Renowned Nigerian singer Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo, better known by his stage name D’banj, has referred to himself as “a new cat” (a term used to describe an emerging talent in the area).
Even after 20 years in the music business, the 43-year-old singer claimed he still feels like he is only beginning to scratch the surface because the market has changed over time.
D’banj said in a recent interview with Hip TV that he will be collaborating with a few up-and-coming musicians on his next album, “Entertainer,” which he claimed was a follow-up to his highly regarded 2008 album, “The Entertainer.”
He also discussed his contribution to the international recognition of Nigerian music.
“I’m not the first [Nigerian artist] to have collaborated internationally,” D’banj declared. Simply said, we were the first to do it in our manner. Prior to ours, it usually looked as though an international artist was doing you a favour when you wanted to collaborate with them. However, because of God’s mercy and the calibre of our team, we were able to deliver one of the largest [‘Mr Endowed’].
“I believe that truly gave the students [new artists] hope and visibility to realise that they can succeed. Thus, if I may say so, I feel like a very proud parent. I am a cat again because of this [up-and-coming artist]. I now want to highlight local artists instead of just foreign ones. I would like to highlight Don Jazzy, Rema, Ruger, and Ayra Starr. The modern form of competition is collaboration.