Dear Davido,
How are you today? Not too
tired from last night’s performance, I hope. I’m sure you had a performance
last night; you seem to have one every night these days. Pele. Uneasy lies the
head that wears the crown, and right now, you are the king of Nigerian pop
music.
I never thought the day
would come when I would make that statement, but here we are and I shall
repeat: You. Are. The. King. Of. Nigerian. Pop Music. I am sure you are
wondering why I’m writing you a letter to state what’s pretty obvious to anyone
who walks the streets of Lagos, goes clubbing or ventures near a party scene:
Your music is on constant play. How did you do it ehn, David, how?....Continue
See, when you came on the
scene, I gave you zero chance of survival. I was damn sure you were another
excitable wannabe with an overdose of youthful exuberance, coming to foul the
air with pathetic music fit only for brain-dead numbskulls and bimbos, much
like you. That’s what I thought and some three years later, here I am tendering
my unreserved apologies for stupidity. How could I not have seen it? How could
I have lumped you with the one hit wonder crowd? How did I not know anything of
your hard work and laser focus? How did I so quickly relegate you to the
rubbish heap of naija’s ‘jollof music’ when I have always argued that there was
a place for ‘non sense-making’ music in every society? See, I didn’t even think
that you could succeed at making ‘disposable’ music. Ha!
Part of my problem, of
course, was that your father has a lot of money. No, I am not envious. Yes, my
father does not have a lot of money. Again, no; I do not want your father’s
money. And yes, I was truly irritated when you came onto the scene because your
father had a lot of money and you could bloody well buy a studio and croak into
a microphone if you so desired. Being the child of a rich man has it’s
drawbacks and one of them is that children of rich people are often seen
through the prism of their parents money. I saw you as another boy with a
money-miss-road father who has failed at everything else and now wants to try
his hand at music because, as a qualified fucking loser with a sense of
entitlement, you assumed anyone could sing. I judged you on first contact.
Chai, I have been foolish! David, omo baba olowo, you will have to reach deep
within your soul to find forgiveness for me.
Truth be told you can’t
really sing, David. And you can’t really dance either. And your stage
performances, the ones I saw, were like a dress rehearsal for a mini areaboys’
assault. You were all over the place like an eager monkey, prancing around the
stage like an adulterous penis. But who says a great voice is necessary
for success in pop music? Who says every pop artiste has to be a Michael
Jackson and moonwalk? Fela didn’t have a great voice and could not dance to
save his life, yet he made great music. And it isn’t as if you were claiming to
be a nightingale. What people like me could not see in you was pretty obvious
to the millions of people who appreciate your art: an art form’s essence is in
its connection with an audience. What was it Mark Twain said again? ‘The public
is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all‘. Your ardent fans
validate you, and I-too-knows like me need to shut up and smell the
agbalumo.
YOU ARE A BONAFIDE POP STAR,
DAVIDO. I finally accepted this reality recently on a drive from Lekki to
Ikeja. It was around 11pm on a Friday and the DJ on Top Radio 90.9 was doing
non-stop mixes of Nigerian music. It was shocking when I realised that one of
your songs was played every 5 minutes. When did Davido make so many hits? Where
was I when all this was happing? That was when I was informed of your hard
work, of how you work as if your father was a pauper. I was told how almost
your entire life was spent in the studio. I was told that you were actually
still in school. I was reliably informed that it is now possible to play an
hour of your hits, whether solo or collabos. I was made aware of how you have
even changed the direction of your music with a song like ‘Aye’, infusing
elements of Highlife music, getting everybody on the dance floor wherever it is
played. Afterwards, they had to assist me in closing my mouth, which I had left
hanging wide open.
I shall now find a corner
where I can eat this rather enormous humble pie. Sincerely,
Your newest fan!
Source: The Net
Now, Davido is balling and all of you are trying to identify with him...where were u guys when he was coming up? shm
ReplyDeleteDavido is a big boy and has little or no time for crabs....
ReplyDeleteAkuko Mbe! na today, now he is a celebrity and every 1 is seeking attention... Shm
ReplyDelete