Nigerian music star, Davido, claims fellow singer D’banj was the first Nigerian musician to achieve international stardom.
The Afrobeats superstar, born with his legal name David Adeleke, attributed D’banj’s 2012 hit single ‘Oliver Twist’ as the turning point that launched Nigerian music onto the global stage, claiming before his hit song, Nigerians artists were not getting international bookings.
Davido made this claims in a recent interview with Apple Music, Obo highlighted the impact of ‘Oliver Twist,’ emphasizing how it reshaped the perception of African music.
Davido explained how D’banj’s success inspired him to pursue Afrobeats. He recounted a moment when he saw American rapper Kanye West’s music video for ‘Oliver Twist’ on YouTube. And that moment marked a major change in the way the world perceived African music, particularly Afrobeats.
He said, “D’banj was my first vision of a Nigerian artist taking over the world. No one in America was booking Nigerian artists for shows but that changed when I saw Kanye West in D’banj’s ‘Oliver Twist’ video on YouTube.
“It was because of the success of ‘Oliver Twist’ that Americans started booking D’banj, 2Face, P-Square and other African artists for shows. They were making about $1,000,000 per show. So I decided to switch and start doing African music because that’s where I am from.”
Despite Davido’s praises for D’banj’s influence, some industry analysts and fans disagree with his claims that D’banj was the first Nigerian artist to achieve global success. They believe that Nigerian music stars like Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, and Majek Fashek had already paved the way for international recognition long before D’banj’s rise to fame.
2Baba, originally known as 2Face, had already established himself globally with his hit song ‘African Queen,’ which won multiple honors and was even featured in the American romance comedy ‘Phat Girlz’ in 2006.
