The intensity of rivalry among competitors in an industry refers to the extent to which firms within an industry put pressure on one another and limit each other’s profit potential. If rivalry is fierce, then competitors are trying to steal profit and market share from one another. As a result, this reduces profit potential for all firms within the industry. Just like the lengthy dominance in the modern day football through the rivalry shared between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, Nigeria is not out in this case, when it comes to the world of showbiz. David Adedeji Adeleke, better known by his stage name Davido, and Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, known professionally as Wizkid, the talented duo have endured off and on friendship amidst controversy between the two music moguls. Just like in the game of football there has been a divided perspective on whose better between Messi and Cristiano, the same question is directed on the part of these superstars among their respective fans.

1. Davido is well known to be the “single hitman”, though on his ingang to the music world, He dropped the album OMO BABA OLOWO, which till date remains the only official studio album by Davido, not considering other EPs. Davido produced and released his first musical recording “Back When” which was a major hit. The song served as the album’s lead single and received frequent airplay, this still doesn’t discredit the ever glowing “Dami duro” which received hit waves around the nation. The two defining songs were just the only songs as many as 17 songs dropped from his first album. Since then, Davido may however, gone another dimension to restructure his musical strategy by making hit and non-album singles, which habitually at times last way longer than most studio albums and singles by his fellow musicians. He’s proven how superfantastic his work has been by dropping nationwide hit singles like “If”, “Fall”, “Fia” and most recently “Assurance”. This also includes numerous other singles he featured many of his compatriots within and outside Nigeria, which made major waves. The ‘Baddest’ is the deferred second studio album by the Afropop star, which was put on hold due to terms of the contract Davido signed with Sony Music BMG. It was meant to be his second overall album and the follow-up to his debut LP, Omo Baba Olowo.

That said, Wizkid on the other hand has been overwhelmingly successful both locally and international. The release of his ever ecstatic “Superstar” album, arguably his best out of his previous trio, ushered in a protégé from Banky-W, heralded by aptness of greatness unseen. Till date, star boy as popularly known, has exceeded the firmament most expected of him. Back to back hits in his premature career assisted to boost an undeniable massive talent, to become a household name and citizen’s favorite.

2.Wizzy dropped self-titled album “Ayo” which was a huge success and “Sounds from the other side”, made it a total of three studio albums to his name.


However, just not to be obscured by favoritism and predilection, both artists are set to drop their respective albums, “Sophomore” from Davido, scheduled to drop on September, and “Made in Lagos” from WizKid yet unascertained. Irrespective of the fact that, Davido lately have been dominating headlines locally and more recently added superb “Best international act” award during the BET awards to the list of his other numerous awards in his cabinet. Nevertheless, there’s still enough reasons to suggest that WizKid’s album would be better than his compatriot, even though he’s currently dominating the local music scenes.

3. Considering the duo’s first ever albums, it’s clear that WizKid’s “Superstar” album made more wave and got esteemed appreciation from locals over Davido’s “Omo baba Olowo”. Being commended on a number of notes, like having the reminiscent voice of the great Fela kuti, added to the fact that Wizkid’s vocal range is sufficient to create enduring music for music lovers. Coming from such a young lad inspired by reggae, dancehall, and R&B rhythms all in one piece of album meant that Davido’s debut album was shut off.



Overview of their respective genre’s of music, WizKids genre of music, which can be classified under reggae and dancehall, with proven testimonies from previous released songs, like “come closer”, “one dance” “Daddy yo” that are part of his “sounds from the other side” seems to make more wave, and craves more anticipation from fans over that of Davido, most especially in the international scene.


Over time, with the compilation of the duo’s musical artistry, WizKid has shown to have credibility when it comes to musical production over Davido. He’s known to produce well-crafted, and dimensional pop dance project that is all about vibes, minding sternly the needed actual substance.

4. Wizkid has shown to be far more diverse than Davido as well. WizKid enigmatic diversity has proven to be crowd appealing where ever he performs. He integrates lovers of diverse genres of music, without much difficulty. This owing to his ability of being a diverse artist. Going through his hit productions over the years, WizKid have proven to be an ample part of every music genre he ventures himself into, be it Afrobeat, Afropop, reggae, dancehall, hip hop and pop. That’s why much is still expected of his album.


Nevertheless, Wizkid is going solo on the whole track list of his much anticipated album, leaving many with the desire that something new should be expected of the Daddy yo coroner. This setup plan alone is an anticipation on it’s own, where as Davido would go on to feature already known African artists, which is not much a big deal.
There are rumors moving that Davido’s already released singles which are to be featured in his anticipated album prior to it’s debut might still feature in his latest album, this may perhaps debilitate the awaiting freshness many have been thirsting for. There has been so many word of mouth, confessing that, WizKid’s “Made in Lagos” album is more culture oriented, in the sense that, it touches every aspect of the Nigerian life and divulges in deep with proverbial wordings into the conventional status quo of the country.

5. Finally, it’s always difficult to compare both artists, due to the magnitude of talent they possess and hard work they put in as well. Davido has been the better of the pair in the eye of the locals, due to his domineering back to back hit singles, but that still isn’t enough reason to invalidate Star boy, who does put in a lot of hard work. More over he has the more international recognition amongst the pair, which gives him an upper hand over his compatriot. Most people might see comparison as been unhealthy or a medium for favoritism, but its an important aspect of life and the showbiz industry, we compare and contrast to get the very best. However, whatever our reasons are for comparing, we should bear in mind that this duo just like Ronaldo and Messi are quite above every other artists and are currently enjoying their own league of dominance, and can only be compared with each other right now. With that said, we can only enjoy the limited time we have with them, coupled with their beautiful musical artistry, though on that note, await the resounding pleasure that comes with the most anticipated albums of the year!