"I'm On Top Of The
World" - D'banj Brags!!
Dapo
Oyebanji (popularly known as D’banj) has taken his music beyond the shores of
Africa where he has become a reckoning force within his 10 years in the
industry. In this interview with TRIBUNE, the entertainer shares his dream for
music and how he wants to celebrate his 10 years as an artiste.
How do you feel
headlining the 2013 Hennessey Artistry?
A
lot of things have happened in the last two years, and next year, 2014 will be
the 10th year of my first official song, Tongolo. I did the song in 2004. So,
next, year it’s going to be D’banj’s 10th year on stage. For me to have been a
decade in the industry means a lot. I have been watching what Hennessey has been
doing with the entertainment industry and I can say I was humbled when they
called me. I won’t be the first artiste they have used. They have been doing
Hennessey Artistry for the past four years now. They have been doing it every
year where they pick two or three artistes together to do a song, shoot a video
and then they showcase what they have in a way to reach out to their core fans
and customers. When they called me for this year, everybody knows that when it
comes to D’banj, I enjoy what I do and put all my heart inside and dive into
it. I told them this year would be different; that I would do it more like a
lifestyle. I will do it the way it should be done, and I think that’s what
we’ve been doing since we started. And when a lot of my fans see me now, they
say they now drink Hennessy just because of me. They even said they didn’t know
of the Hennessy Artistry before; so this one is more pronounced and I tell them
it’s by God’s grace. I feel very honoured. A lot of people love it; maybe they
will even use me for next year again. Who knows?
You travelled to France
where Hennessey is made. Has that in any way changed your perception of the
brand?
Going
there, for me – and I say this with all humility on behalf of everybody and
myself – a lot of Nigerians and our friends that were here don’t know the
difference between cognac and brandy. Hennessey is not a brandy but cognac. My
going to France was an experience, as I found out that the Hennessey we drink
is made from grape. It feels real in me because nobody would ever believe it’s
made from a fruit like grape. I was expecting a mixture of a substance but I
was showed the preview of how it’s made and how it has been maintained. I took
pictures of some barrels that have the Hennessey content of 1901. It’s a life
cell. I pray that God should let me build my brand to that stage like
Hennessey. The drink is the name of a man called Richard Hennessey. He was the
one who discovered the place and established himself there. Today, he is widely
known all over the world, because everywhere in the word they drink Hennessey.
I too would also like to do a drink that can be called Bangali drink or
something in the future. Hennessey has really opened my eyes and, like the
bible says, that ‘a man that’s diligent with what God has blessed him with
would sit before king and not men’. It’s not as if they are doing anything
extraordinary, but they keep the simple tradition that has been set from the
onset, and till date, nothing has changed in the process and only five or six families
were allowed to produce Hennessey. I was also allowed to produce my own
Hennessey, starting from the grape, to the beam, to the mixing and I did my own
drink. I was asked when I would want to start and I said in 10 years time from
now. You know I’m 10 years in the industry now and in another 10 years, we can
now sit and open it.
You’ve been 10 years in
the industry. Did you ever think you would come this far?
Oh
yes, my career is just 10 years, but with the success I feel like three to four
decades now. We are all doing the best we can do, but I believe with my 10
years as a musician, I have the biggest song in Africa right now and the best
song of all time and most viewed videos of all time. I would just say that I’m
humbled and we are getting ready for the world.
With Oliver Twist, have
you achieved all you want as a musician?
