Is D’banj Trying To Revolutionize His Career With Afrobeat – TeshOla Writes

7 years ago

Is D’banj Trying To Revolutionize His Career With Afrobeat – TeshOla Writes

Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo a.k.a D’banj a.k.a Eja Nla a.k.a Banga Lee has been in the music game for reasonable number of years now and I think he should understand the game. D’banj was introduced to the harmonica by his late older brother, Femi Oyebanjo.

Being in the game since 2004 and creating hit singles like Oliver Twist, Fall in Love, Feeling The Nigga, Knocking On My Door, Mr Endowed, If No Be God, Igwe, Tongolo, Frosh, The Morning, Mo Gbono Feli Feli, Olorun Maje, The King Is Here, Suddenly, Scape Goat Remix, Cashflow, Blame It On The Money, Kimon, Why me, International Display, Ibadi E, Gbelo Gbelo, Omini, Iya Mi, Entertainer, Ika O Da, Mr. Olopa, Mobolowon, Celebrate, move your body, Alaye, Extraordinary and more hit singles. D’banj was once referred at the most top notched singer out of Nigeria.

Suddenly we felt the unusual hit songs from Bangalee shortly after parting ways with Don Jazzy of Mo’Hits records now the leader of Mavin Records. D’banj stepped up his game in June 2011, signing a global deal with Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music imprint he went on to feature and worked as a back up on G.O.O.D Music records, he added with a remix to his monster jam “Scapegoat” featuring Kanye West. Finally D’banj is the best outta Africa.

According to D’banj’s profile on Wikipedia;

“As a tribute to his mentor Fela, D’banj uses a fusion of Afrobeat and Afropop to bring his music to life and into the 21st century with breathless enthusiasm as well as a good dose of humour.

His songs are based on his life, often hilarious but with a deeper meaning which documents the struggle of a young Nigerian trying to achieve his dreams.”

I agree with the second paragraph but totally disagree with the first one. D’banj in his early career life was not into Afrobeat but was just stocked to the Afropop genre. The Afrobeat is described as a music style which developed in the 1970s out of a combination of traditional Nigerian and Ghanaian music, highlife , and American funk and jazz , with a focus on chanted vocals and percussion. It was created by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti who popularised the style both within and outside Nigeria.

Fela is said to have used it to revolutionize musical structure as well as the political context in his country, Nigeria. Afrobeat features chants, call-and-response vocals, and complex, interacting rhythms.

But rethinking it D’banj is now switching back to the main root of African music (Afrobeat) since he feels the pop style is not more fetching him what he wanted. D’banj released “Emergency” (an Afrobeat inspired song) in 2016 precisely on the 7th of the month of January.

He did follow up with “If E No Be God” (an Afrobeat/Afropop inspired song) on the 9th of June and finally he gave us a Afrobeat sound “Focus” four days ago. D’banj to my believe is switching to the Afrobeat genre now because of the appreciation the genre has garnered abroad with a song like “Ojuelegba” by Wizkid crossing boundaries plus Drake releasing a top charting single “One Dance” which is a fusion of Afrobeat and Pop.

D’banj’s career is gone and the singer is gone out of the minds of music lovers in the country, I guess D’banj is trying to play along with the trend of the industry trying to win back the hearts of the people but this might not work because of the fast and growing new artists popping up and have definitely filled the hearts of the people.

D’banj is not discouraged and could be on the top spots soon but the truth is, he is trying to use the genre he neglected years ago to pick his spot again.

Written By TeshOla!| Twitter: @its_TeshOla