There has been a lot of progress in the entertainment industry during the last decade, especially the music industry which is unarguably the biggest in Africa. In every work of art, there is bound to be competitions and rivalries as every act want to prove their level of creativity, affluence and independence. In previous years even till date, there have been different conflicts among artists, it has become quite a rite of passage to have “beef “with another artist to show superiority and seniority amongst themselves in areas of achievements and talents. Here are some of the top music rivalries that got people talking even till date:
WIZKID vs DAVIDO
Wizkid can be said to be the “darling of Nigeria”. Since his debut album “Superstar”, he has not stopped soaring on to greater heights with major deals, endorsements and he is still dropping banging music. He has collaborations with the best of the best in the international scene, featuring Canadian megastar Drake’s “One Dance” which won so many awards and the star repaid the favor by featuring on Wizkid’s “Come Closer”. Also, Wizkid has songs with the likes of Chris Brown, Tinie Tempah, and Major Lazer, and even one of his biggest now with Beyonce “Black Skin Girl” which has earned him another Grammy award nomination, not to mention a few. It is obvious that he is at the peak of the music game.
Davido, on the other hand, is absolutely doing well. He had what many refer to as a “monster year” in 2018 with the release of “Fall” and “If”. Davido is known to be a hustler and probably one of the reasons that make people love him asides his music. It is obvious that he is from a wealthy home but that has not deterred him from seeking greater heights. Davido, after dropping his “Album A Better Time” which has big collaboration like Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Young Thug, Nas, Lil Baby, Hit Boy, Tiwa Savage, and many others, is doing well globally.
Both artistes are always going at each other on social media, passing subtle comments, and keep on battling for Nigeria’s music top position. They are currently one of the top music rivalries in Nigeria.
OLAMIDE vs DON JAZZY
Hip TV awards are one of the most anticipated awards in Nigeria and it forever gets the whole of Nigeria’s music lovers on standstill and the 2015 edition was no different. Like the past editions, this one did not fail to bring its own share of drama. The main focus of Hip TV awards is the “next rated prize” and this particular year, it was keenly contested between Olamide’s YBNL star Lil Kesh and Don Jazzy”s Mavin records wonder kid Reekado Banks. At the end of the night, Reekado Banks was crowned the next rated artist in Nigeria, which made Olamide go on stage to challenge the decision and he said that there was obvious bias because the best man did not win.
He stated that Lil Kesh had more hit songs for the year and should have won the award. Don Jazzy responded and Olamide replied again. It turned out to be a full-blown war between both parties online and offline with threats flying up and down. In due time the conflict was solved and they went back to being friends with Olamide even featuring on Tiwa Savage song “Standing Ovation”. But that is one rivalry that is being talked about till this very day.
P-SQUARE
Unarguably the best group to have come out of Nigeria with chart-topping songs from “Busy Body” to “Roll Hit” to “Ifunaya”. This was the group that dished out hits on a daily. The group P-square always had their differences with all the stories shared on Twitter of a possible beef with their one-time manager and also their brother Jude Okoye, they finally decided it was time for them to go their separate ways last year and explore the musical world individually.
Most fans cited the fact that they probably got too complacent and that was the reason for the split. The split had much more impact on their solo careers than the impact they had as a group. With Peter taking the stage name Mr P and Paul taking Rude boy respectively.
Although recently there was a collabo between Mr P and Rudeboy, could this be a sign of the group coming back together? Only time will tell.
MI vs KELLY HANDSOME
This is a bemusing one because it features two artists from different part of the Nigerian music ecosystem, unlike the previous rivalries. Arguments supporting Kelly Hansome say that MI instigated it but others say what he said was not said in malice and it was blown out of proportion.
Jude Abaga popularly known by his stage name MI, is by far the most successful and well known among the pair. He has created his entire career around dominating the Nigeria rap game for a good number of years, but his line in one of his songs “Fast Money, Fast Cars” stated, “Kelly Hansome is handsome, I’ll tell him when I see him. But if I want a man, it’d be Keke or D1″ sparked the whole issue.
Kelly Hansome replied with his own track dissing MI and his label mates with the song “Catch Me If You Can”, and afterwards continued to release back to back songs with responses to each other.
No party came out to actually claim the end of the conflict and there are suspicions that it is still ongoing.
KIZZ DANIEL vs DAVIDO
Once again, Davido features on this list and might be said to be creating some kind of reputation as a bad boy. This particular incident features Kizz Daniel the serial hitmaker, with a song like “4 Days”, “Woju”, “Gobe”. Davido was accused of slapping Kizz Daniel’s manager during a show they were both supposed to performing in. Davido denied all claims of this and said he did not attack anyone and all the claims are just rumors. This would have been accepted if Kizz Daniel did not go ahead and rant on social media and deletes all photos of Davido from his Instagram account. The news came as a bit of a shocker seeing that Kizz Daniel and Davido had just released a song that was making waves at that moment in time. It is not clear as to who is telling the truth in this case but one thing is sure, that time will tell. A well-strategized rivalry is actually good for both parties of any rivalry, because like they say, there is no such thing as bad publicity in showbiz.
SUGGESTIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PEACE IN THE INDUSTRY
This issue of conflict of interest, pride and rivalry in the industry is mostly caused or agitated by die-hard fans of the artists. The issues of favoritism is one of the major reasons why feuds are sparked and keeps generating conflicts. Moreover, majority of these artists are in the same genre of music and this should be a good enough reason for fans to support them as one and stop comparing their creativity, wealth and affluence to one another.
Although these rivalries makes artists showcase their best talents and bring out the best creatives, but the industry will only be better when we stop criticizing people’s work of art and encouraging them instead. “The pen they say is mightier than the sword”, which means that some of the things we type on social media most time kills psychologically and can affect some artists from maximizing their passion and talent. Let us encourage and support our artists, because they are nothing without us.