first. It’s something they’ll come round to after you’ve proven yourself to one, be a great artist and two, they see you making money for yourself.”
He came back to Nigeria in 2011 and blazed into the Nigerian music scene with his famous single ‘Dami Duro’. He went on to release his debut album, Omo Baba Olowo in 2012.
Oh, the audacity! Omo Baba Olowo is a Yoruba phrase that translates to mean ‘the son of a rich man’. Davido was cheekily flaunting his privileged background in our faces, and while that irked some people, most others loved the very sassiness of it. Omo Baba Olowo produced several other hit songs like ‘Back When’, ‘Ekuro’, ‘Gbon Gbon’, etc, ensuring that Davido’s popularity would only continue to spread.
In a world of one-hit wonders, he proved that he wasn’t just going to fizzle out, releasing albums containing hit after hit in the years to follow. For his work in music, he would go on to win numerous awards, notably the MTV Africa Music Award for ‘Best Male Artist of the Year’, the Channel O Music Video Awards ‘Most Gifted Newcomer Video of the Year’, the MOBO Award for Best African Act, the MTV EMA for Best International Act, several Headies Awards, and so many more.
Nigeria and even Africa at large is no doubt blessed with talented musical acts, but there’s a recurring speedbump we’ve all noticed in the careers of African musicians over the years – African acts can gain prominence in their home country and within the continent, but conquering the global market usually tends to be harder or mostly out of reach for most. Or as Gail Mitchell for Billboard put it,“African artists have often been siloed from the popular music landscape, segregated under the “world music” banner or viewed as Africans first, artists second.”
From all appearances, Davido isn’t looking to have his music locked up in silos of any kind, but has been employing strategic moves to ensure that he is able to serve his music to a more global audience.
He has frequently partnered with international music acts like Meek Mill, Wale, Quavo, Chris Brown, R Kelly, Sean Kingston, and many others, to build international popularity and a wider listenership.
In 2016, he signed a deal with Sony Music reportedly worth $1 million that would help him create, distribute, and market his music at a world-class level. In more recent years, he has ambitiously taken his music across borders for tours and concerts – notably selling out London’s O2 Arena.
Davido is also the founder of Davido Music Worldwide (DMW), a music record label that he intends to use as a platform to nurture new music talent and mentor the next generation of artistes. DMW has already signed on promising acts like Dremo, Mayorkun, and Perruzzi.
In something similar to the never-ending Messi vs Ronaldo conundrum, overzealous fans of both artistes frequently compare Davido and Wizkid together. Wizkid is an equally successful Nigerian artiste and is as much the poster boy for Nigerian pop music as Davido, so this is an argument that will probably never get resolved.
Despite his father’s wealth, influence, and connections, Davido obviously works hard at his craft, puts in the hours, and plans ahead for the next trends that might come up in the industry. As Moyosore Sonuga said,
“Davido is putting in the work like someone without a plan b, who has no other choice. He doesn’t depend on his father’s wealth. He works for his money.”
He reiterates this in the interview with GQ where he said:
“I don’t like to be idle. I’m not the type of guy who likes to sit there and do nothing. Any time I have an opportunity to do something, I get up and go.”
I’ve never met Davido before, but if there’s one recurring thread I’ve noticed from interviews I’ve read or watched, it’s his unflagging confidence in the boundless potential of Nigerian music on the worldwide stage.
He is also popular for being a ‘cheerful giver’, lavishing expensive gifts on his team (the ’30 Billion Gang’), and frequently giving out cash donations to his many followers on social media.
While Davido gives off major happy-go-lucky vibes, with his carefree attitude and dimpled smile, his music career has been anything but a smooth ride. You could even say that few of his contemporaries have had to deal with as many hurdles as he has.
In those early days, his father didn’t just disapprove of his budding music career, Adedeji Adeleke did everything in power to stop his son from becoming a musician. You’ll agree that a billionaire has a considerable range of power to exert.
Davido once talked about how his father once arrested his friends at a show he was to perform at during a 2018 interview with the Breakfast Club,
“I was upstairs in the green room about to come down and about 50 policemen… Back then, they took my ex, they arrested her, they arrested my manager, they arrested the promoter of the show…”
Thankfully, his success has transformed his father into one of his biggest fans, but if familial disapproval was not enough, Davido had to cope with being snubbed by industry execs who assumed he was another spoiled kid attempting to take the back door, but he proved them wrong by showing the pundits that he had come to stay.
OBO has also been heavily criticised for employing songwriters in creating his music, a practice that is widely adopted in the American and European music scene, but for some reason, despised in Nigeria. Nigerian musicians rarely own up to this, but Davido blithely goes on to acknowledge the songwriters that have helped to create his hits, giving them greater publicity, but drawing more public censure to himself.
In 2017, he lost three of his associates, Tagbo, DJ Olu, and Chime in the space of one week, and as the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread, Davido’s fiancee, Chioma Rowland was found to have tested positive on 25 March 2020. Thankfully, he announced that she tested negative to the virus later in April.
As his career continued to climb an upward trajectory, Davido has been found in the centre of scandals, lady dramas, controversy, and has received tons of backlash from critics, but has managed to overcome them, moving on to the next big thing.
He makes success look easy and effortless, but beyond a resilient spirit, perhaps Davido’s secret sauce is teamwork. As Asa Asika said in an interview with Joey Akan,
‘And one thing I’ve learnt from working with David is togetherness. Building a team and empowering your own people…
‘Because at the end of the day in entertainment, you would always be surrounded by a lot of fakeness. It’s the honest truth. The ability to be able to sieve through the fakeness and build your own little team of people is very important. ‘
Even in the middle of a pandemic, Davido did not slow down but has been hard at work performing at virtual concerts like the Africa Day Benefit Concert and working on his latest album, A Better Time, which he intends to launch very soon.
From the juicy teasers he has dropped for curious fans, the new album will be a powerhouse of international collaborations, featuring acts like Tiwa Savage, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Juice Wrld, Jeremih, and a few others.
More recently, Davido’s 2017 single ‘Fall’, was certified Gold in the U.S and Canada, after selling 40,000 and 800,000 in Canada and the U.S respectively. The music video for ‘Fall’ is reportedly the most viewed music video by a Nigerian artiste on YouTube with over 175 million views as at the time of writing. Only a few days ago, it was announced that Davido’s 2019 album, A Good Time had reached over a billion streams across all platforms.
It’s already evident that this album will launch Davido’s career to unparalleled heights. Still, I look forward to seeing what else Davido will do in the course of his career.