HOW DON JAZZY SIGNED TIWA SAVAGE

The Mo’hits era is over and all parties involved are finally moving on.

We’ve seen D’banj remove himself from all things Mo’Hits, relocating overseas and signing a fresh recording deal with Mecury Records/G.O.O.D Music.

For several weeks now, questions have been asked about Don Jazzy’s future plans and if he will still hoist and fly the Mo’Hits flag with his loyal label mates .

Michael Collins, the revered sprung up a surprise last midnight, announcing a new record label and signing on the hottest female R&B act in the country!

Just this morning, Don Jazzy announced the signing of R&B-Pop singer Tiwa Savage to his new record label Mavin Records, scooping her from her former deal with events-media boss Cecil Hammond who has in the last few years overseen the singer’s career under his Flytime Promotions umbrella.

The pop act who is working to release her debut album will now feature with the former Mo’Hits clan in a new album ‘Solar Plexus’ set to be released tomorrow May 8, 2012.

Contrary to what is being speculated, about Tiwa dumping Flytime from Mavin, Cecil Hammond tells us there are no issues, insisting he  ’won’t say anything on the phone. Let’s schedule a meeting’.

However speaking with Mavin Records publicist Terfa Tilley-Gyado, he confirms that Tiwa has indeed been released by Cecil Hammond’s Flytime Promotions before signing unto MAVIN.

Mavin says Tiwa was signed two weeks ago after ending her contract with Flytime.

She had been in talks with Don Jazzy for several months, according to our investigations..

‘Yes she has been released from all contracts with Cecil’s Flytime and is now a full signee under MAVIN’, Tilley-Gyado told NET over the phone.

The status of Tiwa’s current manager Tunji ‘T Billz’ Balogun still remains uncertain as Mavin has hired a new management and PR company. Tilley-Gyado however says he cannot ascertain if Balogun will continue working with Tiwa.

‘I can’t say about that but she should retain her PR and Management team’.

All efforts to reach Tunji Balogun proved abortive as he did not pick his calls neither did he reply text messages sent to his phone.

Tiwa now joins the likes of Dr SID, D’Prince and Wande Coal who have steadily stuck behind the hit producer through the Mo’Hits saga and eventual split.

A comment on Twitter about the new development reads; This movie is gonna take a long time to play out. Don Jazzy does his own marketing. DBanj is gonna have to rely on the record company… Hmm’.

EXCLUSIVE: MO'HITS MANSION - TO LET OR LEASE?

The ‘Mo’hits mansion’ – once home to D’banj, Don Jazzy and the rest of the Mo’hits crew, has been abandoned.

The property, situated in Maryland, in Ikeja, Lagos, was the headquarters of all Mo’hits activities for years, and the holding place, for anyone that had anything serious to do with the label. But that is no longer so, as our reporters found out recently.

A NET reporter, who visited the Maryland property says both entrances have been locked, the premises looks unkempt, the building’s windows are wide open with no curtains, suggesting there have been no occupants for a while.

After hanging around there for over five hours, our reporter confirmed there was no movement in or around the premises. A security guard next to the building happily told NET that the Mo’Hits crew left the building about five months ago. ‘Na D’banj and Don Jazzy house before but dem no dey come here again since last year.’

Meanwhile, neighbours confirmed that there haven’t been any new faces around the building since the Mo’Hits crew left. Interestingly, there’s no advertisement showing the property is up for let or lease; but we could not immediately confirm if the label’s rent is still running or if they had bought over the property.

‘If their rent was not running, and they don’t own the property, trust me, the owners would have put it up for rent since’, an estate agent working around the area tells us. ‘This is a very private and high demand area, so I’m sure there’s a reason it’s just lying there’.

In late 2010, D’banj and Don Jazzy moved out of the Maryland duplex into their Lekki residence, leaving Dr SID and Wande Coal in the ‘Mo’hits mansion’. SID and Wande would later move into separate apartments in the popular 1004 complex in Victoria Island.

We’re told D’Prince has also moved into a Lekki apartment, with his parents who have just relocated from Ireland; while Kay Switch is in the US.

Following the Mo’Hits fiasco, Don Jazzy moved out of the Lekki home he shared with D’banj; settling for a duplex inside the super expensive NICON Estate, also in Lekki, Lagos. Insiders tell us D’banj now has control of their joint Lekki property, although he now spends most of his time in the US and UK where he’s working to break into the mainstream international scene.

DON JAZZY REPLIES D'BANJ'S INTERVIEW (HE IS A CLOWN BUT STILL MY SON) - DON JAZZY

Some days ago, Adekunle Ayeni published an interview he had with D'Banj stating his own side of his break-up with Don Jazzy.

