#JustAThought
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Who remembers D’banj?
Ok. Dumb question.
I remember D’banj. I know you do too.
I’m not talking about this koko garri
drinking,
agricultural farming, Cocoa na Chocolate
singing, Dre
beats wearing ‘Eja Nla’ who now goes by
the alias
‘Kiniwun Funfun’. I’m referring to the Why
Me
singing, Tongolo crooning, harmonica
blowing, Mo
Gbono Feli grinding, kokolet mamalet and
babylet
chanting kokomaster.
D’banj is fun… or at least he used to be.
Remember at
the Thisday Music Festival sometime in
2006/07
when the Destiny’s Child graced the
event? Kelly
Rowland was feeling the n***a so much
that she got
up and grinding to “Do you like the koko”
with our
Ski’banj (like his Jamaican friends would
call him).
Now, that was some firebrand entertainer
stuff.
D’banj was and I’ll like to still believe that
he is
loved by many. Only that for some of us,
our choices
and reasons for sticking with him may
have waned
and withered.
When D’banj came on-board the afro pop
scene, it
was obvious how much he changed every
darn thang.
Was it new slangs that have formed a
majority of our
everyday local vocabulary? Or those suave
dance
steps – the kind you grind low with your
right-arm
elbow in-between your legs? Or perhaps
the songs!
Lord, the hits became too numerous to
mention and
with every new one churned out, we had
yet another
club/street anthem. D’banj was not only
serving it
hot, he was slinging it and killing it at the
same time.
While I choose to not overlook Don Jazzy’s
ingenious
talent in most (if not all) of his then music
productions, D’banj was more like what (or
who) you’d
refer to as the live wire of the band – I’m
talking
about the Mo’Hits crew.
What about the petite Nollywood actress,
Genevieve
Nnaji? No controversy trailed her more
like her
rumoured affiliation with the kokomaster.
That’s still
a question interviewers make reference to
whenever they get to sit with her. And it’s
all thanks
to this same D’banj. But what’s happened
with that
D’banj? Sadly, that D’banj is gone, and
he’s been
very well missed. I’m guessing change
really is the
only constant thing if not, he wouldn’t
have evolved to
becoming the global ambassador that he
is today,
which we’re all indeed very proud of…
make no
mistake about that.
All good things really do come to an end. I
miss “the
D’banj” and this time, D’banj agaghi
abiala!

By Jim