Popularly Afrobeats artist David Adeleke, also known as Davido, has claimed that icon Dapo Oyebanjo, better known as D’banj was the first Nigerian musician to achieve global stardom. The ‘Electricity’ crooner stated this in a recent interview with Apple Music.
According to Davido, before the success of D’banj’s 2012 hit single “Oliver Twist,” Nigerian artists were not receiving international bookings. He acknowledged that the song inspired a paradigm shift, as it played a pivotal role in helping African music gain traction in the Western world.
Davido said, “D’banj was my first vision of a Nigerian artist taking over the world. No one in America was booking Nigerian artists for shows but that changed when I saw Kanye West in D’banj’s ‘Oliver Twist’ video on YouTube.
“It was because of the success of ‘Oliver Twist’ that Americans started booking D’banj, 2Face, P-Square and other African artists for shows. They were making about $1,000,000 per show. So I decided to switch and start doing African music because that’s where I am from.”
Produced by Don Jazy, “Oliver Twist” was released on May 11, 2012 and the track debuted at number nine on the United Kingdom Singles Chart for the week of May 26, 2012. This marked D’banj’s first appearance on the chart and becoming the first Nigerian song to debut on the UK Singles Chart. This achievement significantly boosted D’banj’s international recognition.
