Michael ‘Ruger‘ Adebayo has opened up about his struggles following his departure from Jonzing World, the label that launched his career.
In 2024, Ruger surprised fans by announcing the creation of his record label Blown Boy Entertainment, and publicly denouncing “loyalty to godfathers” — confirming his exit from Jonzing World.
The 25-year-old artiste accused his former label of misusing his earnings to fund new signees while keeping him uninformed.
He also revealed that he chose not to renew his contract because the label failed to promote his brand as aggressively as he had hoped.
In an interview with Afrobeats Intelligence, Ruger alleged he was blacklisted after leaving the label.
He said many critics doubted his future, with some claiming he would only manage “one more tour” before fading into obscurity.
The ‘Asiwaju’ hitmaker addressed the stigma attached to artistes who leave their labels in Nigeria, often being labeled as “ungrateful”. The singer said he had to rebuild his music career from scratch.
“After leaving the label, there were lots of comments about it. Some people were saying, ‘This is the last year you’re going to tour.’ This is the end. You are finished. Not everybody was willing to help in any way. Once you leave a label in Nigeria, they call you ungrateful already,” he said.
“Many people do not want to associate with that person. Because you left a label. So, I was battling that. I had to meet a lot of people. Just like reintroducing myself, doing a lot of things from scratch. It was stressful. It is not easy to leave your label.
“Yeah, because you have to build your own system, it was starting everything over and over again. But because I was strong, I was strong inside. I was also down. But I was still strong; I was even touring in Europe. When that tweet just came out, out of nowhere.”
Ruger said, despite the challenges, he found motivation in a tweet from superstar Wizkid.
“I do not think I have spoken to Wiz since 2022. That tweet just came out of nowhere. And this particular song, ‘Make Way’, was not getting traction in Nigeria at all. It was there, but it was not like that. When he just tweeted, ‘I love Ruga’s ‘Make Way so much’. I was like. It felt like a sign that I had to keep doing it. I was almost getting tired,” he said.
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