Losing their heads at the Headies...

By Toni Kan

Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, died on June 25, 2009.

On that same day, legendary actress, Farrah Fawcett succumbed to cancer after a long battle. Two days earlier, television personality, Ed McMahon, passed on.

In the days and weeks after June 25th, one would have been forgiven if one assumed that only one famous person died that week. The news channels and tabloids were filled with stories about Michael Jackson whose death ended up as controversial as his life. It was as if Farrah Fawcett had chosen the wrong-est day to die. She and McMahon had, as Fela sang, “died wrongfully”.


This thought occupied my mind as news of Olamide and Don Jazzy’s incipient beef filtered out then mushroomed into something ugly and still trending. Their beef and the subsequent twitter and social media frenzy left a casualty in its wake: the talented and beautiful rapper Eva Alordiah and her boyfriend, now fiancée, model and OAP, Caesar, who had chosen The Headies to propose.

That singular romantic gesture has been buried under the luridness of the uncomely beef, first between Olamide and The Headies, then Don Jazzy and Olamide and now, the unfortunate co-option of Di’Ja’s body parts as collateral damage.

Caesar must be wishing he had chosen a less contentious stage.

A second casualty is Timi Dakolo, whose subliminally excellent song, “Wish Me Well”, won 3 awards; a fact that seems all but forgotten.

For the benefit of those recently arrived from Mars, The Headies, Nigeria’s answer to the Grammy’s, held on January 1, 2016, two days later than the earlier advertised December 30, 2015. That night, Reekado Banks, an artist under Don Jazzy’s label, the Supreme Mavin Dynasty, was voted the Next Rated Artist for 2015. The award came with a brand new car.

The category is usually left open for fans of the nominees to vote and pick the winner and this time they picked Reekado Banks over his stable mate, Koredo Bello (Korede’s ‘Godwin’ was a 2015 anthem), Cynthia Morgan, Yung Grey C, Lil Kesh and a host of other talented young cats whose stars shone in 2015.

Olamide, stable head at YBNL, which Lil Kesh calls home, was pissed at Reekado Bank’s choice and went on stage to make his displeasure known a little while after Lil Kesh pulled a Burna Boy and stomped out with his entourage racing to catch up with him. (For those who do not follow these things, in 2013, Burna lost out to Sean Tizzle in the Next Rated Category and he left the venue in a huff.)

Lil Kesh didn’t invent that ish!

Anyway, after Olamide left the stage having pulled off his best Kanye West impression, Don Jazzy came on stage to receive an award and then made a direct reference to Olamide – “Egbon Olamide if you want the car, come and take it.”

Olamide subsequently lost it. He went on twitter where he morphed from a Bariga boy into Mel Gibson, spewing unprintable abuse at Don Jazzy. In his tirade, Olamide did not just call out Don Jazzy with respect to the night’s event, he blamed the hit maker for D’banj’s predicament, called him a fake who claims other people’s productions and then ended with a threat of harm befalling Don Jazzy if he steps foot on the mainland, but in all that rabid rant, Olamide’s talent for word play shone bright when he tweeted “Leave trash for LAWMA.”

There have been heated arguments on social media, with many blaming Don Jazzy for making a direct reference to Olamide. Those who put forward this argument forget that Don Jazzy mediated his comment by calling Olamide, who is younger, ‘Egbon’?

While Don Jazzy might have mentioned Olamide’s name, the question that baffles is this: how did a reference to a car lead Olamide on a terrible tirade that managed to drag in D’banj and Di’ja? For how long has Olamide had it in for Don Jazzy? For how long has he held D’banj’s downward spiral against Don Jazzy? Or Wande Coal’s rapid decline?

There is no better key for unlocking the heart’s secret than booze and some time’s rage.

To return to the major issue, which is Reekado Banks besting Lil Kesh. Both artistes are new and don’t have debut albums yet. Their fame rests squarely on what I like to call the “Davido Effect”: that amazing phenomenon where a nascent artiste finds fame and sometimes fortune on the strength of his singles and collaborations.

Reekado Banks has been helped by the Don Jazzy machine, which is not to deny his talent, having beaten off competition from over 1000 others to win the Don Jazzy Talent hunt alongside Korede Bello and Di’Ja.

Lil Kesh, on the other side, has ridden to fame on the back of Olamide’s YBNL as well as an amazing street savvy and yucky-mouthed-ness. For one who doesn’t speak Yoruba, Lil Kesh still manages to get his dirt on my tongue but he has a flow and swagger that is almost as good and potent as Olamide’s.

Both artistes are good and deserved to win, unfortunately there was only one plaque and the artistes with the meanest social media machine won.

That said, we will come back to this in a few years’ time and I can wager a bet; Reekado Banks will have a longer career than Lil Kesh and the reason is simple. Think Lil Kesh and Reekado Banks and you should remember Obesere and Pasuma. Pasuma is Oganla, Obesere is, well, Obesere, a washed up has-been whose yuck mouth took him as far as it once took Luke Campbell of 2 Live Crew. There are limits to the freak show.

Dj Jimmy Jatt, however, thinks that Lil Kesh will have more musical longevity compared to Reekado Banks. Time will tell. 

And oh, there was the Ycee and Vector side show. Well, Jagaban is a good song but it doesn’t compare to King Kong. And you can take that to the bank.