Iyke Bede
At the recently concluded Omniverse Africa Summit, a platform showcasing African innovation, technology, entrepreneurship, and creativity, entertainment heavyweights gathered to delve into the strides achieved in the entertainment sector.
During the fireside chat moderated by Nigerian rapper Anthonia Alabi, famed as Sasha P, Audu Maikori, lawyer and co-founder of Chocolate City record label emphasised the growth trajectory of the music industry, detailing its various stages and the flagship music distribution technologies that define each era leading up to the status quo of streaming.
Basking in these achievements and the projected growth for the creative sector, some members of the panel retraced steps to some memorable moments in their careers while contributing to the creative sector’s growth.
Obi Asika Missed Out on Signing Rapper Jidenna
The music entrepreneur revealed having missed out on signing Nigerian-American rapper Jidenna. He realised it after meeting the rapper at a social function in Ghana with his wife. He recalled Jidenna saying, “Boss, I know you. I came to your office to get signed.”
“At the time, every artiste was trying to get signed to Storm Records, but the criteria was: if you could not rap, I wasn’t going to sign you.”
In Jidenna’s case, Asika had advised him to pursue his dream overseas until he got noticed. “I guess I was right, after all,” Asika said jokingly.
Alibaba Performed for Free
Torn between pursuing a career in law and unconventional stand-up comedy, Atunyota Akpobome, simply known as Alibaba, bravely chose stand-up, with hopes to break the mould.
“When I started doing comedy, I found out that there were people who liked it, but the appreciation was low, so I had to promote it in different ways,” he noted.
D’banj Begged to Perform
Oladapo Daniel, better known as D’banj has had his fair share of obscurity before breaking out in the mid-2000s.
“The lack of structure at the time helped us think outside of the box,” D’banj emphasized. “We saw that the music scene wasn’t really big then but I didn’t have any other choice. I saw an opportunity to come back in 2004. I was at a show in London, and I begged to perform. In a nutshell, the industry is global today because we were creative. Still creative.”
