It's no longer news that Mavin records Goodness, Tiwa Savage is speculated to have sealed a management and publishing deal with Jay Z's label, Roc Nation. Roc Nation, LLC is an American entertainment company founded by rapper JAY Z in 2008. The company has offices in New York City, London and Los Angeles. It is a full service entertainment company housing a record label, talent agency, touring and concert production company, music, film, and television production company as well as a music publishing house. The company is home to a diverse roster of recording artists, musicians and record producers such as J. Cole, Big Sean, Rihanna, Kanye West, Grimes,Demi Lovato, DJ Khaled, T.I. and Rita Ora. The company also has partnerships with global management companies Three Six Zero and Philymack. Tiwa was in New York in company with Mavin big boss, Don Jazzy to finalize the deal. Even though it’s rumoured that Tiwa Savage will leave Mavin Records as her deal is coming to an end. It appears it will be a joint deal between the two giant record labels; Mavin Records and Roc Nation. I guess we should keep our fingers crossed and watch how they shoot Tiwa to the next level. Tiwa Savage is also scheduled for a performance at the Made in America concert in September, where Rihanna is listed as the headliner. This is not the first time Don Jazzy and Jay Z are doing business together. Jay Z and Kanye West had a deal with Don Jazzy over D’Banj few years ago. We recall in June 2011, when Kanye West signed both Don Jazzy & Dbanj to G.O.O.D Music as a production/artist combo. The months that followed saw Kanye make a surprise appearance at Koko Concert in London, Dbanj featured in G.O.O.D Music videos, and Don Jazzy got production credits for a track on Watch The Throne. The single Oliver Twist was just taking off internationally, and it looked like there was nothing stopping Dbanj from going mainstream global. I mean with a blazing hot single, and the backing of Kanye West, what could possibly go wrong? But then sweeping away all the hype and excitement, a lot of what happened after the deal was not great for Dbanj from a musical standpoint. After close to a decade of working together, he split up with his long time partner, Don Jazzy (Mo-hits) amidst rumors of “differences of opinions” about the G.O.O.D music deal. He parted ways with his long time manager (Bankulli) and had an embarrassing feature on the Cruel Summer album, a less than stellar Scapegoat Remix, a string of mediocre singles, an album that didn’t move the meter and quite frankly he has not been able to replicate the musical success of his earlier days. The highlight of his association with GOOD Music might have been the Oliver Twist video which featured cameo from some of his then-label mates (Mo-hits crew) and Kanye West. It seems that the only good that came out of the deal was some great branding (really great) and PR for Dbanj, but nothing substantial musically. No US tours with Kanye West. No major features. No real recognition as a legitimate African artist with a different vibe. Less than 5 years after, Nigeria is on the verge of an explosion with the music being globally consumed. Wizkid has a song with Drake which is number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, Ayo Jay has a deal with RCA Records, Davido is signed to Sony Music, and more are in the offing. It is on this wave that Tiwa Savage’s deal with Roc Nation is coming through. Don Jazzy isn’t rejecting an international management deal this time, because apart from the potential it holds for his artistes, it feels right for the affiliation to be sealed. Tiwa Savage benefits from this immensely, and she is insured by the emergence of a new global taste for African pop music. We hope for the best, that Tiwa’s move will not break the relationship that is existing between her and her record label boss, unlike Dbanj’s case, where his signing to Kanye west label broke the long term relationship with his former producer, Don Jazzy.

I witness a scene somewhere around Nyanya axis, an outskirts in Abuja, where a vehicle almost knocked down a little boy who was walking along the neighbourhood with his both ears covered with a big headset. I felt really annoyed that i had to warned the boy never to walk on the street with both ears covered with an headset. The boy promised never to and politely said “bros this gbedu sound wey i dey listen to, dey burst my brain na im make i know hear wen the car dey horn”.I smiled and curiously asked him “young man, so you prefer music with good sound than the lyrics (content)”, he laughed and said to me. “Bros i no get time to listen to the content as far as the sound fit make me dance ” At this point you will be wondering where all this story is balling down to? Yes your guess is not far from right. The question is “Why the sound and not the lyrics”? Well, after taking a very good look at the music industry here in Nigeria, i discovered that for an artiste to remain relevant in the music industry you must really do justice to your sound. A very good example is Iyanya Onoyom Mbuk fondly called “Kukere master” who we all use to know with the R&B (a genre he was recognized for) thing is now seen as a blessing to the afro-pop genre of music. After four years of sojourn in the music wilderness he bounced back with a big hit “Kukere” courtesy the “beat” In his debut album few years back (My story) which featured singles like “Love truly” and “No time”, you listen to how passionately Mr. sexy sings these ballads. Iyanya probably examined his genre and figured that to remain relevant in the scheme of things, he had to switch from R&B to a more upbeat tempo because “Nigerians want music they can really dance to” and indeed, they are dancing as he smiles to the bank. It would also be recalled that, Iyanya received a N3 million cheque from Mtech Communications for breaking the record of the highest caller tunes download in Africa for his breakthrough song, Kukere. “WOW” you will say, that's exactly what it means by having a nice beat. The problem is, these kinds of Singers are the ones excelling in Nigeria. They are the ones smiling to the banks; they are the ones getting all the product endorsements! Davido just signed a two-year endorsement deal with Pepsi. How many shows has Timi Dakolo gotten after making so much sense? How many #endorsement deals has #Dare Art Alade been given? The endorsement deals fly into the arms of the artistes singing songs that do nothing but corrupt even a prostitute. Now my point. The Nigerian musicians are real businessmen! They are doing what every businessman would do -supply and demand! The Nigerian market loves the contents, it is going crazy with these meaningless dance tracks. It is only a madman who would see an opportunity to legitimately make millions and refuse to jump into it. The Nigerian music consumers are to blame for the low content quality the artists churn out on a daily basis. We are hypocritical in this part of the world, we say something else and do the exact opposite. If the artiste find out that no one is buying their junks, they will take time to create quality contents. They will never do that if we continue to give their shows sold out status and make them most downloaded artists of the month. Vote them as the winners of the album and artist of the year awards. If we continue this way then we might as well tell good music to rest in peace! The only assurance the likes of 2face Idibia , Timi Dakolo, Dare Art Alade have is the longevity power their works have. The songs will out live them for sure. The likes of Olamide and Davido can’t leave a valuable catalogue for their descendants as inheritance because nobody would be buying any poo from them in 50 years. In simplest terms, music is the combination of lyrics and beats. Where any one of these major ingredients is missing,the music may be deemed tasteless or even described as bad music. Nigerian musicians of today have been criticised severally for producing more of the beat while their music is lacking in lyrical content. One observer captured today’s music as ‘a lot of lyrical nonsense and danceable beats’. A school of thought believes Nigeria has seen the best of music, good lyrical content spruced with ecstatic beat, in the past and thus condemned today’s music as nothing but mere sound to dance to. It claims today’s music lacks message, meaning and substance of evergreen quality. As good as this opinion sounds, it doesn’t appear to have nailed the issue right on the head. For one, many have questioned why today’s musicians are apparently more affluent than those of old. One could still remember the labour it entailed to make it as a musician in the days of old while just one track could catapult today’s musician into the millionaires club. Furthermore, today’s music has more claims to success because our music has become more internationalised than ever, just as it has been accepted almost 100% by the local population.