The interview has seen many people have sympathy for D'Banj especially with some revelations made in the interview.

Responding to controversial interview in an exclusive telephone interview with Ascology News, Don Jazzy started off by saying he never wanted the issue to become this messy, even as he was aware of the way and manner social media has changed the way people view the issues surrounding the lives of celebrities; a reason he said was why he's always cautious of what he says and the interviews he grants to the media.

Both industry power-weights have been at loggerhead over alleged multiple financial disagreements, discrepancies involved in the signing of artist Dbanj into Kanye West’s Good Music record label, Don Jazzy’s lackadaisical attitude, Dbanj’s alleged public irresponsibility among other differences and conflicts that popped up between both.

"I want to be clear on something that I'm not interested in going into the debates of whatever Dbanj has said, be it through an interview, the press, social media or whatever.

People should try and understand that these are very difficult moments for me and I need my space, time and moment to carry on with my life and the production of good music which is what fans have known me for a very long time". Don Jazzy said.

The iconic producer, whose famous introvert and quiet lifestyle and personality as garnered him an enviable amount of fame, respect and magnanimous swag in Nigeria’s entertainment scene, staunchly dismissed claims by Dbanj buying houses, cars and properties for the Mo’hits boss and fellow artists, calling it “laughable and not worth responding to this early morning” claiming that quick thinking fans know his individual worth and personal financial worth of each artist at Mo’hits.

The Mo’hits boss was however very cautious and even more diplomatic in blaming, accusing or countering accusations attributed to Dbanj in various interviews, saying many of those things could not have been said by Dbanj and he isn't surprised when Dbanj claimed his accounts were hacked and also not further surprised when his (Dbanj) publicist released a statement denying some of the statements attributed to him; specifically during the interview with Ebony Magazine that Dbanj owns Mo’hits.

Incidentally, Ebony Magazine are yet to release a public apology as earlier released by D'banj's personal manager and the 'I own mohits' part of the interview still not excluded as of the time of filing this report.

The Mo’hits boss further said in the unlikely event he decides to let the public knows his own side of the story, there is the tendency for his statements to be misconstrued and manipulated by mischief makers who he blamed use few accurate information to manipulate the public into believing things that never existed (a hint that the alleged email exchange is partially true or totally untrue); an ironical situation he hinted would force him to rather keep mute on the issue and let it die a natural death.

"When this whole thing started, I felt people needed to know what’s happening and in all civility, maturity and wisdom, I made those less than 140 words tweet in 3 separate lines, now see where it has led me to.

Mohits is a family and Dbanj is like its son and families do quarell. Expecting me to come out and start countering accusations by one of my best friends ever while accusing him also in the process doesn't justify my guilt or my innocence or that of his, He (Dbanj) however has a right to his opinion to grant interviews to whoever he wishes to grant interview to.

I won't stop him and won’t stop anyone who wants to believe whatever he says either", he said.

In further attempts to get the Mo’hits boss talking, he was adamant but rightly so, reminding us of how those famous tweets confirming an apparent rift in the Mohits house got him into the messy situation as we see today.

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the end of a long era and the beginning of a new one..Some of the rumours you have all heard recently are sad but true...The way forward now is to make sure I keep bringing you guys more of the beautiful music y’all love to dance to....And to end d old era I will b donating the proceeds of my production catalogue from day one till date to five charity organizations.
Thanks. IDJA”

"Really, if I start responding to every single accusation, then the ‘lazy’ person I’ve been called would come out, and the ‘Fake’ person I am according to critics would obviously come out since I'm not a talkative and you the media know that, I want the handwork of my music productions and the proceeds of good music at Mo’hits to speak for itself, so asking me to comment on issues like this, I really am not just interested, personally my advice to fans is to concentrate on good music from Mo’hits and huhh....well even from Dbanj himself, music is what we were made to create and not controversies", he added.

It was not immediately clear the positions of other artists at the Mohits house at the time of filing the report as label members Wande Coal, Dr Sid and D’Prince have all been short of economical with their opinions on the rift between their bosses.

As for Wande Coal who in an although diplomatic, yet paradoxically intended tweet to Dbanj said “God please don’t let the success you have given me get to my head to the extent that I will forget my humble beginnings”; the artist has however deleted the tweet shortly after another debatable scenario which Dbanj sarcastically accused Don Jazzy of personally tweeting.

The multi-award winning music producer however said he wishes artist, Dbanj all the best in all he aspires to do even as he (Don Jazzy) begins a rebuilding, restructuring process.

