Kill Don Jazzy - written by ex-Mo' Hits Publicist,
Bayo Omisore
So to start with, I am not a hater. I do not wish
any evil on Don Jazzy or Michael Collins. If
anything, I can be categorized as an interested
onlooker when I want to be passive or an
invested businessman active in the Nigerian
music industry for the past 18 years.
In addition, I am a writer. I have been told I am a
very decent writer. Or maybe I’m living on past
glory. Either way, I had another title I was
working with. But I decided this one would
attract the eyeballs I desperately need to get the
attention I so desperately crave.
Finally, I understand the workings of PR. Hell, I
handled the PR of Mo’ Hits in 2006 when the
only talent was D’banj. Back then, Wande was a
dancer, Dr. Sid (I plead the Fifth) and D’Prince
was a model. I do not wish death on Michael
Collins.
I however think the Don Jazzy brand is dead. Or
should be rested. I’ll tell you why...
Do you remember Don Jazzy? Remember that
Soundcity advert. I remember the first day I met
D’banj and Don Jazzy. This must have been
either late 2004 or sometime in 2005. I had been
in the business as a journo for a few years by
then so I knew them. We had done a story on
Mr. Solek at Hip Hop World in 2003. Jazzy had
worked as the keyboardist of the band but he
had moved on to music production working under
JJC. He was very quiet; never uttered a word.
You could have been forgiven for thinking he was
mute.
Back to the Soundcity advert. Don Jazzy didn’t
say a word. Just whispered in D’banj’s ear while
D’banj handled his business. It was brand new. It
was refreshing. The ratings of the newly-
established Soundcity music channel went
through the roof. D’banj and Don Jazzy became
the perfect example of a match made in heaven.
Cobhams, if he could see them back then, would
have known they were going places. So much so
that Dr. Sid, a University of Ibadan-trained
dentist and self-appointed administrator of
eLDee’s Trybe Records, was happy to abandon
that project and his album project to work under
the tutelage of these relatively unknowns.
After that, the communication from the Mo’ Hits
camp was that Don Jazzy was the boss. He was
being driven around town by a university
graduate who earns an enviable salary working in
an oil company (Fifth). Jazzy didn’t speak in
public. He never granted interviews. He asked
simply that whatever you wanted to offer to him
should be offered to his ‘children’. (Note that he
had been calling his artistes his children since
the Mo’ Hits days. Nobody questioned it then
because this is the Don we’re talking about
here.) In fact, once, I was at the crib of one of
the Mo’ Hits people, and he told me I had to
leave because Jazzy was coming. I was
genuinely curious and somewhat impressed.
Impressed because they kept the charade going
even off-camera. Curious because, well, so could
it be it wasn’t a charade after all?
Remember all those award ceremonies where
someone from Mo’ Hits would win an award and
spend half the speech time praise-and-
worshipping Don Jazzy? Or when Don Jazzy
himself would win an award for best production
and his wards would mount the stage to receive
on his behalf even while he was seated in the
front row in the same building. Guys, let’s be
honest, these are the images of Don Jazzy that
made him the brand he is today. Those days
when he only worked with his Mo’ Hits people
and a literal handful of associates.
In the real world, a don is a crime boss, crime
lord, mob boss, kingpin, criminal mastermind; a
person in charge of a criminal organization. He
typically has absolute or nearly absolute control
over his subordinates, is greatly feared by his
subordinates for his ruthlessness and willingness
to take lives in order to exert his influence, and
profits from the criminal endeavours in which his
organization engages. Replace the word ‘crime’
with music and you have Don Jazzy.
Mo’ Hits was an organized entity. At the head of
it all was Don Jazzy; the Capo di tutt’i capi, the
Godfather, the boss of all bosses. Complete with
his staff. D’banj was his Underboss. Dr. Sid,
being the most educated and exposed of the lot,
was the Consigliere. The other artistes were the
Caporegimes. The management and the other
stragglers and hangers-on were the foot soldiers.
In the golden words of Christopher Wallace,
“things done changed!”
Fast forward to January 1 2016 . Now I am not
interested in who was right or who was wrong.
For me, the happenings of the early morning
January 2 2016 made the Headies. They set the
tone for the year. This is entertainment dammit.
Are you not entertained?!!!
If you ask me, Don Jazzy had no business
speaking to Olamide. I have seen enough Mafia
movies to know that no Don that understands his
worth would get so emotional as to entertain the
thought of passing such a message on a public
stage. That job is left to his Consigliere, in this
case Dr. Sid, who is already disliked intensely for
his supposed role in the Mo’ Hits breakup via the
leaked tape. People would have talked. But
Jazzy would have maintained his self-respect.
He opened himself to ridicule the minute he
opened his mouth on that stage.
I can trace this handfalling back to when Jazzy
decided to start appearing in songs after the
bitter divorce from D’banj. The Don Jazzy we
knew and respected from a distance fell from
heaven and became human. In fact, the
Kokomaster showed his disgust over Jazzy’s
features after their falling out. I very much doubt
this would have happened if they were still
together. Not that I think they knew any better
then, but they had one script and they kept it
simple by sticking to that story.
Of course, with the breakup and the subsequent
interviews granted by D’banj, too much
information was shared in the public space that
caused irreparable damage to the carefully-
crafted Don Jazzy image. I think Don Jazzy
should have moved on to the next stage. Or
developed a next stage to move to. He certainly
should not have done Loya or Konga or
Jantamanta (wtf?) as Don Jazzy. That’s not the
Don Jazzy we were introduced to.
In truth, while we loved and respected Don Jazzy
for his mystique, his music-making prowess and
his relationship with D’banj, there was only so
much he could achieve as a brand. However, this
new guy is fun, is funny, seems to be humble, is
extremely generous and, as such, is an
endorsement magnet getting business from an
endless list of companies. As it should be. As a
businessman, it makes every sense for Michael
Collins to be this new guy with access to millions
of advertising dollars. But he cannot expect to
eat his cake and have it. Something has to give!
In conclusion, I think that as the head writer in
this story, Mr. Collins needs to kill the Don Jazzy
character. It has made him money and fame. But
perhaps its time to quit the ‘mafia’ and live a
normal life.
So, on a lighter note...What name should Don
Jazzy go with now?
My Guy Jazzy? That’s your round-the-way
friendly neighborhood guy. Easygoing. No airs
whatsoever.
Daddy Jazzy. Re his kids.
Judge Jazzy. Respected by all and lays down the
law. Yet approachable in his manner. A friend to
everybody and a friend to nobody.
Bro Jazzy. The senior brother who opens his
door to any and ever... full story here>>> http://www.bedinodnews..co.ke/2016/01/don-jazzy-should-be-killed-read-these.html?m=1

The don is busy making money and you are here talking nonsense