Top 5 Rivalries In Nigeria Music

Entertainment in Nigeria has really exploded during the last decade more so the music industry which is arguably the biggest in Africa. And for any creative space, there is bound to be competition and rivalries.

In the last 10 years, there have been different conflicts among artist, it has become quite a rite of passage to have “beef “with another artist. These are some of them:

 

 

WIZKID VS DAVIDO

Wizkid can be said to be the “darling of Nigeria”, since his debut album “superstar” he has not stopped pushing 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 on Canadian Megastar Drake’s “one dance” which won so many awards the star repaid the favor by featuring on Wizkid’s come closer. Wizkid also has songs with the likes of Chris Brown, Tinie Tempah, and Major Lazor to mention a view. 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 very hard worker and probably one of the reasons that make people love if asides his music. It is obvious that he is from a wealthy home but that has not deterred him for seeking to greater heights.

They are always going at each other on social media and passing subtle comments, currently on good terms but the keep on battling for Nigeria’s music top position.

 

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 Hip TV awards are probably most anticipated award and the main focus of 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 crown the next rated artist in Nigeria, which made Olamide go on stage to challenge the decision and say that there was obvious bias and the best man did not win 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 one of Mavin’s star Tiwa Savage song “standing ovation”. But that is one rivalry that is being talked about to this very day.

 

OLAMIDE

P-SQUARE

Arguably 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 but finally with all the stories shared on Twitter of 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 personally.

Most fans cited the fact that they probably got too complacent and that was the reason for the split since the split they have not had as much impact in their solo careers like the impact they had as a group. With Peter taking the stage name Mr P and Paul taking Rude boy respectively.

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 M.I 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 M.I 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”, they continued releasing back to back songs responding 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 4days, Woju, Gobe. Davido was accused of slapping Kizz Daniel’s manager during a show they were both performing at, Davido has 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.

 

 

Popnable /Popnable Media