MO'HITS WAR: LAWYER CALLS FOR AMICABLE SETTLEMENT

With last week’s exclusive revelation of private correspondences between bickering founders of Mo’Hits, D’banj and Don Jazzy, the end obviously has come for the enviable odyssey and partnership of the beloved collaborators. However, the label’s lawyer (name withheld) has called for caution from both parties.

In yet another correspondence exclusively obtained by E-Punch, the lawyer has advised both parties to sign over their stakes in their two major companies, Mo’Hits and Koko Holdings, so that each person would hold on to one.

The lawyer states, “In Consideration and Mutuality of D’Banj signing over to you (Don Jazzy) his entire stake in Mo’Hits Records Limited, you in return sign over to him your stake in Koko Holdings Limited, with the Catalogue now undifferentiated as between ‘D’Banj’ and ‘non-D’Banj’ sub-catalogues, (which is) in keeping with your express wishes. In view of recent events which are indeed surprising,

I think it is an optimal way forward. Before Mo’Hits imploded, the relationship between D’banj and Wande Coal, one of the artistes on the label, had been anything but cordial. The Mushin-bred singer was reportedly rude to D’banj at the height of the success of his debut album, leading to his being placed on suspension from releasing any song.

The album was released in 2009 and up till December 2011, no new material came from him except for a collaboration with Ghana group, R2Bees, on the song, Kiss Your Hand.

Thus, pitching his tent with Don Jazzy is perceived as getting back at D’banj. He even has a word for the Kokomaster; “God, please don’t let the success you have given me get to my head to the extent that I will forget my humble beginnings.”

For D’Prince, who had not tweeted since January, D’banj’s statement that he bought a LR3 Jeep for him valued at N11m to shore up his image as a Mo’Hits ensign, brought him back to the micro-blogging site. Waxing philosophical, the gangling singer-rapper tweets,

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” He continues, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new….Thou shalt not bear FALSE witness against thy neighbour – 9th Commandments.”

Dr Sid, on the other hand, has not reacted to the leaked emails but responding to a fan who asked on whose side he is, he replies, “If you had Don Jazzy, would you leave?” Those in the know claim that the University of Ibadan graduate has always murmured that he could be as big a star on the label but for D’banj’s overwhelming influence. Little wonder, they never really got along. The on stage camaraderie was a façade.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 6 AND A HALF REASONS DON JAZZY WILL NOT LOSE

So I read my colleague’s piece on Don Jazzy being the one to lose in the Mo’ Hits fall out and I had to scoff. As expected, my eyes were subjected to opinions, in agreement or otherwise, from people who believe there’s some form of glory in pretending to be the online version of Simon Cowell to a bunch of people they most likely don’t even know, but that’s not why we’re here.

I would start in the vein of my colleague and state that I am #TeamDonJazzy or #TeamDBanj but I am unabashedly, neither. I’ve never for one second stopped to consider whether D’banj was good or bad at anything although I’ve caught myself a few times thinking how great a beat maker Don Jazzy is.
That said, I find the idea that Don Jazzy will be the loser in this case, highly improbable.

Here’s why:

D Banj has Kanye. Okay, now what?

Sure, Kanye appeared in D’Banj’s latest video. But, excuse me while I ask, “then what”? What has Kanye done for D’Banj so far beyond shouting him out on Twitter? He got him doing back up (to put it nicely) “vocals” on a song by someone called Lil Issue (I mean who is that?) Whoop-de-deoo. As far as the Nigerian public goes, all that “deal” can bring D’banj is hype. Success? That’s not how the American music industry works. The idea of having a Nigerian musician linked to Kanye West will inevitably rouse the interests of any music lover out there. But what happens when the novelty of that wears off? How many Nigerians know or will bother trying to figure out who a “Lil Issue” is?

D’Banj is the performer. So?

