Jimmy Jatt: DJ business remains weakest in Nigeria’s entertainment industry

Oluwaforijimi Adewale, a Nigerian disc jockey (DJ) better know as Jimmy Jatt, says DJ business remains the weakest point in Nigeria’s entertainment industry.

The 53-year-old entertainer, who is renowned for his dealings with 2Baba, Wizkid and 9ice, among others, disclosed this to Hip TV, while decrying the relegation of DJs in the country.

He said event planners and music consumers are culpable in this regard, adding that fans often give all attention to artistes while showbiz moguls accord their fortunes to those in the frontline.

According to him, there’s a need for showbusiness stakeholders to begin to realize that, behind any successful artiste or project are a team who’s creative contribution is equally important.

“Simply put, it’s just the bandwagon mentality of our people. Once it’s this, everyone heads in that direction; once it’s that, everyone heads in that direction,” he said.

“People tend not to regard the fact that, for every guy you see in front, there’ll be a team of people in the back. For every striker, there are ten other players including the goalkeeper.

“They just celebrate the striker. When you look at the entertainment scene, you probably tend to look at the artistes themselves, the actors playing lead roles and all.

“But, for those people to get to that point, there’s a team of others that have to perform certain tasks. I think we have to regard that. It’s the problem of our music industry.

“People want to celebrate the artiste as they break into the limelight, not considering that there are a lot of factors. DJs, dance. promoters, the media, event planners are all playing a role.

“That’s why I’ll always feel like the entertainment or music industry, the weakest link, for now, would be the DJs. Few of us may be lucky because we built a brand.”

Jimmy Jatt, had earlier claimed that Nigeria’s hip hop culture would not be where it is today without people like him.

“But I’m talking about the profession as a collective. You see people plan events and their budget is, say, N100 million. They’re ready to give almost half of that to the artiste performing,” he had said.

“A quarter goes to the MC and they’re not ready to give a percentage of that to the DJ who’s going to be there from start to finish.”