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Afrobeats singer, David Adeleke, aka Davido, has claimed that D\u2019banj was the first Nigerian musician to achieve global stardom.<\/p>\n

According to him, Nigerian artists were not getting international bookings before the global success of D\u2019banj\u2019s 2012 hit single \u2018Oliver Twist\u2019.<\/p>\n

Speaking in a recent interview with Apple Music, Davido said D\u2019banj\u2019s international success inspired a paradigm shift which led to African music gaining traction in the Western world.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cD\u2019banj was my first vision of a Nigerian artist taking over the world. No one in America was booking Nigerian artists for shows but that changed when I saw Kanye West in D\u2019banj\u2019s \u2018Oliver Twist\u2019 video on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was because of the success of \u2018Oliver Twist\u2019 that Americans started booking D\u2019banj, 2Face, P-Square and other African artists for shows. They were making about $1,000,000 per show. So I decided to switch and start doing African music because that\u2019s where I am from.\u201d<\/p>\n

While D\u2019banj contributed to the globalisation of African music, especially Afrobeats in the early days of its exportation, many observers disagree with Davido\u2019s claims that he was the first Nigerian musician to achieve international stardom.<\/p>\n

Nigerian music legends such as Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Majek Fashek and hosts of others were popular on the international stage in the 70\u2019s, 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s.<\/p>\n

2Baba, formerly known as 2Face\u2019s hit song \u2018African Queen\u2019 had won several international awards and was used as a soundtrack of the popular American romantic comedy \u2018Phat Girlz\u2019 (2006), years before D\u2019banj\u2019s \u2018Oliver Twist\u2019 was released.<\/p>\n

\u2018D\u2019banj was first Nigerian artist to gain global popularity\u2019 \u2013 Davido<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Afrobeats singer, David Adeleke, aka Davido, has claimed that D\u2019banj was the first Nigerian musician to achieve global stardom. According…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1836,15843,4,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-davido","category-dbanj","category-entertainment","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n