Yes, D’Banj is the performer. The same performer accused of being boring at the Koko Concert and Rhythm Unplugged shows last year. Whitney (Houston) and Michael (Jackson) supposedly had the love of the public “through thick and thin”. Really? It’s easy to forget, due to the (unfortunately) largely hypocritical outpourings of affection that trailed their deaths, that they were once the butt of ridicule by the public. In fact, many would say being in the public eye caused many of their problems but that’s neither here nor there at this point. The fact is, certain things are just hard to live down, and the public doesn’t let go that easily. A more recent example would be Chris Brown. Despite the attempts by the media and members of the industry themselves (Rihanna, I’m looking at you) to make us forget “the incident”, people aren’t just going to pretend like it never happened. Even a public endorsement by the woman he beat up isn’t about to wash away his sins; hearing him sing about all the different ways he wants to enjoy a “cake” isn’t going to make me think of him as anything beyond a woman beater (thankfully I have an edit of the song free of his voice so I can continue to enjoy it in all its sexually over the top catchiness). His songs get played on the radio, MTV shoves his videos down our throats, he performed at The Grammys twice, even won one, but his last album, released almost a year ago hasn’t even gone platinum. Despite the attempts by “insiders” to convince us it’s some sort of “comeback”, it hasn’t even sold up to a million copies worldwide. Yes, it’s a flop. And D’Banj, even though he (thankfully) hasn’t beaten a woman to unconsciousness, could very well become a flop in that manner. The public loves to take sides, and hey, it’s clear Don Jazzy is the one receiving all the goodwill in this situation. I mean, the dude shares credit on Twitter, of course people are going to support him! Especially when the other option is to either “mind your own business” (which is pretty much a foreign concept to Nigerians) or support the guy who for a while now has seemed determined to present himself as the most arrogant -(insert preferred word for unpleasant here) person ever.

Don Jazzy’s losing it? Hardly.

Don Jazzy’s biggest power is his mystique? Errr, no. It may play a huge part in his “image”, but I highly doubt people listen to songs produced by him because they think by so doing they can somehow discover a little more about that guy who bizarrely insists on always whispering into D’Banj’s ears.
When people hear a song produced by Don Jazzy is about to be released, anticipation builds. Why? Because, they’re sure that it will be, in no equivocal terms, a jam. MI has made “Short black boy” a very prominent part of his brand, but if 24 hours to the release of Illegal Music 2 he were to suddenly transform into a 6 foot plus light-skinned fellow, would that stop downloads of the mixtape from crashing any site onto which it were hosted?

Get off the stage

This is, admittedly, a near faultless point. Let’s face it, Don Jazzy has little business adding his indistinguishable croaks to a track. Granted there’s a certain melodic catchiness to his “lepa on the floor” line from Tiwa Savage’s Without My Heart but overall his feature on that song could have been done without. That said, is that going to ruin his career? I can only laugh as I say, hardly. The notion that this will cause him to lose is, quite frankly, over the top and pointlessly dramatic.

Don Jazzy is boring

Another faultless point. At least as far as I know. But the question is, who cares? Seriously. Don Jazzy splitting from D’Banj doesn’t necessarily mean he needs to now take the spotlight. He can be boring all he wants while remaining in the background, like he always has. Yes, D’banj may possess the uncanny ability to confidently spew out meaningless dribble about “kokolets” and what not, but what happens when the novelty of that wears off and he actually has to answer a question with some semblance of intelligence? Judging by the debacle that was his Sahara Reporter’s interview, the answer to that is a resounding “eh….”
Don Jazzy on the other hand managed to handle the public outcry over his involvement, or lack thereof in the Occupy Nigeria protests, much better. A series of well worded tweets was all it took to get people back on his side. Boring or not, the man knows what he’s doing.


Don Jazzy has magic fingers. Well, duh?

Well, he does. Ikechukwu and Dr Sid/DPrince and whatever the rest of the “crew” are called may effectively be flops now but their only chances at success were due, in no small part, to Don Jazzy.

Yes. Everyone “knew” Ikechukwu before Don Jazzy hooked up with him, how could we not? What with him shrieking “My name is Ikeeeeechukwu” left and right like a sex-starved banshee. But, the only time anyone ever took him or his music seriously, or at least seriously enough to listen to was more than likely with “Wine am well’. And no, D’Banj’s verse and feature in the video were not the reason. People may have danced to D’Prince’s “Omoba” in the club but it sure as hell wasn’t because of anything special he added to the song.

Davido

This is my “half reason”. I’ll admit I’m pulling this out of nowhere in particular. But what if? Yes, Davido is already insanely popular now. He’s managed to achieve a lot without the backing of any popular or already established music industry honchos like Banky or Don Jazzy. So what if he somehow got with Don Jazzy? Sonia debacle aside, how many would be able to resist Davido “nananinanano’-ing on a Don Jazzy beat? He already has the females (and males, apparently) fawning over his dimples so imagine what would come of that pairing? Still think D’Banj is irreplaceable?

MO'HITS RECORDS: END OF AN ERA

 

Saturday March 17, 2012 would have been remembered in Nigeria for the sweltering heat until a certain ace producer got on Twitter.

In a series of obviously belabored tweets, the one-time CEO of Mo’Hits records Don Jazzy validated all the rumors that had been flying around about his split with erstwhile partner D’banj, finally bringing to an end what a lot could easily term the most dynamic partnership contemporary Nigerian music has ever witnessed.

