In an exclusive interview with BBC This is Africa, Nigerian superstar Davido sits down with the Afroboss DJ Edu, where they discuss his meteoric rise to fame from the age of 18, and how he’s maintained his relevance after 11 years of success.
Davido has carried the flag for young African music and has made it cool for the younger generation.
He says: “As an artist you have to know your vision and what you want.
Be free with people and the gatekeepers in the industry. Every event I always greet the DJ’s, I know how I started. I appreciate them even at my highest level.”
“With music, I plan to branch out to other things. I am now working on my Netflix documentary. It is going to be amazing.”
Davido says: “Music will always be my primary- I am working on a tv game show. I’m very fun to watch he joked. It willbe “like Fear Factor” but with girls and tasks. The winner gets “a lot of money” and will be able to go on tour with me.”
Davido admits he always had a passion for music and wanted to pursue a career in entertainment.
“My mum passing and my dad being so busy at work gave me time to find myself,” and this is how his love of music started. “Being in the studio was a different feeling for me. I just wanted to learn.”
When asked if he sees himself going into politics “I cannot destroy all my years of entertaining, making people happy, then switch to [be a] politician and all my career as Davido and every good thing I’ve done for myself vanishes because that is exactly what will happen,”
Davido tells the story of how his birthday joke went viral on the internet, and resulted in him giving away 250 million Naira (around £450,000) to nearly 300 orphanages across Nigeria.
“I change life every day—whether it is education, healthcare, someone who might need help in the hospital.”
His aim is to do give donations annually.
For his sell out London 02 show “I have put $500k of my own money in to this production. It is 3 hours of music. I am going all out for this show.”
“As the culture is growing, the venues are getting bigger, the songs are getting more recognition, and it’s amazing to see. It’s become its own genre, which is amazing.”
Watch the full interview here.
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