The D'banj and Don Jazzy squabble

                             D'banj

D’Banj’s decision to change his name on Twitter is generating diverse reactions, JAYNE AUGOYE reports

In what appears to be a response to the crack between him and his former label mate, Don Jazzy, Koko Master act, D’Banj,  sprang a surprise over the weekend. He changed his Twitter handle from Dapo D’banj Oyebanjo to Daniel D’banj Banjo.

Also, his Twitter bio, which formerly read Mo’Hits Records/Good Music has been adjusted and now reads DB/Good Music/ IDJ. With this,  D’Banj becomes the second Nigerian artiste to perform a structural adjustment operation on their names – coming after gospel singer formerly called Kenny Saint Brown, now Kenny Saint Best.

Since the news of MoHit’s split became popular, the major parties, D’banj and Don Jazzy, have come under scrutiny by fans and critics alike.  Little wonder that when D’banj allegedly un-followed his one time buddy – Don Jazzy – on Twitter, it did not go unnoticed by prying eyes.

The story, however, got a new twist on Tuesday, when D’Banj’s updated his Twitter account’s name to ‘D’Banj Kokomaster.

Interestingly, of both artistes, Don Jazzy appears to have curried the most sympathy. This may not be unconnected with the fact that he is more active on Twitter than ‘Daniel’. Don Jazzy has 245,972 followers while Dbanj has 193,098 Twitter followers as of Tuesday.

And so when he inferred that they had agreed to go their separate ways in a tweet posted on March 17, which partly read “It is with a heavy heart that I announce the end of a long era and the beginning of a new one. Some of the rumours you have all heard recently are sad but true. And to end the old era I will be donating the proceeds of my production catalogue from day 1 till date to 5 charity organisations,” he naturally attracted sympathetic remarks from his followers, while winning new fans. Perhaps he is a smarter politician than the Koko Master.

While the argument in D’banj’s favour may be the fact that it is not strange for an artiste to change names or rebrand, his action seems to have elicited more knocks than kudos.

For instance, a post written on an entertainment site, 1976ad.com,  has gone viral and still continues to generate diverse comments. Amongst many other things, the anonymous writer wrote, “D’Banj, you’ve now gone from ‘Dapo Oyebanjo’ to ‘Daniel Banjo’. All I can do is laugh, I mean, Daniel ‘Banjo’? What are you, a country music star from Nashville? I mean, I get it, Daniel provides the ‘D’ and Banjo provides the ‘Banj’, but Negro, please, you’re hustlin’ backwards. Why abandon the successful person you are to become a less successful version of what you’re not? You’re a Nigerian, not an American, and no matter how hard you try, you’ll never be one, so be yourself and have faith.”

The article thus fires a fresh argument that the Mo bo lowo won act may only be trying to gain acceptance into the American business/music culture by pushing up the English though Biblical name – the way many immigrants do.

In this regard, a Nigerian born, US based music and fashion attorney, Uduak Odouk lends her voice in an online post. In her comment, Oduok says that a 2010 New York Times article has described the action as almost obsolete.

She adds, “it is a bit intriguing that Nigeria’s mega star who signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music Label bucks this trend and goes in reverse direction, albeit not on his official birth certificate, at least that we know of.”

But a media expert/entrepreneur, Ayeni Adekunle,  warns that before conclusions are drawn on the reason behind the move, some facts should be laid straight.

“When you say D’banj has changed his name, I think we need to clarify that. His brand name and identity are not changing per se. What is changing, if we are to take the Twitter changes seriously, is his real name. So he’s moving from Dapo Daniel Oyebanjo to Daniel Banjo.”

Adekunle, who is also an artiste manager, adds that the reasons may not be far fetched.

“It could be for ease of pronunciation, reference and documentation in view of his new environment and partners. It could also be for the purpose of cataloging – as a means of separating his new properties from those of the old Mohits. Who knows? There could be a well thought-out strategy to use a new identity for contractual purposes…. These are my own thoughts,” he says.

In the past, Nigerian entertainment personalities like Evaezi, IK Osakioduwa and Kenny Saint Best have rebranded their images and backed the action up with different reasons.

The dawn of 2009 saw On Air Personality Osakioduwa say goodbye to the name ‘Wild Child’.

While it was widely speculated that the change of identity had to do with his marital status, the on-air-personality explained that the core reason was that it was not a brand he could develop much further.

 “It (name) gathered popularity in Lagos but I had started doing some work outside of Lagos – in South Africa and America, and I discovered that I couldn’t use the name there because somebody has the right to the name Wild Child,” he said.