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.