Music is fondly referred to as the food to the soul, as some people will rightly say. Concerts, shows, interviews and documentaries have all been put together to celebrates the makers of great music all over the world. Countries however introduced the idea of giving out awards to artistes who have worked really hard in their various genres of music as a way to celebrate them. This lead to the birth of the famous Grammy Awards, BET Awards, MTV Awards, World music awards, Channel O, MOBO Award, KORA Awards, to mention but a few. The idea behind the awards was no longer put into play, as we now see the biased mind of the organisers who tend to favour their own choice of act and making the choice of the music lovers not count. With due respect even our very own Headies awards which is currently the biggest music award in Nigeria and also regarded as “Nigerian Grammy”known for its consistency over the years for paparazzi settings, good lighting, media coverage stage planning and management has recently been seen promoting and celebrating artistes whose music are unfit for auditory consumption adding to the number of nuisance to the society, because many of this artistes are role models to their loyal fans who tends to portray them in their dressing, language as well as their way of life. I really want to use this medium to appreciate those ones who have really given it their best shot in terms of music delivery, great sounds and of course a good message to go with. Now, the plain and bitter truth is that not every Nigerian artiste would win an award. Some will (or may) never win an award, some don’t even deserve any award or recognition at all, while some even deserving ones will be passed up for the noisy others. When you take a good look at all this, you will discover that the culprits are the so called organizers who forget that our standards are not the same with the foreign acts. The knowledge of that alone should teach us not to expect the same results because we must take into consideration our people and then our location. We are Africans! Whatever defines the commercial success of any music material outside our African shores is definitely not the same as here. If at all, we must, what criterion governs how we adjudge a song as best or hottest? This is the genesis of the problem as the two categories aren’t even the same. The general notion is that when someone’s material is on rotational play at a media house that mean it can pass for recognition. Well, WRONG! The word “best” inscribed on the awards is not really what it ought to be, I rather suggest the word “my favourite” should be used instead because that’s exactly what it ought to be. How can you say “best …” when the analysis used in judging this artistes are based on your assessment forgetting the fact that is a public thing.

It's no longer news that every artiste in Nigeria is working really hard to step up their game in the music world, so as to enable them compete favourably well with the foreign act. Thus, in the quest to achieve this, we now see them collaborate with international act. This new evolution is now the trend in the Nigerian music industry. Few years back we have seen the likes of 2face featured Grammy Award winner Beenie Man on the remix of his smash hit “Nfana Ibaga and more recently P Square & Rick Ross (Onyinye Remix), D’Banj & Snoop Dogg (Mr Endowed Remix), Pulse & Busta Rhymes (Sotey Remix), Dbanj & Kanye West (Scapegoat Remix), P-Square & Akon (Chop My Money Remix), Ice Prince & Gyptian (Magician Remix), Davido & Akon (Dami Duro Remix), Sound Sultan & Wyclef and recently Wizkid & Wale, 2face & T-Pain (Rainbow Remix), Mode 9 & Canibus (Super Human) and of course most recently wizzy featuring Drake and countless other real or imagined collaborations. Now the question, is it just to have the mention that a foreign act was featured? Is it with a view towards expanding your market? Are these collaborations necessary? Are they having any positive impacts on the industry? Have the artistes benefited from the anticipated hype (getting larger audiences interested in their music, leading to increased single/album sales)? If the central aim is to push Nigerian music into the international scene, to what percentage has this been realized? I just feel too much effort has been put into some of these international collaborations that have added nothing to the Artiste or the industry, whilst some of these collaborations have come out good, some have been unnecessary but at the end of the day, my question remains, at this stage, today, are foreign collaborations the final ingredient required to push us to the next level? Well i leave that to you to figure it out.