Already a lot of accusatory fingers have been pointed to what could have triggered the split: some tenable – a Kanye West-G.O.O.D Music deal hemorrhaging already bloated egos and increasing the bad blood, others laughable and a little far-fetched – talk of ‘juju’ and rappers hexing Don Jazzy after a Hip-hop World interview where the good don had some rather unsavory things to say about the state of rap music in Nigeria.

Over the next couple of weeks, music columnists, conspiracy theorists, and others alike are sure to have a field day as they give reasons to why a seemingly symbiotic relationship went to the pits as well as proffer directions as to the next steps for the duo and the Mo’hits label home to Dr SID, Wande Coal, D’Prince and K-switch, their collective and singular futures keenly debated as a matter of life and death and the after-life.

Hours after the ‘twitclaration’, Don Jazzy and D’banj were already trending as separate entities; with the imprint they started already taking the first steps towards full blown relegation to the backgrounds of our memories. Whilst this might be in the spirit of the trending topic, a step back might be needed to remember Mo’hits for what it was and why, regardless of their separation now, their names will forever be intertwined when talk of this epoch of Nigerian music comes up.

In an era where even divinely sanctioned unions don’t last forever, D’banj and Don Jazzy have been able to put a lot into a mere decade. What started out as two young men relocating from England with a bunch of songs and a lot of dreams has turned into a cultural behemoth touching on a lot besides music. With Don Jazzy’s sonic direction and D’banj’s electric personality they jointly impacted us in ways that we hadn’t felt  in a while or even known to be humanly possible before them.

They had us dancing to their infectious songs – some of us going as far as imitating the phallic hand move made famous by D’banj. They flexed urban lingo to include koko and all its derivatives, made ‘oseee’ standard form of response to good news and took endowed from the annals of conversational obscurity and made it  common speak.

When it came to performances they equally blazed trails, either shocking us a la a young D’banj strutting his stuff on the stage an the inaugural edition of the Hiphopworld awards in nothing more than a towel – only outdone in audacity by his ambush of the red carpet earlier on with 50-plus kokolettes; or leaving us in sheer awe as to how they pulled it off – live performances that had a mish mash of atilogwu and salsa dancers and what else they could bring on stage as a band gave remix renditions of already hit songs

In business their mark was also felt as they gained an enviable position as Nigeria’s foremost record label churning hit album after hit album, even going on further by trying alternative models to Alaba distribution (the Funk You Up and Mo’hits compilation album – C.V). Not to forget the Koko brand extensions from reality shows to phones, the international collaborations, the Oliver viral video campaign, the corporate endorsements to the eventual G.O.O.D Music deal that many feel broke their union.

Don Jazzy in tweeting about the split also announced that he would be giving away the proceeds of his production catalogue to five charity organizations. Whoever the recipients turn out to be, they are sure to be smiling to the bank. But somehow they won’t still be able to lay exclusive rights to that as we all have been benefactors of the Mo’hits legacy – their story and their rise showing what two people can do with the right amount of resilience, talent and passion.

That it has now come to an end doesn’t taint it for what it is. After all what is that popular saying about all good things (no pun intended)?

PHOTOS: MO’HITS ROCK AT THE ‘LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY’ CONCERT

Nigerian-born pop star Dapo Daniel Oyebanjo popularly known as D’Banj lived up to his billing as one of Africa’s greatest entertainers with a top class performance at the Live in New York City Concert on Sunday, February 19, 2012.

The event was a total sell-out as some fans had to be turned back because there was no more space to accommodate them.

D’Banj was supported at the show by other members of Mo’Hits crew such as Dr Sid,D’Prince,Wande Coal and K-Switch.

According to the highly elated singer New York – SOLD OUT!! I told u I was going to eat from the Big Apple… THANK YOU FANS! Oooossshhee!‘

Here’s pics from the event below.

DID D’PRINCE EMBARRASS HIMSELF AT NU GROTTO?

Music pundits have predicted that a time will come when only hip-hop acts who truly have the voice and are talented will stand the test of time.Such a scenario played out at Biola Adegoke owned Nu Grotto Night Club located on Etim Inyang Crescent,Victoria Island where the D’Prince of the Mo’Hits Crew went clubbing last weekend.

In the course of the night,D’Prince went over to meet the DJ and told him to play instrumental of his songs while he collected a microphone and sang on the beat. For about 15 minutes, D’Prince thought he was entertaining the guests,but in actual fact he wasn’t,because he was singing off key and only bored the guests who had been enjoying the lovely sounds from the DJ before he interrupted.