Singer says Don Jazzy broke up Mo'Hits

The African superstar and Don jazzy had founded the defunct Mo'Hits records in 2004, and proceeded to release a number of successful albums including D'banj's No Long Thing, Rundown and The Entertainer.

But an acrimonious split in 2012 made them go separate ways, launching their separate imprints and releasing music. Don Jazzy has since found success with Mavin Records, with D’banj experiencing mixed fortunes with his DB Records.

The singer though has revealed that Don Jazzy requested for a split of the group, ganging up with all the other artistes to kick him out, including his brother , Kayswitch.

This came on the heels of the famous deal between D’banj and Kanye West’s good music, which was supposed to see both D’banj and Don Jazzy spend some time in New York. According to the Kokomaster, Don Jazzy was against taking risks, but he, an optimist was for the deal.

D’banj revealed this to Olisa Adibua on his chat show, ‘The Truth: “Maybe Dr Sid? We came back from New York, and we had a meeting with Jazzy. Me and Jazzy. And Jazzy really expressed his discomfort that ‘listen, this place is too expensive. We are spending money, we are going to stay there, things dey happen for Nigeria, we are already bosses here, we don’t need all these…make we just stay here..

“And I’m like ‘we are almost there, like it’s expensive but I know it’s not really guaranteed, because it’s a dog eat dog world out there. And in his own words, ‘you can’t leave certainty for uncertainty,’ which makes sense.

“But I said to him that listen brother this is not uncertainty. For Kanye West to see us is not a joke. He saw us in Dubai, na God. Is it not the same Nigeria that we are doing music that took us there.

“And I asked him that, and he said he didn’t want to go, he didn’t want us to do it again, he said he wasn’t interested. So Jazzy literally said that he wasn’t interested, and I told him, because I had sensed it..before the last concert I had told the lawyers that I felt that it wasn’t…that’s why we had legal papers.

“So they were trying to get him to come around, but I understood totally, which is what I said to you. So when he came back home, he had a meeting and that was in July, and he said he doesn’t want us to do Mo'Hits again. That he doesn’t want us to do Mo'Hits again. And I said to him, ‘Please give me 6 months’.

"So I told him to give me 6 months, that he should please just…for me I was even trying to sell my shares, to convince him again, to sell my shares to someone else, take the money, go abroad and try. To do anything I could, because I had seen that it wasn’t working, and him and Sid had formed this synergy. It was very clear the way…I could see it. He wasn’t very comfortable around me, I didn’t understand what was happening, and me I didn’t…everybody knows that I don’t have time. I was always on the move.

"I wasn’t always on ground to see, and I think that was my mistake – I wasn’t sensitive enough to have noticed. And prior to that, if I felt anything, just as you would do as a boss, you should do whatever needed to be done. So I told him to give me 6 months. I remember December, Iwe had a meeting, and everybody was there, and Don Jazzy also said the same thing which was after 6 months. That was December 2011, and he said, that he had thought about it, and he wasn’t interested. In fact, not just me, that this one wasn’t interested (pointing to others).

“I was heartbroken, I think Kayswitch was with them, it was one voice, and I felt like…what’s happening here? And that’s where I started hearing few things that people just felt that they were not comfortable with me.

D'banj who is celebrating his 10th anniversary in music also revealed that everybody on the record label underwent changes, citing the 'family' management strategy of the firm as a contributing factor to the failure of the group.

“I think now that I look at it, maybe, I think we all changed. I think we all changed because we ran it as a family. We ran Mohit Records as a family, and that’s why I feel it failed.

"For me I was a business man, I have always been a business man, and I’ve always been. That’s why I told you to wait for six months, and even after 6 months, when they said that they were not interested, it was okay. I was going to actually travel, I was going to just leave, go, just chill, and reboot. And God has a way of compensating, so Oliver Twist just blew.

Don Jazzy signed everything (Oliver Twist) to me. That was part of the divorce settlement. Don Jazzy said ‘If I dey go for road now, if I hear radio, and I hear your voice, I go change the station."