Davido: How D’banj, Don Jazzy inspired me to do music full-time

Davido has credited Don Jazzy and D’banj as the inspirations behind his decision to take up music full-time. 

In a recent interview with Streetz Atlanta, the ‘Unavailable’ hitmaker revealed how the two Nigerian music heavyweights showed him that it was possible to make a successful career out of African music.

The 32-year-old Grammy-nominated singer said he first met Don Jazzy and D’banj when he was 14 years old in Atlanta, United States.

Davido said at the time, the duo was working with international artistes like Kanye West and Snoop Dogg.

He also recalled being impressed by their success and the fact that they were making a name for themselves in the global music industry.

“They were African artistes, the label was actually Don Jazzy and D’banj. It was a producer and artiste duo. The producer is still the biggest producer in Africa right now, he has Rema, Ayra Starr and others. But they were like the first people to show me that you can make something off African music,” he said.

“I picked them up from the airport when I was 14 years old in Atlanta. They came from Nigeria, they had a show and a video shoot. These were Nigerian artistes from Africa and at the time, I think it was Kanye West that got a wind of them and they did something with him. I was like you’re in the studio with Kanye West? Off African music?

“And they came another time, this time they were going to LA to shoot a video with Snoop Dogg. I checked up at the strip club and they spent like $20,000 and this was in 2008. After seeing that, I was doing music with my cousins and we were leaning towards R&B, Afro R&B, and pretty boy swag.

“But when I saw that, that weekend alone I was like I am going home. Even artistes who had not crossed over to the international space were doing big things, selling out stadiums. I was like ‘Dad I am going back to Nigeria’ and that is how I did it.”