A few days ago, another chapter was added to the history book of the Nigerian the music industry. Two of the country’s biggest music acts, Wizkid and Davido, were crowned Best International Act and Best African Act respectively, at the 2017 MOBO Awards in far away Leeds, England.
From the beginning of this year, Davido and Wizkid had shown Africa and the rest of the world glimpses of what to expect from them. From songs, to videos and collaborations, they both wanted the same thing-international fame.
They worked hard; released songs that had popular international acts on them and got the people thinking about their big moves.
Wizkid, who beat Jay-Z, Cardi B, Kenedric Lamar and others to clinch the award on Wednesday, was at a time accused of abandoning his African roots in a strident pursuit of international glory. He wanted it so badly that he practically relocated abroad and left the home scene for Davido and others.
Davido, described his achievements this year as hatrick, having won Best World Wide act in MTV, Best African Act MTV and now Best African Act,MOBO.
He had attempted to battle Wizkid for international recognition but would later dump the idea having realised that neglecting the Afro-pop genre was a recipe for failure if care was not taken. He would later sack his former manager, Kamal Ajiboye for his failure to break even into the international scene.
Wizkid was said to have stayed away from the event as he feared he would lose to Jay-z and Lamar, but his counterpart OBO, as he’s fondly called, was on ground to recieve his award.
Now that they seemed to have finally got what they both wanted, it is believed that the supremacy war that had trailed their career for years would finally be laid to rest.
While their colleagues have advised their fans to refrain from trying to rate one above the other, Banky W believed that Wiz and David are both extremely important to the Nigeria/Africa music movement and culture.
According to him, “I hate it when people try to make it seem like you have to choose one or the other. There is enough room in the sky for all our stars to fly, instead of us encouraging a childish, petty narrative that never ends well. We should encourage all our acts to be all they can be.”
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