Once upon a time, Dapo ‘D’banj’ Oyebanjo, was
the musical sweetheart of many and poster-boy of
the Nigerian hip hop music industry. Youthful and
good looking with a finely chiseled body,
energetic on and off stage, he gifted Nigerians a
string of commercially successful albums that
earned him a place among the pantheon of
contemporary music stars in a short while.
With the production wizardry of Don Jazzy, he
could croak into the microphone and almost so
effortlessly sell millions of copies, nick multi-million
naira endorsement deals and performance
engagements from the east to the west and
everywhere around the globe. This is despite that
his music thrives on sloganeering and ephemeral
lyrics. But like the saying goes, who God has
blessed no man can curse. The past five years
have been D ’banj’s and it does not beggar
understanding that his musical odyssey is the
stuff fantasies are made of.
He started the first quarter of 2011 as a
transformational, pioneering figure in the industry
when the video of Mr. Endowed remix featuring
Snoop Dogg was released. The video put paid to
every doubt that D ’banj featured the iconic
American rapper on his song. Hardly had the
euphoria of this international collaboration
subsided than it emerged that Grammy awards
winning rapper, Kanye West, wanted a piece of
the D ’banj mojo. West actually tweeted at he and
Don Jazzy to hurry over to New York City because
there was work to be done.
And they responded immediately. Thus earning
the Mo ’hits guys widespread reverence. In truth,
every musician worth his salt would have given a
limb to be in the shoes of the Mo ’hits guys even if
for just a day. Hitherto, he was the high water
mark by which other artistes were measured.
The misstep?
Sadly, D’banj is ending the same quarter of just
three months as a punch line. Last Thursday,
March 17, the singer crossed the line between
appealing and appalling as the choice interviewer
of President Goodluck Jonathan in an interview
packaged by Silverbird Television. He was seen as
the perfect medium through which the president
could reach the youth. That never happened.
Rather, he wedged a distance between himself
and his touch-point. The contention, among
many others, is that for an artiste of his repute
who has interacted with the media even more
than his interview subject perhaps, he posted an
abysmal performance. He spent more time
fidgeting and nodding in acquiescence to his own
questions and ended up disappointing the
teeming youths he was to help the president win
over in the April polls. Not only was he severely
panned for his unintelligible interviewing skills
that saw him asking just three questions in an
interview of about 30 minutes, he did not ask a
single follow up question despite several
opportunities to do so.
D’banj was perceived as having frittered away a
golden chance to passionately express the
disenchantment of Nigerian youths to the
president
.
The thin line between
love and hate
Indeed, there is a thin line between love and hate
while the line between fame and infamy is
thinner. D ’banj has joined a growing list of
celebrities riding the crest of popularity and
seeming infallibility until a misdemeanor, a
misstep brings them back to reality. In just
30minutes, all the myth around him evaporated
and the sad part is that everyone now perceives
him as just a shallow and smug artiste.
The youth’s anger at D’banj’s inept handling of
the interview literally set blogosphere on fire even
before it ended and thereafter with many virtually
calling for his head. Inadvertently, he became the
sacrificial lamb of the president ’s refusal to
participate in the presidential debate organised
by satellite television channel, NN24. It was so
bad that the invectives could make a faint-
hearted artiste consider a career detour.
According to a well syndicated, anonymous
message, “D’banj speaking for Nigerian youths is
the highest form of insult we have received
recently. Does he know what it means to go
through a Nigerian university for four years plus
and come out without getting a job ?” The
questions over his suitability for the role and
conclusions were as scathing as they were
hilarious. Funnily, too, his name was caricaturized
as D ’banjiing, translated as “The dogmatic act of
nodding one’s head idiotically and stupidly in an
attempt to overshadow the disconnection to the
topic being discussed. ” He was also seen in a
photograph labeled ‘scapegoat’ with the reins in
the President’s hand. Another photograph also
appeared on Facebook where D’banj was dancing
with a topless lady while being castigated as a
misfit and unworthy role model.
Now, there is a groundswell of threat to boycott
everything about brand D ’banj with an
anonymous group opening a twitter page to
make this effective. Incidentally, the interview
took place about two days after his Kokomobile
phones hit the market. Not a few Nigerians have
pilloried the phone saying it is inferior and
nothing compared to the cheapest phones in the
market. This probably wouldn’t have been the
case two weeks back
.
The reality
Apparently, brand D’banj is in trouble. He
certainly needs a reboot. However, D’banj did not
set out to falter or be demystified. No discerning
individual would have rejected the opportunity
and honour to confer with the president of his
country irrespective of political or religious or
ethnic affiliation.
D’banj was just in the right place at the wrong
time and he pandered too gullibly to his puppet
masters ’ whims. Perhaps a more intuitive and
better informed individual would have fathomed
that he was being choreographed to fail, but he
was probably too carried away to reason logically.
As crushed and battered as his image and ego
have become, D ’banj should count himself lucky
that he is a Nigerian where the people forgive and
forget easily. He will bounce back
