Afrobeats: Davido Opens Up On Big Mistake He, Wizkid, Others made In Their Formative Years
Davido is one of Nigeria’s biggest stars and an Afrobeats evangelist. Over the years, it has been quite obvious that the Champion Sound crooner never fancies getting into a fight with his co-stars.
In an interview with Blackbox in 2020, Davido addressed the ‘rivalry’ among the triad of himself, Wizkid, and Burna Boy. Taking a cue from what OBO said, he does not want to be on the train of hate and division. He noted that the rivalry did not help the Nigerian Music Industry at large as it was an unhealthy one.
Now, in a recent interview in February of 2022, Davido still shares the same sentiments. Ahead of his London’s 02 Arena show, Davido had a chat with UK’s New Wave Magazine
How the new artistes support themselves and the mistake he and his peers made in not doing same saying:
In terms of advice (for new artistes), I’d say keep everything about the music. As long as the music is good, and you’re focused on pushing the culture, you’ll get to your goal. And don’t aim to take the shine from other artists too, praise will come naturally to those that deserve it. I see a lot of these new artists are all working together, which is amazing to see. I and my own peers made a lot of mistakes because we were young and didn’t know any better, but we’ve learned from every experience. I’m just happy to see the new generation stay connected, you can see the culture moving quicker with them being together. The alté scene has really been on the go recently. Like they have like Tems who’s going crazy, Teezee, they’re all really good. The amazing thing is that they have been supporting themselves, which goes back to what I’m saying. If they didn’t support themselves and believe in their creativity, people from the outside wouldn’t be looking into them.
Davido also talked about his quarter-million donation to charity on his last birthday:
You see all these charities raising money for food, water, homes for orphans, and yet they aren’t raising nearly as much as they need. I made a joke on life and ended up raising 200 million naira, then I added my own money. It was just amazing to see the influence I had, even when I was just kidding. There was no way I could keep that money though, even if I wanted to, so I just gave it away. I plan on doing something similar soon, even bigger and better, for a good cause.
On the role of social media, streaming services, and other technological inventions in propagating Afrobeats, Davido implied that there is no better time to be an Afrobeat star than now.
Davido said he believes social media plays a large part in why African Music can reach corners it couldn’t before:
“You don’t have to wait for a song to get played on TV or radio, you can upload something and people will find it.”
Conclusion
With the wisdom of hindsight, Davido may not be giving himself and co-stars enough credits. His generation of singers surpassed the established heights after grabbing the baton from a Kokomaster and Bashorun Gaa hegemony that had Afrobeats aficionados in a trance.
