Read what Charles Novia said about Olamide and
Don Jazzy’s beef below.
The Headies 2015 ( which ironically held on the first
day of 2016) was an anti-climax after that. And
perhaps the public tantrums of both Don Jazzy and
Olamide were the highlights of what was before then
an above average telecast with glaring lapses which
could have been remedied with more precision.
When the artistes nominated in the ‘Next Rated..’
category were shown in a mini-documentary
somewhere in the show, taking photo-ops in the
Hyundai SUV and pleading for votes from their fans
so as to win the prize, I told myself after seeing the
earnest expectations on their faces that this
category would surely be competitive but would
have some bad blood drawn thereafter.
The visuals of the four nominated acts seated side-
by-side in the hall thereafter, being interviewed by
the Hip TV Presenter just before the category was
announced also showed an unease amongst them
even if they were trying to put up aloof facades.
Korede Bello, Kiss Daniel, L’il Kesh and Reekado
Banks. Four nominees in perhaps the ‘closest-to-
call’ category in The Headies ever. Looking at the
list, they each had hits in 2015. But in my personal
opinion ( which I’m entitled to, innit?) I would have
pruned the list at the final stage to just two; Korede
Bello and Kiss Daniel.
‘Godwin’ was probably the biggest song of 2015,
transcending both the secular and gospel charts
and finding resonance all across Africa. How could
such a song not get the artiste a winner in that
category? On the other hand, ‘Woju’ by Kiss Daniel
was another monster hit in 2015 which certainly
would have won him that prize without raising
eyebrows.
With due respect to Reekado Banks, I don’t think his
‘ Katapot’ track was that much of a phenomenal hit
in 2015 but it was a good track. And L’il Kesh too,
who was touted by Olamide as having back to back
hits in 2015 ( by his reckoning) stood a chance as
well but I would say a misfit of personal branding by
the YBNL team for Kesh might have added to his
loss in that category. Club and dance hits are
different from acclaimed general hits when it comes
to the brass tacks and ‘Gbese Re’ was huge on the
club and dance circuits but can’t be termed a huge
hit compared to Korede’s and Kiss’
Thus, when Reekado won, I was one of the
surprised folks watching on television. Obviously
this didn’t go down well with Olamide, on whose
label Kesh is signed on to and he went on a profane
and perhaps alcohol-induced rant onstage a few
minutes later, calling out the organisers and
storming off the stage thereafter.
Don Jazzy, the acclaimed Producer, who is the
Head Huncho at Mavin Records which has Reekado
as one of its acts, picked up the gauntlet a few
minutes after while receiving his Lifetime
Achievement Award and called out Olamide. He
asked Olamide to come take the car won by
Reekado and stormed out of the awards with his
crew.
Olamide later went on twitter to rant more
expletives on Don Jazzy.
Both artistes were wrong on many fronts. For
Olamide, his open inebriation on stage calls for
much questioning of his public conduct when he’s
not in performance mode. As he boasts in his
songs, he might have packed halls and swayed
trends in the past year but trying a Kanye West
onstage at The Headies was ill-advised. One should
ask this question ( which I will also throw at Don
Jazzy later as well) that if L’il Kesh had back to
back hits as Olamide claimed, why didn’t YBNL
deem it fit to buy him a car ( if he hasn’t any) all
these months?
And Don Jazzy too should have stuffed it when he
said that he had told Korede and Reekado not to
bother themselves about the car if they didn’t win
because he would buy them a car. Really? Did he
mean to tell us that with all the shows and
endorsements both acts had last year under his
management, there wasn’t any ‘change’ left to buy
his acts cars?
If that’s the case, something is wrong somewhere.
Don Jazzy screwed up though by calling out
Olamide in his speech especially as Olamide never
mentioned his name. But to a discerning mind, it
seems those two had festering issues before last
night and that incident was the last straw.
Mutual discontent and petty misgivings are
common in the entertainment industry. I am never
fooled by put-on smiles and show of camaderie
most times by artistes as they are human like
everyone else. What sets off animousities are
usually a struggle for a space on top; a definition of
ambitious egos or just plain loathing for petty
reasons.
The struggle and not the hustle is what is real.
Territorial dominance and egotistical relevance.
The major beneficiary from all this, in spite of the
furore over the winner, is Hyundai. The brand now
has more exposure than it bargained for and
everyone would remember the brand for months to
come. No publicity is bad at all in this regard for
them.
To think that Don Jazzy and Olamide did a collabo a
couple of years back and an anaemic one too, in my
opinion. A song which didn’t make sense and was
soon forgotten as soon as it came out.
With the storm over this award and the
degenerative posibilities it portends, one can only
suggest to Hyundai to come out with a new model
inspired by this.
And calling that model ‘Hyundai Skelemba’ won’t be
a bad idea.The sales might just be something the
company can ‘bank’ on.
Source: Gistreel
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