I
can never stop doing Oliver Twist; that is why I’m ‘Oliver Twist’. I’m just
starting and I can’t be satisfied. It was the only song that ever got to the
top ten chart in UK, Europe and other top places. I believe that Fela’s song
only played in Europe but officially, we have accomplished a lot with Oliver
Twist. So I want to continue with that momentum. I want two or three singles on
the top chart and I want a video that would top the chart. I want to release an
album that would compete with the albums on the international market and I will
not rest until they see all of us as one; so they will not see us as Nigerian
artistes or African musicians. I want them to hear a song around the world and
identify that the song is from Nigeria, and that the singer is an international
artiste. Nobody ever asks Jennifer Lopez where she comes from; everybody knows
she is from America. Nobody ever asks Shakira where she comes from; nobody asks
Wyclef if he was from Haiti. Until that is done in my own industry, I don’t
think I will be satisfied. Like Kanye West always says that people have
forgotten about racism; they are now on classism of colours, and I thank God
because God is changing everything finally.
Starting from Tongolo
to your latest song, Finally, how has it been?
I
am very grateful to God. I’m not perfect but I’m happy and I’m satisfied to an
extent that I always see myself as a person. Just before I did Tongolo, I had
to force myself and everybody around me to believe in me. Don Jazzy never
believed in me in the first place; I had to force him to believe in me. It’s
not that I’m perfect or different from what I saw in Wande Cole in 2007 in
UNILAG. I was about to go to a show, he sang for me and I told Don Jazzy we
must sign him. But Don Jazzy asked me why. We signed him and everybody that was
signed on Mo’Hits Records was brought in by me. But no one ever brought me into
any record label; I started from the bottom. I started from nothing, then I was
the only one who would play the mouth organ because we already had a singer
here and there. Then we had singers and rappers, and when I had the mouth
organ, I played it with passion and today, I’m on top of the world. So, if you
ask me in a short time from Tongolo till now how life has treated me, I would
say life has treated me very well and I’m on top of the world.
As big as your name is
now, will you think of doing a movie story about yourself?
I
would start by saying that I have never called myself a musician. I am an
entertainer. Likewise some of my friends say if I carry a microphone, I can be
a good stand-up comedian. But if you look at my videos, you will notice I spend
a lot of money and time on the making of my music video. If you check the song
Top of the World, you will see what I mean. It’s not ordinary. Every other
video is like a movie, starting from Ogbona-Felifeli and Fall in Love where I
had to go far to bring Genevieve in to make it a real movie. So, nobody should
come and ask me if D’banj is still going into acting because they should
already know that I’m an actor. By the time I’m getting into the movie
industry, I believe it is going to be a replica of the same way. Who knows if
in my first movie I’ll act like 50 Cent in his movie titled Get Rich or Die
Trying, or maybe I’m going to do I’m D’banj in 2014, which is my 10th year on
the stage – which I’m sure is not going to be a bad idea, or even with
Genevieve.
The Fall in Love video
still gets tongues wagging. Who really is Genevieve to you?
She
is a friend of mine and she is also a very strong part of one of my most
successful songs titled Fall in Love, and there is no way you are going to talk
about Genevieve – even if you Google me, you will definitely find Genevieve
attached to your search result.
Would you like to have
her as your woman, and not just a friend?
Yes,
I believe she is great and I don’t know what could happen to us in the future.
I met her as a friend and I believe that anybody that has her as a wife, just
like the Bible says that anybody that finds a woman has found himself a great
treasure in life.
Do you miss your
friend, Don Jazzy?
If
I say anywhere that I don’t miss him, then I’m lying, because I’ll be 10 years
old on stage by next year, and I spent eight and a half of those 10 years with
him. I’m just married to him in a way that I miss everything. I miss the
family, I miss his movement, I miss his jokes and argument in the studio and I miss
him a lot. We can always do music with Don Jazzy. Now the song Top of the World
was produced by a Grammy award-winning producer, while the song Finally and
Don’t Tell Me Nonsense was produced by my producer, and Oliver Twist was
produced by Don Jazzy; so why won’t I want Don Jazzy on my 10th anniversary
album?
Tell us about your song
Finally
For
me, Finally is not just music; it’s like our story. I see us living in a
jungle, where we are coming from as in Africa; where we are being ruled, and
then now we are the ones that they want to look out for in the entertainment
sector – not only in the oil and gas or the other sectors of the economy.
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