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D’BANJ: The thin line between love and
hate
Last Updated: 9 hours ago | Watch AIT
International TV Online Today !
Once upon a time, Dapo ‘D’banj’ Oyebanjo,
was the musical sweetheart of many and
poster-boy of the Nigerian hip hop music
industry. Youthful and good looking with
a finely chiseled body, energetic on and
off stage, he gifted Nigerians a string of
commercially successful albums that
earned him a place among the pantheon
of contemporary music stars in a short
while.
With the production wizardry of Don
Jazzy, he could croak into the microphone
and almost so effortlessly sell millions of
copies, nick multi-million naira
endorsement deals and performance
engagements from the east to the west
and everywhere around the globe. This is
despite that his music thrives on
sloganeering and ephemeral lyrics. But
like the saying goes, who God has blessed
no man can curse. The past five years
have been D ’banj’s and it does not beggar
understanding that his musical odyssey
is the stuff fantasies are made of.
He started the first quarter of 2011 as a
transformational, pioneering figure in the
industry when the video of Mr. Endowed
remix featuring Snoop Dogg was
released. The video put paid to every
doubt that D ’banj featured the iconic
American rapper on his song. Hardly had
the euphoria of this international
collaboration subsided than it emerged
that Grammy awards winning rapper,
Kanye West, wanted a piece of the D ’banj
mojo. West actually tweeted at he and
Don Jazzy to hurry over to New York City
because there was work to be done.
And they responded immediately. Thus
earning the Mo ’hits guys widespread
reverence. In truth, every musician worth
his salt would have given a limb to be in
the shoes of the Mo ’hits guys even if for
just a day. Hitherto, he was the high
water mark by which other artistes were
measured.
The misstep?
Sadly, D ’banj is ending the same quarter
of just three months as a punch line. Last
Thursday, March 17, the singer crossed
the line between appealing and appalling
as the choice interviewer of President
Goodluck Jonathan in an interview
packaged by Silverbird Television. He was
seen as the perfect medium through
which the president could reach the
youth. That never happened. Rather, he
wedged a distance between himself and
his touch-point. The contention, among
many others, is that for an artiste of his
repute who has interacted with the
media even more than his interview
subject perhaps, he posted an abysmal
performance. He spent more time
fidgeting and nodding in acquiescence to
his own questions and ended up
disappointing the teeming youths he was
to help the president win over in the April
polls. Not only was he severely panned
for his unintelligible interviewing skills
that saw him asking just three questions
in an interview of about 30 minutes, he
did not ask a single follow up question
despite several opportunities to do so.
D ’banj was perceived as having frittered
away a golden chance to passionately
express the disenchantment of Nigerian
youths to the president.
The thin line between
love and hate
Indeed, there is a thin line between love
and hate while the line between fame
and infamy is thinner. D ’banj has joined a
growing list of celebrities riding the crest
of popularity and seeming infallibility
until a misdemeanor, a misstep brings
them back to reality. In just 30minutes, all
the myth around him evaporated and the
sad part is that everyone now perceives
him as just a shallow and smug artiste.
The youth ’s anger at D’banj’s inept
handling of the interview literally set
blogosphere on fire even before it ended
and thereafter with many virtually calling
for his head. Inadvertently, he became
the sacrificial lamb of the president ’s
refusal to participate in the presidential
debate organised by satellite television
channel, NN24. It was so bad that the
invectives could make a faint-hearted
artiste consider a career detour.
According to a well syndicated,
anonymous message, “D’banj speaking
for Nigerian youths is the highest form of
insult we have received recently. Does he
know what it means to go through a
Nigerian university for four years plus
and come out without getting a job ?” The
questions over his suitability for the role
and conclusions were as scathing as they
were hilarious. Funnily, too, his name
was caricaturized as D ’banjiing,
translated as “The dogmatic act of
nodding one’s head idiotically and
stupidly in an attempt to overshadow the
disconnection to the topic being
discussed. ” He was also seen in a
photograph labeled ‘scapegoat’ with the
reins in the President’s hand. Another
photograph also appeared on Facebook
where D ’banj was dancing with a topless
lady while being castigated as a misfit
and unworthy role model.
Now, there is a groundswell of threat to
boycott everything about brand D ’banj
with an anonymous group opening a
twitter page to make this effective.
Incidentally, the interview took place
about two days after his Kokomobile
phones hit the market. Not a few
Nigerians have pilloried the phone saying
it is inferior and nothing compared to the
cheapest phones in the market. This
probably wouldn ’t have been the case
two weeks back.
The reality
Apparently, brand D’banj is in trouble. He
certainly needs a reboot. However, D’banj
did not set out to falter or be demystified.
No discerning individual would have
rejected the opportunity and honour to
confer with the president of his country
irrespective of political or religious or
ethnic affiliation.
D’banj was just in the right place at the
wrong time and he pandered too gullibly
to his puppet masters ’ whims. Perhaps a
more intuitive and better informed
individual would have fathomed that he
was being choreographed to fail, but he
was probably too carried away to reason
logically. As crushed and battered as his
image and ego have become, D ’banj
should count himself lucky that he is a
Nigerian where the people forgive and
forget easily. He will bounce back.